k_luifje

In what the movie 'Moord in Extase' (1984) didn't really succeed, 'Baantjer' (1995-present) succeeded with honor. The characters created by Appie Baantjer (writer of novels about a detective named de Cock spelled C-O-C-K and his help Vledder) became, and still are today, a mega hit in The Netherlands, and Belgium as well. Ever since the beginning in 1995 De Cock (Piet Römer) and Vledder (Victor Reinier) are loved by a tremendous group of people. Weekly the show has superb ratings, even when RTL 4 (the channel broadcasting 'Baantjer' in The Netherlands) shows reruns!

And why? I can only guess, because there are actually no good reasons for watching it. Except maybe the guest stars. 'Baantjer' always has a few guest actors which are very famous in the Netherlands.

But other reasons for watching this crap?

Not the main cast actors, that's for sure. They all act very uninspired and bored with their roles, which I can understand very good. They have to do the same trick every episode. Yawn! Besides that there is too much product-placing in the series. So much that it would almost make the show camp. And the so-called jokes, mostly (99%) between De Cock and Buitendam (Serge-Henri Valcke), are as anti-funny as movies like Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow and worst of all, always the same. Buitendam gets angry at De Cock for no good reason and De Cock plays along with the kinda uptight Buitendam. The best reason not to see this show is the writing. Every episode is the same as the last one, there are never any surprises or interesting motives for a killing. Never a murder unsolved, yeah right. I know a lot of series have a patron every episode, but in 'Baantjer' it just doesn't work.

Every episode starts with a body found somewhere. Then De Cock and Vledder go to the crime scene (always arriving after Vera Prins, Marian Mudder), get some clues and talk to some people who could have done it or might have a clue who did it. Then there is the little 'gag' between De Cock en Buitendam, which always makes Buitendam look like a little dumb nitwit. Followed by a few short shots so we can see how pretty Amsterdam looks (By the way, if you want to see a film with interesting and nice shots of Amsterdam you should see 'Amsterdamned'). Next on the agenda is some interrogation and the visit to the local pub, with Lowietje (played by 5(!) actors already) behind the counter and the whores at the background. A few more interrogations follow and De Cock (always De Cock) has found out who did it and why.

And the final scene is always (100% always) the one where De Cock, Vledder, Prins, Keizer (played by Martin Schwab) and Mrs. De Cock are eating and summarizing the murder of that episode so childish that it looks as if they own only one human brain together.

And while typing this I realize what makes 'Baantjer' so popular. You can shut down your brain activity a whole lot and watch this mind numbing, unfunny (but with only a few percent brain activity everything is funny I guess), bad-acted, not surprising series! It's no more than mindless, simple entertainment.

This is one of those shows where I can truly say that I have seen every single episode. Thanks to the reruns, off course, which made me watch it over and over again when I was just a young, little boy. Not seeing (or perhaps not wanting to see) how bad the action, how boring and slow the story was. And how every episode was almost the same as the previous one. The fact that people only shot at other peoples legs (not in the head or chest) didn't bother me either in those days. Now it does bother me and I'm always wondering why I was such a fan in my youth. Luckily I found out after some thinking.

When I was a fan of Hannibal, Murdoch, Face and B.A. (and Amy) I saw a group of friends, very good friends helping out good people who were oppressed by the bad people. They always won, every episode ended as a feel-good-one, there were a lot of laughs, justice was served and my friends Hannibal, Murdoch, Face and B.A. (and Amy) took me home where I was waiting for them to pick me up for another adventure. And I thank them for that joy and adventure they gave me.

This comedy, originally based on ''Man about the house'' (1973), is on air for about eight years now, and for Dutch understandings that's quite long. There aren't many Dutch comedy's broadcasting that many seasons (for as far as I know only ''Zeg eens AAA'' (1981-1989) did as well as ''Oppassen!!!'' (1991-present)). Therefore, Sam Sam can be called a hit. Seeing it, it's quite obvious why it's such a success.

First of all, the acting is done professional and very enthusiast. Although it must be said that the (most of the time) bigger-than-life acting by John Jones is a possible annoy-factor. Secondly the series is fast, meaning there are no really long scenes, which is probably one of the reasons the series is especially popular by younger people. There isn't much time to get bored.Besides that the writing is almost perfect (very funny and not to predictable, a trap some comedy's fall in most of the time) and a few of the characters have one-liners everybody knows and loves. Riet Brouwer (played by Bea Meulman) says ''Heb ik dat!?'' (''That's my luck!'') a lot, while her husband's (Nol, played by Jules Royaards) filler is ''Gloeiende, gloeiende.'' (''Bloody, bloody.''). And when Nol meets Jimmy, Chris, Jo or Lex, he always calls them ''Eh.Dinges'' (''Eh.What's-your-name''). And almost naturally there is the boy-girl situation. The public as well as the other characters kinda know Jimmy (John Jones) and Chris (Anne-Mieke Ruyten) belong together, but they never seem to get together properly.

With John Jones and Anne-Mieke Ruyten as each-others love-interests, Elle van Rijn as the dumb, blonde Jo and Joost Buitenweg brilliantly playing Jimmy's best friend, over-sexed, and therefore disliked by Chris and Jo, Lex; the youngsters from ''Man about the house'' are replaced without a doubt as good as (or perhaps even a little better) than the original British cast. And the Ropers, originally played by Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy with their whole hearts, are now performed by Bea Meulman and perfectly casted Jules Royaards.

So the biggest threat to the show would be the leaving of one of the actors. Or worse, two of the actors. This is what happened in 2001 when Anne-Mieke Ruyten and Elle van Rijn left the series. Replaced by Angelique de Bruijne and Anneke Beukman the show went on (it still does) without to much damage, so it seemed. But in my opinion, the episode described in the trivia section (where Jimmy and Chris finally end up together) should be the final episode of the series, while the show was still at its peak. OK, I admit, already it was a little over its peak.

Watching the show with the new actors isn't a disaster and sometimes it's as funny as it once was, but it's obviously a copy of something we've seen before (sometimes more than once before) already. But luckily it's an enjoyable copy.