Flikken Maastricht

Its bad people, I mean, lets be honest here.

Mediocre actors, bad storyline.

The main characters are played by fairly decent actors, but the other actors are awful.

You can't really blame them, they're all rather one-dimensional-stereotypes. They always react in the exact way you would expect them to react. No surprises. Marion and Romeo aren't funny, while the situations they're in are obviously SUPPOSED to be funny.

I've never had the idea that I was actually looking at the real thing. I was looking at a bunch of actors in police uniforms. They seem to be out of place.

The actors that actually speak in the correct dialect (from Limburg) are always playing the part of "low-IQ-having-over-emotional-dimwit".

I'm convinced this series is aimed at kids in the early teens. However they did win a prize this year. But these kids are allowed to vote as well. Just don't be fooled!

I really enjoy NOT watching this show every Friday night. Watching 'Flikken Maastricht' is about as much fun as trying to figure out how to lick your elbow

Just watch from season #1. See how it developes! . . . . . . .

I'm watching Flikken Maastricht via BVN, which is a free to air satellite broadcast. Maastricht is to The Netherlands what New Orleans is to the US, but without the music. The food, mardi gras, French influences, those are all similar. In the series there's nothing that refers to the couleur locale, save for the back ground. The indigenous Maastricht people speak a beautiful language, just like New Orleans cajun, but I haven't find one character who sounds like a local.

But, what bothers me most is how the writers are unable to build a story. They have no clue how to set up the key scenes of the program. It's structured like an Emeril show, first you take this, than you do that and voilá, there's your gumbo.

How many foreign companies have picked up the show?

After 4 episodes I can safely conclude that ''Flikken: Maastricht'' is a worthy police show on Dutch television. It has more depth and character development than in ''Baantjer'' and less over-the-top violence than in ''Van Speijk''. It's a bit written by the book, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

If I do have to complain about the show, I'd say that ex-soap star Angela Schijf just isn't a very strong performer. She's a charismatic person, but one needs more to make a character come to life. Now she seems like a whining kid who never grew out of puberty instead of the grumpy female detective she has to play. Victor Reinier is very good in his role as ''older'' policeman on the edge. It's funny to see him in this role, considering that he played the greenish assistant for '' De Cock '' in countless episodes of Baantjer.

I also adore the fact that this show has Maastricht as a setting. This city has a nice Burgundian air to it, strengthened by having an old-fashioned tavern as one of the recurring locations in the show.

Small introduction: 'Flikken' is Dutch slang for 'police officers', while 'Maastricht' is a beautiful town in the very South of the Netherlands.

So these series are about a police unit in a provincial town. Set in the current crime, atmosphere, morality & mentality of the Netherlands. Extra flavor is added by Maastricht's internationalism: the town lies close to Belgium and Germany, and has its Dutch character lovely mixed with these foreign influences.

Another key-point: 'Flikken Maastricht' has its plots strongly interwoven with the personal lives of its police officers. Too much to be true, I should say, but these recognizable day-to-day problems have contributed to the series' popularity.

'Flikken Maastricht' was and is a TV-hit, (so far) spread over four seasons. Its evolution follows a usual pattern: developing itself in seasons 1 and 2, peaking in 3, and getting a little overdone in series 4.