Gudo Tienhooven, media journalist from the AD, fears that Matthijs van Nieuwkerk will make his TV comeback on SBS 6 a huge flop. “It’s not a camping program,” he explains.
It is a boost for Matthijs van Nieuwkerk: four years after the De Wereld Draait Door scandal, he can start sending invoices to Hilversum again. He was put on a program by SBS 6 with Shirma Rouse. The two will travel to America to follow in the footsteps of Aretha Franklin, a soul legend, but not exactly loved by the SBS crowd.
‘Aretha? No!’
AD Media editor Marcus den Blanken does not expect much from it. “I think he is going to make a program that he really enjoys doing and that is traveling and with music, but which I think will flop really hard because it is not SBS at all,” he says in the AD Media Podcast.
“But also: I think that if it had been on the NPO, then I think it would also be, ehh… Aretha Franklin, a great singer, not like that, but I don’t know if there are many people waiting for a musical road movie and then also with Shirma Rouse. A good singer, but she is also not that you think: that is a crowd puller.”
‘It’s raw’
Media journalist Gudo Tienhooven, his colleague, fully agrees. He recently spoke with Tom Roedolf, the channel manager of SBS 6. “It was about something completely different, about De Bondgenoot, and he said: ‘Why it scores so well is because it is typical SBS 6: it is raw, what you see is what you get‘, and none of this is.”
He continues: “It is polished. That’s how I see it. And Matthijs van Nieuwkerk doesn’t really speak the language of the camping people either. No doubt it is approached with great enthusiasm, but…”
Try
What does diva Angela de Jong think? “This is just a first attempt to see how it works. I remember that Elvis, with Rob Kemps, made with Bouke. He still has such a hugely popular following, and Bouke had just won that program and Rob Kemps is a reasonable fit for SBS. I mean: if there was a concrete reason for this…”
Moreover, according to her, it is too much highbrow. “Yes, but also not up to date at all.”
No urgency
Gudo thinks it is completely hopeless. “The urgency is not evident, it does not fit with SBS 6, it is not a camping program, the duo is a bit crazy. It is a crazy way of returning to the shelter.”
Finally, it will mainly attract older viewers, Angela thinks. “And what does SBS gain from that?!”