The ratings flop Khalid & Sophie is on the shovel. The evening talk show of NPO 1 will be a lot lighter after the summer, says presenter Khalid Kasem. “It shouldn’t be too heavy.”
De Wereld Draait Door was a mega hit for years on the eve of NPO 1, but the successors do not know how to charm the viewer. Margriet van der Linden has finally thrown in the towel with her depressing M, but we are still stuck with Khalid & Sophie. The ratings for that program are terrible.
Few viewers
Khalid Kasem is confronted with it during a radio interview on BNR. “No one is looking at it, the test image is just as much looked at! You think: that man will stop, he will continue as a writer and teacher, that is much more interesting”, presenter Paul van Liempt explains to him.
Khalid reacts sharply to this: “We have slightly more viewers than BNR has listeners, Paul.”
Dan: “No, I do it with great pleasure. We’ve just finished two seasons. We are getting ready for the third season. It’s by far the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Less heavy
Khalid & Sophie will change tone, says Khalid. “I think that at that time slot, seven o’clock in the evening when people have just had a nice meal or are going to eat something, you want to be guided through the day in a pleasant way. The news should not be too heavy at that moment.”
Does this mean Khalid & Sophie will lose urgency? And that while De Vooravond was taken off the TV because it was not urgent enough. “It does not mean that it is not urgent, but it does mean that you have to find a connection with what people are currently working on in their experience.”
Better mix
There just needs to be a better subject mix, Khalid explains. “It may still be very important, but it’s not always the war in Ukraine followed by the famine in the Sahel and then another miserable story about something else.”