F.C. De Kampioenen

FC De Kampioenen's only reason for existence is it's local popularity. It has caused this sitcom to run for over 15 years (and still counting).

It deals about an amateur soccer team with the emphasis "amateur". Every storyline deals with the same subject: some misunderstanding that takes ridiculous (and predictable) proportions, to get resolved in the end.

The show's been running for over 15 years now, and the production probably decided not to change a winning team. Which means that the show has had minor changes over the course of years (besides a couple of actors getting replaced (they nearly all left by themselves rather than being thrown of the show)). The humor hasn't changed a bit over the years and it was already outdated when it first aired in the first place.

I guess you have to be Flemish to get this, and over 60 years old, to enjoy such an old fashioned TV show as this.

Could be quite weird hearing this but actually I'm an italian that moved to Belgium for personal reasons and so it's only a little time that I'm in fact exposed to flemish television. In the absolutely mostly family friendly tv programmation that is rather aimed to show countless hours of boring, repetitive sports or in fact sitcoms from the age when cellphones where still big as phone booths or yet to be invented in fact, "F.C. De Kampionen" is the perfect show to see for its simple mindlesness that cheers up the watcher with that tongue-in-cheek humour that once permeated also the kitchens with cheap wooden furniture, filled with the greasy air given by the fryer always on ,that were so familiar in the late 70s, early 80s. It seems that a lot of shows that are aired (or re-aired) in Belgium tend to be very harmless, pretty childish in order to avoid to hurt anyone's feelings, except of course the poorly made ethnic sterotypes that are oh sooo (not) funny and pretty outdated, especially when portrayed by actors of not the above said ethnicity. At least, some research wouldn't be a bad thing. Going back to "F.C. De Kampionen", when first aired seemed that was a huge hit scorer (early 90s), praised by tv critics and the target audiences. Nowadays the sitcom is the ultimate off season filler, with constant re-runs and spinoff movies every summer, with sporadic appareances even during winter. Actually the spinoff movies are being made as this review is written, in fact. It's cheap and quick fun,even if a bit stale. It's like the exact moment after a lunch at your grandma's, when you're feeling bloated and because you're momentarily impaired for anything intelligible, fart jokes seems the most comedic thing on Earth. The show doesn't contain any of the above as I said before, as is hand-confectioned for all ages and very prone to be the ultimate companion for senior viewers in retirement castles. The network that airs "F.C. De Kampionen" has been milking the brand with any sort of possible merchandising, from stickers, comic books to sausages and wurstels, avalaible in the unmissable "frituren" that can be spotted in the whole country, where your liver and pancreas will fight against your personal satisfaction for eating the ultimate, so savory kind of fast food. In the end, this show, even for its crescent curve of rotting away or sellout politics, it's perfect for entertaining the whole family with its bland script and harmless jokes. It's a neverending recurring portrait of the Belgium that once was, so it's interesting also in anthropological manner, for knowing and understanding better the society around.

FC de kampioenen is something that is very well known around Belgium (the flemish part) If you live here and haven't heard of them you live under a rock, simple. anyways, this series started in 1990, and we're now 2010...which is 20 years. that's rather long...the only thing that bothers me is that the newer ones aren't all too great (and IF you watch a recent one a base your opinion on that one it shouldn't be valid, because the older ones are 100x better) but that's probably because they're running out of ideas. They'll end in 2011, after airing season 21.

so if you start watching them, don't start with the recent ones. ;)

F.C. De Kampioenen exits already 15 years and still they are not stopping with it. At the end of this year the 16th season will be started.

This still with the very popular cast. Now that Bieke and Marc are married, we expect to have much more hilarious episode's.

For everyone that can view F.C. De Kampioenen, do it. It's the best Flemish sitcom ever!

If you need more information about FC De Kampioenen look around on IMDb and you will find all the information that you need.

F.C. De Kampioenen = quality time for young and old! With everykind of emotions: fun, anger, happiness, romantic,..

F. C. De Kampioenen started out as an almost perfect series, especially in the first eight seasons. Back then, the stories were strong, the characters recognizable and the humor both comic and tragicomic. The average person recognized themselves in the situations that were depicted.

--- Stereotypes and lame children's humor --- Over time, however, the quality began to decline sharply. The characters increasingly became caricatures of themselves (a clear case of Ned Flanderization), and the series became entangled in childish humor and repetition.

What was once mature and relatable turned into a weak family sitcom, aimed at young children. Adult viewers dropped out, but their voices were ignored.

--- Oscar Crucke's departure --- The departure of Carry Goossens (Oscar) after season 4 left a big hole. Oscar was the father figure of the series: café owner, coach and moral anchor of the team.

His absence meant the loss of a central force. The charm of the original setting was never fully recovered.

--- The arrival of Marc Vertongen --- With the introduction of Marc Vertongen as a main character, the character of the series changed dramatically. Where the humor initially started from recognizable human situations, exaggerated caricature was increasingly chosen.

Marc was portrayed as an adult man with a pronounced childish naivety - initially charming, but gradually so over-elaborated that it began to feel unnatural and artificial, almost a form of false stupidity.

This exaggeration put the series in an uncomfortable position: the line between comic innocence and the unintentional characterization of a mental disability sometimes became wafer-thin.

Because Marc is not a child, but an adult who behaves in this way, it smells of a form of simplification that is jarring.

For viewers who were attached to the original tragicomic undertone, it became increasingly difficult to continue laughing uninhibitedly.

The credible character humor from the early years made way for forced slapstick, with Marc in particular becoming the symbol for the change of course. A change of course that, for those who experienced the early years, inevitably meant the end of the original magic.

--- Dimitri De Tremmerie's legacy --- Jacques Vermeire's DDT was the figurehead of the original humor: cunning, stingy, but still endearing. After his departure after season 8, the series declined further.

His successors could never match his charisma, and without DDT, much of the original spirit disappeared.

--- In summary --- F. C. De Kampioenen earned its cult status thanks to its early years, but continued for far too long.

The later seasons degraded to a bland children's comedy, while the original concept that made the program great - were ignored. The tragedy is not only in the loss of quality, but also in the fact that the makers themselves did not realize when it was really over.

In short: this was once a beautiful piece of Flemish television... until the soul was squeezed out of it.