Özcan Akyol thinks that the Hotel Hollandia program proves that it is really time to pass on the important periods on television to the new generation.
The Paul de Leeuw show Hotel Hollandia scores incredibly poorly and this seems mainly due to the premiere episode. It was not only full of mediocre cabaret, but also two celebrities who are very unpopular: Rachel Hazes and Rob Kemps. The viewers immediately dropped out and actually never returned.
Extinct
The celebrity guests have now been dumped, but the substandard cabaret has remained. According to Özcan Akyol, it is becoming painfully clear week after week that this generation of jokers has somewhat fizzled out.
A reader of his VARAgids letter column, Mr Ronald from Amsterdam, raises the poor quality of the Paul de Leeuw show with him. “I watched Hotel Hollandia. Paul de Leeuw with his jokers at the bar cannot compete with this. The topics are often quite meaningless.”
Get on?
It’s a series of nonsense, this Ronald complains. “A calendar of farmers, people running the Amsterdam marathon. Then a stupid game with students. Followed by an interview with blind people and at the same time a pole dancer. Then I dropped out. What people come up with this? What do you think Eus? Continue like this?”
No, says Özcan. “Perhaps it is time to offer such time slots to the new generation of jokers, because today’s cabaret relies heavily on proven and past successes. The definition of craftsmanship is that you continue to develop.”
To the ground
Furthermore, Özcan does not want to say too much about it. After all, Paul is a BNNVARA colleague and he is of course already under fire. “It is always unsympathetic to kick when people are already on the ground.”
He concludes: “The great ambition with this program has not come true. And the makers know this better than anyone. Let us be happy that at least something is being tried again.”