Pommetje Horlepiep was the NCRV's follow up to their long running children's series Swiebertje. Also written by John H. Uit den Bogaard, it debuted a year after 'Swieb' ended his 20 year run at the behest of it's star Joop Doderer. At first glance it seems to be a clone of the previous series: set in the 1920's, Pommetje (Bram Biesterveld) is down on his luck at the start of the show, often finds him self in trouble with the local police (Bert VD Linden as Geitebrei) and finds refuge in the kitchen of Hana (Teddy Schaank), maid to the wealthiest man in town Jonker Sebastiaan (Ton Lensink). But this is where the similarities end; Sebastiaan hires Pommetje (birthname Rombertus) to be his butler and chauffeur, putting an end to his wandering ways. Further more it is more often Sebastiaan's nature to help the less fortunate and his need of Pommetje to assist him in these acts that gets them into trouble as opposed to Pommetje's own actions. In fact, Pommetje doesn't nearly as often get in trouble with the law as Swiebertje was.
Although the series never became as popular as it's predecessor had been (probablly because of all the superficial similarities) it still managed to run for four seasons. The first two consisted of hour long shows broadcast once a month, the last two were 25 minute weekly series. Of the 39 episodes, only the 3rd and 4th series remain: the first 14 tapes have been wiped. When Ton Lensink announced that he was moving to Italy after completing the first series, so did his character, who was promptly replaced by Sebastians brother, Baron Theobald (Baldi for short) who previously had been living in Scotland and had already appeared as a guest during an early episode. Baldi was played by Henk Molenberg as a stern and irritable man who, outwardly was never prone to pry into other peoples affair and unlikely to throw away his money, but in actuality he immediately took over his brother's good Samaritan ways.
Watching both Swiebertje and Pom as an adult, I am struck by the fact that neither of these children's programs feature any children, or for that matter any young people. When Swiebertje ended it's run, the entire cast had gray hair, and as Pommetje starts his adventures, all the main characters already seem to be pushing 40. Further more the old fashioned small town shenanigans never seem to be very exciting or eventful enough to grab a youthful audience full attention. And yet they did at the time. I guess we were all glad to have something broadcast during children's hour at all in those days when there were just 2 Dutch channels.
Having had great success selling a collection of Swiebertje DVD's, the NCRV shop attempted the same marketing procedure for Pommetje and released the third series (12 episodes) spread over 4 separately sold discs in 2006. As mentioned before, this third series saw a change from hour long programs to a thirty minute serial and it becomes apparent that Uit den Boogaard had trouble resolving each story line within 25 minutes. Therefore most of the plot lines run for several episodes (and some are never completely resolved in this series). This results in two of the four discs ending on a cliffhanger of sorts. Needless to say, the NCRV would have been better off selling the entire season as a boxed set instead of trying to squeeze some extra Euro's out of separate DVD's. As it were, the discs did not sell very well, can still be found in bargain bins everywhere and the release of the fourth and final series has been postponed indefinitely.
According to information found online, in the final episode broadcast in 1979, Pommetje got engaged to a local maid, but rather than picking Hanna, the most obvious choice, he went for young Aagje Hobbes (Johanneke van Kooten) who worked for the Baron's neighbor and occasional partner in crime Ieke Maris (Sylvia De Leur). Mrs. Maris, a sailor's wife, was introduced in the aforementioned third series with the intention of becoming a regular and a semi-love interest for the Baron, although an affair was completely out of the question as her sea fairing husband also returned in that final episode, played by Hans Boskamp.
While chances of seeing the remainder of the episodes released to stores seem to be slim, perhaps one of the digital channels specializing in nostalgia such as Hilversum Best, Nostalgienet or /Geschiedenis might find it in their hearts to broadcast the remaining 13 episodes. If not, Pommetje will just have to accept his place in the bargain bin a few notches below Swiebertje.
7 out of 10
Although the series never became as popular as it's predecessor had been (probablly because of all the superficial similarities) it still managed to run for four seasons. The first two consisted of hour long shows broadcast once a month, the last two were 25 minute weekly series. Of the 39 episodes, only the 3rd and 4th series remain: the first 14 tapes have been wiped. When Ton Lensink announced that he was moving to Italy after completing the first series, so did his character, who was promptly replaced by Sebastians brother, Baron Theobald (Baldi for short) who previously had been living in Scotland and had already appeared as a guest during an early episode. Baldi was played by Henk Molenberg as a stern and irritable man who, outwardly was never prone to pry into other peoples affair and unlikely to throw away his money, but in actuality he immediately took over his brother's good Samaritan ways.
Watching both Swiebertje and Pom as an adult, I am struck by the fact that neither of these children's programs feature any children, or for that matter any young people. When Swiebertje ended it's run, the entire cast had gray hair, and as Pommetje starts his adventures, all the main characters already seem to be pushing 40. Further more the old fashioned small town shenanigans never seem to be very exciting or eventful enough to grab a youthful audience full attention. And yet they did at the time. I guess we were all glad to have something broadcast during children's hour at all in those days when there were just 2 Dutch channels.
Having had great success selling a collection of Swiebertje DVD's, the NCRV shop attempted the same marketing procedure for Pommetje and released the third series (12 episodes) spread over 4 separately sold discs in 2006. As mentioned before, this third series saw a change from hour long programs to a thirty minute serial and it becomes apparent that Uit den Boogaard had trouble resolving each story line within 25 minutes. Therefore most of the plot lines run for several episodes (and some are never completely resolved in this series). This results in two of the four discs ending on a cliffhanger of sorts. Needless to say, the NCRV would have been better off selling the entire season as a boxed set instead of trying to squeeze some extra Euro's out of separate DVD's. As it were, the discs did not sell very well, can still be found in bargain bins everywhere and the release of the fourth and final series has been postponed indefinitely.
According to information found online, in the final episode broadcast in 1979, Pommetje got engaged to a local maid, but rather than picking Hanna, the most obvious choice, he went for young Aagje Hobbes (Johanneke van Kooten) who worked for the Baron's neighbor and occasional partner in crime Ieke Maris (Sylvia De Leur). Mrs. Maris, a sailor's wife, was introduced in the aforementioned third series with the intention of becoming a regular and a semi-love interest for the Baron, although an affair was completely out of the question as her sea fairing husband also returned in that final episode, played by Hans Boskamp.
While chances of seeing the remainder of the episodes released to stores seem to be slim, perhaps one of the digital channels specializing in nostalgia such as Hilversum Best, Nostalgienet or /Geschiedenis might find it in their hearts to broadcast the remaining 13 episodes. If not, Pommetje will just have to accept his place in the bargain bin a few notches below Swiebertje.
7 out of 10
