It was wonderful coming home to the Jelies family in A house full, at the start of the fourteenth season. The faithful, 11-member family from Tollebeek (near Urk) has a sense of togetherness in which the Berenstain bear family fades, and fortunately, the sweetest reality stars in the Netherlands have not gone wrong – although they did buy an (inflatable) jacuzzi. . Father Johan glowed with happiness as he filled the bath with water and offspring, his only son Harry (9) sat down in the bubbles and said, with the gratitude of a jaded retiree: ‘This is just life. This is just life!’
The Jelies gave thanks at the table for their daily bread and said in unison, “Until eternity,” whereupon one of the smaller Jelies (impossible to tell which one) farted. In short: pleasantly frumpy television with which you go to bed satisfied, after you have tightened your IUD for a while. I stayed in religious spheres and then stumbled away from Urk!, the sixth season of which will be broadcast on SBS 6. Hairdresser Teun (also called Teun Feun) was busy putting on traditional costumes until the second commercial break, and hanging the next two blocks with a lamp.
Something more entertaining is the new reality series Farmers, bibles and beauties, (Monday evening on SBS 6) about the also religious Spakenburg – you would think that by now a reli-reality series has been made about every heavily religious municipality in the Netherlands. There was The Urk Fishermen, Pronounced Urk and Football, Keek and Kibbelingand when Urk was exhaustively documented, the eel soap and Typical Tubbergen. The Spakenburgers also say that they show the ‘true’ village, against prejudices and ‘negative media reports’. While reality TV makers naturally draw on village stereotypes. For example, we saw florist Dirk-Geert vacuuming his sidewalk and back walk and hairdresser Gretia told us that the villagers were ‘with their mouths in the windowsill’.
So much for the prejudices. Further on on the care farm, the mentally handicapped Piet was upset when nine lambs were born. We also saw a nice meeting between the cheerful Reverend Gertjan and the 92-year-old Wijmpje. Was she afraid of death? ‘Oh, no. I get it very well.’ Was she okay with him reading some of the Bible? Yes. The pastor took out his smartphone and preached about death, in a non-preaching way. She did shed a tear, though.
I read (in the book Trick Mirror) that an American reality show producer said everyone agrees when she asks them to be on a reality show: “Most people want to be famous. Everyone thinks they can be a better Kardashian than the Kardashians.” This is also because producers naturally fall for people who want to propagate or wear something (usually: themselves). Often, and also in Farmers, bibles and beautiesit is precisely the passers-by that it will all be a nuisance, who unexpectedly cause emotion.