While a summer storm rose above the Netherlands, a very airy summer breeze was blowing The Orange Summer on SBS6. Hélène Hendriks will fill the time slot of for the next six weeks Inside todaywhere previously Marcel van Roosmalen and Gijs Groenteman met for four weeks Marcel & Gijs sat. I actually expected a sports-like talk show à la The evening stage of the NOS. None of that, the only similarity is that The evening stage was broadcast live from the courtyard of a French castle, De Oranjezomer is live from a tent on the Kasteelplein in Breda, in front of the Royal Military Academy.
With Hélène Hendriks, the women of the sport sit on the sidelines. Noa Vahle for the football news, Leontien van Moorsel with cycling commentary. Guest of the week: Özcan Akyol, viewer magnet and viewer rating gun according to audience rating expert Tina Nijkamp. Here Eus combines the roles of Johan Derksen and Marcel van Roosmalen. Professional grumbler, humorist, political commentator, football analyst and the man with the meta view on the course of the program.
The first broadcast, Monday evening, Eus quickly became too serious. At the table political interpreter Merel Ek, former politician Klaas Dijkhoff. Hendriks kept broaching boring subjects, thought Eus. The departure of SP Member of Parliament Renske Leijten. yawn. The interrogation of ‘scouts’ Khadija Arib and Annemarie Jorritsma by MPs. Sigh. Merel Ek first had to explain again what the situation was with ‘function elsewhere’. And then another question for Dijkhoff. That doesn’t get along, it’s not fun like that, and it’s certainly not light-hearted. Eus tried to get a joke out of the former director of the KMA who was sitting in the audience, but Hendriks put a stop to that when it was already beyond uncomfortable.
On the bounce, episode two became a bit like Tuesday’s Tour stage, going from Dax to Nogaro. The whole ride was flat, flat, flat, Dione de Graaff of De Avondetappe had already warned on Monday evening. And Leontien van Moorsel could confirm that it was watching grass grow. At the table this time American connoisseur Raymond Mens and presenter and positive person Sander de Kramer. He was announced as the opposite of Eus, who had said in advance that he found De Kramer’s positivity annoying.
Talk quickly
Didn’t notice any resentment whatsoever. Or well, they disagreed for a while when it came to a possible ban on alcohol in sports canteens. But since that ban was a proposal and the ban will never come, they were quickly done talking. Pretty much agreement on everything else. Asylum seekers: there should be less of them. How? Well, just temper the influx, shelter in the region, make hard choices but remain humane. Rutte: he doesn’t care. White powder found in the White House: that must be from President Biden’s son, because he is addicted to cocaine, right? Joint conclusion: surely a father does not deny his only remaining son access to his house?
It’s not that what Hélène Hendrik does isn’t clever. She smoothly switches from the traditional American hot dog eating competition on July 4 (record: 76 sausages in ten minutes), via Sylvie Meis to migration policy, and knows all football players, tennis players and cyclists by name. Noa Vahle is an excellent sports reporter, why not put her at the table? Then it might be another summer of sports.
Cliffhanger until the commercial break was now the secret shared by the three men at the table. Eus had raised it early in the episode. Disclosure after the break: all three underwent a hair transplant. We had no grass, but watched it grow.