We will not see Jeroen van der Boom again with his talk show Hoge Bomen for the time being. After last season’s completely collapsed ratings, he would like a one-year hiatus. If SBS 6 wants to continue.
Jeroen van der Boom’s TV career is completely in the doldrums. In addition to the failure of his show with Rachel Hazes, Hazes is the Basis, the viewing figures of his talk show Hoge Bomen have also finally imploded. The program in which he sings celebrities into heaven until everyone is crying seems to have been fully developed.
Viewership misery
The first two series of Hoge Bomen did quite well with an average of 800 thousand viewers in both cases. At the peak, the broadcast with Martien Meiland in April 2020, 970 thousand people even watched. But the third season, which aired in March, scored horribly poorly.
Only the first episode with Frans Bauer was a hit with 897 thousand viewers, but after that the viewing figures dropped enormously. Especially the crying episode with Sonja Bakker (307 thousand) and the one with meat-nor-fish guest Maarten van der Weijden (206 thousand) scored poorly.
Jeroen skips
What’s next? Well, not for the time being, Jeroen himself says in conversation with The Telegraph† When asked whether there will be a fourth season, the self-righteous presenter answers: “I am still in consultation with SBS 6 about this. I would prefer to skip a season after which Hoge Bomen will return with guests who fit well with me and the TV format.”
He continues: “It is extremely difficult to get appealing guests to the table at the right time, where I also click. Incidentally, SBS is very satisfied with the past three seasons.”
Critics
Jeroen is the typical example of Dutch celebrity slime in showbiz and there is a lot of criticism about that. What does he think of that? “I did have trouble with a group of critics who kept nagging that I wasn’t sharp or decisive enough. Why, for example, I had not asked further when Sonja Bakker was my guest because of her plagiarism affair.”
The presenter shits on all those critics. “You always have people like that around and then they go wild on social media. I’m way above that, at least I try.”
At location
Not caring about the viewer’s opinion is not so useful if your viewing figures completely collapse. Jeroen’s High Trees have been cut down in a ruthless way by the viewer. When the show comes back, shouldn’t the format change? “Basically not. I am thinking about doing the interviews with a guest on location.”
He concludes: “Or maybe I invite them home to talk at the kitchen table with a view of my piano. The simplicity remains, because that is what I feel most comfortable with.”
Jeroen at home at the kitchen table with his piano in the background? That actually doesn’t sound that bad at all. Without cameras then.