Due to the overdose of spicy opinions, De Oranjezondag seems like a search for the new Johan Derksen

Wwe just had to talk about it The Orange Sundaythe talk show that should provide a happier Sunday evening alternative to SBS brother Today Inside. Expectations were high in advance, because presenter Hélène Hendriks The Orange Summer previously showed that she can carry such a light-hearted talk show effortlessly.

Hendriks seems to be continuing that line effortlessly, judging by the excellent viewing figures The Orange Sunday. And yet the experts were not exactly happy with the first weeks of the program. Complaints were made about the messy atmosphere, the role of giggling sidekick Rutger Castricum, and the many plants in the studio.

You won’t hear me say anything about those plants (although a talk show in a kind of garden center is a very nice idea), but after eight episodes what else can we actually say about The Orange Sunday?

Well, in any case, there is absolutely no question of a somewhat innovative talk show. The program is mainly a continuation of Today Inside (and HLF8) with largely the same resources. Don’t expect conversations from which you will learn something: also The Orange Sunday is an uninhibited opinion extravaganza.

What else could you want, with guests like Castricum, Guido den Aantrekker and Angela de Jong? The leaders of the adamant positions are allowed to have their say on a wide range of topics, from Princess Alexia’s media appearances and the cunnilingus scene in the series Maxima to angry tweets and developments in the formation. The real expertise (sports reporter Noa Vahle and TUI spokesperson Petra Kok) was at a safe distance in the second row.

With that overdose of peppery opinions, it seems The Orange Sunday almost a search for the new Johan Derksen: an opinion machine on the right side of the political spectrum, who does not hesitate to say ‘what it is like’. Regularly returning guest Jack van Gelder currently has the most claim, as the ultimate poster boy for the chronically dissatisfied Netherlands. Prem Radhakishun was already at the table, Den Aantrekker is eager and the opinions of TV critic De Jong are also becoming increasingly versatile.

It’s not boring, but with all those aspiring Derksentjes it’s worth watching The Orange Sunday a grueling exercise, as if you were forced to read unvarnished opinions on X for an hour.

At such a moment you long for a talk show that is unique, and then we automatically arrive at it Business Class, where seventies Harry Mens and Catherine Keyl argued about the satisfyer on Sunday. Human thought it was a strange thing, and ‘arranged it all himself’ (‘Isn’t that what a man is for?’) The razor-sharp Keyl did not leave it at that, and corrected Human that far too many men thought that way.

It was an absurd conversation, but it turned out to be a lot more fun than an hour of digging up X opinions in the garden center.