HLN Media WatchersIt was supposed to be the successor to ‘FC De Kampioenen’, but when ‘Growing & Blooming’ was ready to be broadcast, the VRT no longer wanted to hear about that promise. Two episodes have now been broadcast. Which attracted up to 900,000 viewers. Among those viewers are also Champion actors Herman Verbruggen and Marijn Devalck. Their critical analysis: “It’s not good yet. The most painful conclusion is that it is no laughing matter,” they say in the podcast ‘HLN Mediawatchers’.
Firm but fair. This is what the duo ‘Markske and Boma’, or actors Herman Verbruggen and Marijn Devalck, sound like after watching ‘Growing & Blooming’. “I think it is very courageous of the VRT to start a new sitcom and say that it should be an alternative to the Champions, and to put it in the time slot of the Champions. I like to compare it to a hamburger. It’s almost as if they at Quick said they would stop using Giant and offer an alternative. When you open that box, it is never what you would expect. So a gold medal for courage,” says Herman Verbruggen in the podcast.
“But now to the point. I didn’t think the first episodes were very good. A lot of things are really difficult. The problems certainly do not lie with the actors. They are people who can act. But I think something went wrong with the recipe for that new series. But I still give the series some credit.”
The most painful realization? It’s no laughing matter.
Herman Verbruggen, Actor FC De Kampioenen
Marijn Devalck happily agrees with Herman’s analysis, but is harsher in his assessment. “It’s not good yet. This should be a comedic series, but that’s exactly what I miss across the board. While watching I wondered if I was watching a soap opera or Everyone Famous. Now it’s anything but comedy.”
“The most painful realization? It’s no laughing matter. So it is not good,” says Verbruggen. “You can work on that, but it is a long-term job. The first ten episodes have been canned, so viewers will have to sit through them. That certainly plays a disadvantage. There were definitely a number of mistakes made in this new series. I notice that everyone plays in their own key. While everyone has to play in the same style. That’s the director’s job. Now you’re looking at something that ripples and wobbles. There is no unity in the structure. Look, there were also weak scenarios at the Champions, but as a team we turned some scenes into a real sketch. That worked. Period. People were having so much fun.”
There is hardly any recognition in ‘Growth & Bloom’
Marijn Devalck, Actor FC De Kampioenen
“Herman is right. Look, there was humor in the very first episode of the Champions. Remember the story of the jerseys. There is hardly any recognition in ‘Growing & Blooming’. That’s important in a sitcom. It is also very difficult to create humor with the ‘garden center’ theme. I compare it to the Kampioenen period when DDT’s garage was replaced by BTW’s restaurant. That was a bad idea, a bad period. People couldn’t laugh at it.”
Listen to the full conversation with Herman Verbruggen and Marijn Devalck in the full episode of ‘HLN Mediawatchers’.
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