Good Times Bad Times breathes a sigh of relief now that Tijl Beckand’s quiz has not turned out to be as great a success as Ruben Nicolai’s, says media expert Victor Vlam. “It was a risk.”
It has become a tradition: RTL 4 only really starts to score at eight o’clock in the evening when Good Times Bad Times goes on summer vacation and Ruben Nicolai reappears with his hit quiz I Weet Er Alles Van. This year the soap stop was extra long and, after that quiz, the station also broadcast the new formula Where Is It Over with Tijl Beckand.
GTST relieved
If that quiz had also passed, GTST could have packed up, according to critics – including Carlo Boszhard. “If both were successful, you could say: then you definitely have the alternative to GTST. But in a sense that is not yet the case, because Tijl’s quiz scores slightly less than Ruben’s, “says media expert Victor Vlam.
He continues in the podcast The Communicados: “I can imagine that GTST’s production can breathe a sigh of relief, because yes, again, it was a little bit of a risk. But I also have to say that I think it would be unfair if they could breathe a sigh of relief, because yes, Tijl scores a little less, but…”
‘Not like B&B’
But what? “There is another program on RTL 4 that is scoring fantastically in the summer and that is B&B Vol Liefde. I think that the success of that program also somewhat exposes the problem of GTST, because I have the impression that everyone is really talking about B&B. It’s really alive. It is really discussed a lot.”
He continues: “I was just thinking to myself: when was the last time GTST was discussed so much? I think that was really quite a few years ago. And that also indicates a little bit that GTST has not only lost viewers, but also cultural relevance.”
Expiring case
B&B Vol Liefde shows that a TV program can still really dominate the conversation of the day, says Victor. “Even at Today Inside at the table, the episode of B&B Vol Love from the day before was discussed every day. Look, I honestly think GTST is really coming to an end.”
Victor advises SBS 6 to respond to this. “I think SBS is doing a very good job of making sure they find a very good program for that eight-hour time slot. Imagine that SBS has that: then they have a strong program from 8 to half past 9 and a very strong program and Today Inside from half past 9 to half past 11.”
SBS in gear?
Then SBS 6 could just come very close to RTL 4, says Victor. “Well, if you completely dominate the beginning and the end of primetime, then you are the king of primetime and then you can completely dominate RTL 4. I would think for SBS: this is the reason to invest very quickly now…”
Media journalist Marcus den Blanken says in the AD Media podcast that quizzes apparently cannot completely replace GTST after all. “You can see that Ik Weet Er Alles Van works in some crazy way. That cannot necessarily be fully explained. But that’s nice so as a summer replacement. And then you just have to leave Good Times there.”