Of course it seems Song at first sight on The Voice – the show that was taken off TV in January due to metoo scandals. The new SBS program is also a talent show conceived by John de Mol. Candidates here also cover a well-known hit, there is a ‘blind’ part, in which only the voice can be heard for the judge. And behind the scenes you can see the sympathy of family and friends, with Wendy van Dijk as hostess.
But there are differences. Song at first sight is a mixture of a talent show and a dating show: the candidates meet on stage, sing a duet, and then decide whether they want to continue together. A blind date at the karaoke bar. All the male candidates were on the blond, bonkers Kim. She chose Nick, a tough man with a jaw.
Another difference: The Voice is an international hit. Song at first sight is a flop. The first episode reached only 467,000 viewers on Saturday night. The program is very reminiscent of an earlier SBS flop, Flirty Dancing from 2019. Also with Wendy van Dijk. Only then it was not with singing, but with dancing.
The show is a somewhat pale program, with little liveliness. Not embarrassing enough for a dating show, not exciting enough for a talent show. And the show gives too little opportunity to empathize with the candidates. Dating show and talent show are not a good match. The only one who breaks through the strict format is presenter Edsilia Rombley: witty, playful, a relief.
Widely loved
After the show, the first part of the documentary series followed Mirror image – the life of Willeke Alberti. The singer of ‘Talks again’ has been on stage for 66 years. Because she sings her life songs so credibly, and has such a charming, cordial appearance, she is widely loved.
In the first part, many friends, colleagues and family members spoke and all said that Alberti is wonderful. Unfortunately it didn’t go much deeper, so we learned surprisingly little about the singer. Thus it remained a hagiography with too little story, and far too few archive images. Paul de Leeuw gave a striking sketch of Alberti’s ability to bring songs through life: ‘She makes a drama out of everything. When she sings: ‘I have no bread in the house’ you think: this will never be okay.”
Jeroen Pauw decided to be on NPO1 on Sunday strong discussion thread The Netherlands is full . After discussing various aspects of economic growth, with advantages and disadvantages, in previous installments, this sixth part was devoted to an overarching disadvantage: the climate crisis. In particular, the question: who should take the lead in solving the problem, the politicians or the citizens? Most of those present felt that citizens could do quite a lot by buying less, eating less meat, driving and flying less. But how do you get them to do that? Two examples of massive, rigorous behavioral change came along: the corona crisis, and declining gas consumption due to high energy prices. Was that the politicians or the citizens?
The unanimity was striking when it came to the premise: that there is an acute climate crisis and that swift action is required. The odd one out was former VVD politician Klaas Dijkhoff. In 2019, as party leader, he called D66 politician Rob Jetten a “climate pusher” and torpedoed the then climate agreement. At the time, he believed that we still had about thirty years to fix the climate. Take it easy. The fact that even Dijkhoff has apparently changed his mind can be seen as progress. But yes, unfortunately he is no longer a politician, he is a concerned citizen