Baantjer

Baantjer is a great show! (not crap at all) Every Friday night, here in the Netherlands, I watch it with my family and it's a very exciting show. The person who wrote the other review has probably never seen Baantjer because if he had, he wouldn't have called it crap! Also, it's not true that the only reason for watching Baantjer is because famous stars appear on screen every time because they never have famous people on Baantjer! Baantjer is just a great, funny and exciting Dutch show, that would never make it in the USA because it has too much Dutch culture. But that's not a reason for people to comment negatively on it! And If you ever go to the Netherlands, check it out! (You'll definitely fall in love with it!

Piet Romer is of course my number 1 favorite Dutch actor, it depends on how he portrays the character De Cock, and that was so worldclass, i mean he was a legend. Victor Reinier plays his sidekick. Between Victor Reinier and Piet Romer is many chemistry you feel that. The storylines where never lame but incredible strong builed.

So...for those who trash this little gem, you certainly don't speak for the majority. Love the 2 lead characters and their relationship, very natural bantering back and forth with respect from the younger to the older. The episode about the jazz big band was cool, man - a lot due to the characterizations of jazz participants being exactly the same as in the US. And that the talent it takes to play jazz can lead its owner astray just to keep the cool coming. Plus...well, every episode I watch - bete it this one or others on MHZ I pick up so much cultural information. One of my favorite non-verbal scenes is that of de Cock walking into police headquarters where he has to make way for two roller skating patrol officers and the look on his face when doing so. Also enlightening is the the laissez-faire attitude of the Dutch towards prostitution. It services are taxed, their government is probably well financed :)

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.

The Baantjer Mysteries are to Denmark what Midsommrr Murders are to England. They provide intriguing "whodunnits" set in a comfortable framework with continuing lead characters. De Cock, the primary detective, is a seasoned professional and a wise man informed by his Calvinist upbringing; he never settles for the obvious. His counterpoint is Vledder, a youngish and cynical womanizer always swayed by the apparent, yet incorrect solutions. He provides less than comic relief with his insensitive comments and poorly framed humor. The team is rounded out by two workhorses, Prins and Keizer, a versatile and detail oriented female detective and a tech savvy investigator. All technically report to Buittendam, a bureaucrat who lets De Cock run with little actual interference while keeping up the facade of the nit picking manager.

I enjoy the series because the plots are well written and never obvious, while the relationships among the characters, particularly De Cock and Buittendam, are many layered. I also appreciate the standard ending where De Cock gathers his troops in his home with his wife to recap the investigation and solution, a device similar to Poirot or Columbo assembling suspects for a final reveal.

The series is well worth the time of mystery fans, particularly cozy mysteries. My only real complaints are the paucity of the subtitles (they catch only a third or so of the dialogue) and the overly stylized camerawork in a couple of seasons.