Luuk Ikink lashes out at Wilfred Genee, who is practically his neighbor in the village of Soest. “He really hasn’t performed well in these past two broadcasts of Today Inside,” is the sneer.
Wilfred Genee always likes to position himself as a tough and critical interviewer, but there has been little sign of that lately. The viewers of Today Inside think that he was particularly inadequate when Frans Timmermans was in the show on Monday. The VI trio is extremely critical of him when he is not at the table, but suddenly very sweet when he is at the table.
Luuk critical
According to Luuk Ikink, who lives in the same village as Wilfred, VI is not very good at interrogating politicians. He prefers to watch Pauw & De Wit. “They do well when politicians are at the table. Other talk shows, for example VI, really struggle with that and they are actually not very good at it. Really interesting,” he says in RTL Boulevard.
TV expert Rob Goossens then: “Yes, and in the previous elections they really had the discussion at the table at VI: what should we do with those politicians? They all really want to be there because it is a mega audience, but they did not really want to be used as a stage. Now in these elections they are doing it differently.”
Limited knowledge
Wilfred and his colleagues now welcome the party leaders with open arms. Rob continues: “And then you see that Johan Derksen’s limited knowledge of the dossier really comes to the surface when there is a party leader who has done his homework.”
Luuk is particularly disappointed in the host. “I suddenly think the difference between Wilfred Genee and Jeroen Pauw is so big, because Wilfred can really do that, interview, but that really hasn’t come out in these past two broadcasts.”
Own opinions
Rob thinks it is mainly due to the format of VI. “I’m sure that if Wilfred had sat one-on-one with Frans Timmermans, it would have been a completely different conversation, but yes: he also has to give space to Johan Derksen.”
Bridget Maasland: “Isn’t the difference also that at VI it is much more about their own opinions and what they feel about it and that at Pauw & De Wit it is more about the journalistic approach?”
Rob: “That’s a big difference, because you can’t suddenly turn Today Inside into a big interview show if you spend the rest of the year giving your opinion.”
Thomas critical
There is also a lot of criticism of VI within Talpa itself. Rightly so, says Thomas van Groningen. He says in the VI from yesterday: “I was ready and I thought: you guys are going to… Last time you really played the prosecutor.”
Wilfred: “So I tackled him so hard last time. You can’t do the same thing twice, can you, Thomas?”
Thomas: “No, but I understand that the viewers of this program had perhaps somewhat hoped for that and I also had a bit of a feeling… I was like: now it’s coming! And it didn’t happen… It felt a bit like an anticlimax.”
Champagne
Johan now defends himself by constantly shouting that he would love to play host when politicians are at the table. “There is a pattern of expectations, but we also know that man privately and when he is here you are also a kind of host. You cannot stick all your guests behind the wallpaper.”
Thomas: “Let me put it this way: I think they have uncorked the champagne at the PvdA.”
Johan concludes: “I have to be honest: we make 300 of these types of programs per year and there are sometimes bad ones.”