Tros television has always presented itself as family friendly. They're motto has been 'The Netherland's largest family' for years. Satirical comedy was more up the alley of their competitors in broadcasting such as VARA and VPRO. On the other hand, the God fearing NCRV broadcast the ironic program "Farce Majeur", consisting of a team of 5 comedians and writers that included quiz master Ted de Braak. So the TROS decided to get into the act with "Het Andere Net", a spoof show proclaiming to be an alternative channel, but headlined by two of the TROS' golden boys: talk show host Ivo Niehe and Quizmaster Ron Brandsteder. Ivo (who also produced) probably saw it as his own version of Spitting Image, as he always proudly displayed the dog chew toys based on world leaders from that show on his talk-show desk. The only actual comic talent in there was Adelheid Roosen, who took on most of the characters while Ivo and Ron played it save by appearing as newsreaders and interviewers.
Each episode followed a similar pattern: the three of them would talk/sing an opening number that mostly consisted of repeating the same lines over and over again. Adelheid then appeared as a female anchorperson (we still had those in the eighties) to introduce the line-up for the entire evening (read: less than half and hour). Ron and Ivo present the news consisting of stock footage, bloopers and gaffs from around the world. Next up Adelheid stars in a sketch pertaining to be the 'main feature' directed by Haye van der Heye (actually the whole show was directed by him, but they always made sure he got a prominent credit for this part). Ivo then did that thing he always does: interview a Dutch celebrity about this weeks specialized subject. These interviews consisted of the three leads interacting with news footage of world leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. This is followed by more news items featuring street interviews by Ron and/or Ivo. Some of these segments were filmed in Belgium, either to laugh at our neighboring country (which we Dutch love to do) or maybe because Ron & Ivo were afraid they were to well known to do silly street interviews in the Netherlands. Finally Adelheid appears as one of her stock characters, Xantippe de Wit (also being interviewed by Ivo) before the trio end the show with another song.
Now Ron Brandsteder has been known to occasionally dabble into acting and Ivo surprised friends and enemies in more recent years by fronting his own one man show in which he talked about himself and showed old footage from his programs (two of his favorite pastimes). He even sang and played the piano for a bit. The latter being something he hadn't done in public ever since Het Andere Net. However in this particular show their comic escapades fell flat. One sketch that featured the two of them in old age make-up was only bearable as long as people were still getting accustomed to the make-up job and another bit in which Brandsteder is filmed eating a banana which is then shown in reverse is just the kind of stuff anyone with a Video 8 film recorder could do. Obviously Adelheid had to carry the show, as the viewing public just wasn't ready to watch Ron or Ivo drop out of their regular TV roles. And Adelheid, like all comedians, is and was an acquired taste. Needless to say the show did not catch on and has for all intents and purposes been completely forgotten. That was until Han Peekel of HilversumBest decided to spend an entire month celebrating the work of Ivo Niehe. At the end of the month, perhaps even at the behest of Ivo himself (for he was featured in a brand new Peekel interview) three of the four remaining Andere Net episodes were dusted off and given airplay for the first time in twenty years. And of course the material was even more out of touch with the viewing public now.
5 out of 10
Each episode followed a similar pattern: the three of them would talk/sing an opening number that mostly consisted of repeating the same lines over and over again. Adelheid then appeared as a female anchorperson (we still had those in the eighties) to introduce the line-up for the entire evening (read: less than half and hour). Ron and Ivo present the news consisting of stock footage, bloopers and gaffs from around the world. Next up Adelheid stars in a sketch pertaining to be the 'main feature' directed by Haye van der Heye (actually the whole show was directed by him, but they always made sure he got a prominent credit for this part). Ivo then did that thing he always does: interview a Dutch celebrity about this weeks specialized subject. These interviews consisted of the three leads interacting with news footage of world leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. This is followed by more news items featuring street interviews by Ron and/or Ivo. Some of these segments were filmed in Belgium, either to laugh at our neighboring country (which we Dutch love to do) or maybe because Ron & Ivo were afraid they were to well known to do silly street interviews in the Netherlands. Finally Adelheid appears as one of her stock characters, Xantippe de Wit (also being interviewed by Ivo) before the trio end the show with another song.
Now Ron Brandsteder has been known to occasionally dabble into acting and Ivo surprised friends and enemies in more recent years by fronting his own one man show in which he talked about himself and showed old footage from his programs (two of his favorite pastimes). He even sang and played the piano for a bit. The latter being something he hadn't done in public ever since Het Andere Net. However in this particular show their comic escapades fell flat. One sketch that featured the two of them in old age make-up was only bearable as long as people were still getting accustomed to the make-up job and another bit in which Brandsteder is filmed eating a banana which is then shown in reverse is just the kind of stuff anyone with a Video 8 film recorder could do. Obviously Adelheid had to carry the show, as the viewing public just wasn't ready to watch Ron or Ivo drop out of their regular TV roles. And Adelheid, like all comedians, is and was an acquired taste. Needless to say the show did not catch on and has for all intents and purposes been completely forgotten. That was until Han Peekel of HilversumBest decided to spend an entire month celebrating the work of Ivo Niehe. At the end of the month, perhaps even at the behest of Ivo himself (for he was featured in a brand new Peekel interview) three of the four remaining Andere Net episodes were dusted off and given airplay for the first time in twenty years. And of course the material was even more out of touch with the viewing public now.
5 out of 10