The demise of Paul de Leeuw was also discussed in RTL Boulevard. According to the show section, his celebrity show Ranking the Stars has had its day. “It no longer fits the spirit of the times.”
It’s make or break for Paul de Leeuw’s TV career. His next TV project on NPO 1 must succeed, because the scores of his current Ranking the Stars series are dramatically bad. Last weekend, only 194,000 people watched the program in which C stars like Sjorleone talk about how they pee leftovers from the toilet bowl.
Decline
Even at RTL, where Ranking the Stars is broadcast, they are now reporting on Paul’s demise. “It is really too little,” says presenter Bridget Maasland RTL Boulevard about his ratings. “After twenty years, the cake really looks finished.”
Voice-over Jeroen Kijk in de Vegte: “The laughter, screeching and roaring are lost on the viewers.”
After the fragment in which Sjorleone talks about those poop leftovers, Bridget says: “It gives me the shivers. How come it has diminished so quickly?”
Big names
Rob Goossens, who participated in Ranking the Stars last year, finds it too sad for words. “As a brand, Ranking the Stars is still what it is, but it has to be either very funny or with big names, but this season it is neither. I still had quite high expectations of Sjorleone.”
Bridget: “But not the people who normally watched Ranking, I think. Sjorleone is of course for a very young audience.”
Into the mix
In itself, a mix of young and old people is fine, says Rob, the most boring TV critic in the Netherlands. “It can work well in a mix with young and old people, because Sjorleone will also be much more likely to piss off a Patty Brard than someone who is from the same generation and has only respect for her.”
“A mix can be made, but if you don’t have the people… I don’t know if Richard Groenendijk will still come.”
Burns
The celebrity level is simply too low this year, Rob believes. “In fact, being invited to this should be half an insult and half a compliment. You are big enough to be invited and there is enough frayed edge to think: okay, he will soon go to Beverwijk with a few burns.”
“But if you put a track cyclist there with all due respect and only the ultimate sports fanatics know who he is… If even they are like: what should you even say about it, then it becomes very difficult.”
Paid
Rob stands up for Paul. Yawn. “Paul de Leeuw is now being held accountable personally, the program is also a bit of his baby and things are going badly now, but I think he is still doing quite well as a presenter if you see the names he has to deal with.”
What does Paul think? “We have asked, but he is currently unavailable for comment. He does not want to respond, but this must be painful for him too. It is his baby after all. This is a program that you should only make if you have the right people.”
Zeitgeist
Bridget indicates that she is not a fan of Ranking the Stars anyway. “Sometimes something no longer fits in with the spirit of the times,” she sneers.
“Other people are also being judged in that program who are not there and cannot defend themselves, but that is a different discussion.”
