Kopspijkers is a talk show that ran on the Dutch public television from 1995 to 2005 (first named Spijkers). A recipient, in 2003, of the annual Zilveren Nipkow best-show award from Dutch television critics, the programme was produced by the left-of-centre public broadcaster VARA. It was hosted by Jack Spijkerman[nl], hence the title.
Humorous in style, the show was particularly noted for its satirical sketches. Until 2001 it was 'normal' cabaret, but in September 2001 (which happened to be the week of the 9/11 terrorist attacks) the show started with imitations of famous people. These were much like those featured in the British TV programme Spitting Image, but used real actors. Political leaders like Jan Peter Balkenende, Wouter Bos and Gerrit Zalm were frequently impersonated. At first only Dutch people were impersonated, later also foreign celebrities (including Tony Blair, Nelson Mandela, John Kerry and Viktor Yushchenko) were impersonated. In recent episodes even historical characters, like Napoleon Bonaparte, Anne Frank, Plato and Joseph Stalin were imitated. Kopspijkers was amongst the most viewed programmes in the Netherlands. At the start of the Iraq War one of their sketches "BZN in Baghdad", went viral on the internet in the English-speaking world, and included BZN impersonators chroma-keyed into newsreel footage of combat and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue
On several occasions, the imitations have caused controversies. The first imitation episode showed sensationalist TV presenter Willibrord Frequin chasing Osama bin Laden asking "why he had been so cowardly" and "why he sent thousands of people into death". Pim Fortuyn was often imitated, which led to accusations against Kopspijkers after he was assassinated. In November 2003 Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Minister Piet Hein Donner complained about the 'tasteless' imitations of members of the royal family. Queen Beatrix later said she had no problems with being imitated. In 2005, Jack Spijkerman decided to cancel his contract with VARA and sign with the newly formed channel Talpa. Though Spijkerman intended to finish the running season, VARA cut it short and cancelled the 4 remaining shows. Spijkerman made a similar (but commonly deemed of less quality) show on Talpa, called Koppensnellers[nl] but after bankruptcy of the channel it disappeared of the Dutch TV.
In 2004 similar shows were broadcast in Germany and Belgium, but they weren't very popular.
The Dutch public broadcasting system is a group of organizations that are responsible for public service television and radio broadcasting in the Netherlands. It is composed of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO) foundation, which acts as its governing body, and a number of public broadcasters. The Dutch Media Act 2008 regulates how air time is divided and puts the administration of the public broadcasting system in the hands of the NPO Board of Directors.
Radio 538 is a Dutch commercial radio station that was founded in Hilversum, Netherlands in 1992. It is the second-most listened to radio station in the Netherlands. Radio 538 refers to the wavelength on which Radio Veronica used to broadcast in the 1970s. The station is owned by Talpa Network. Mostly targeting a young audience, the station plays a mix of music from the decades 1980s to today, currently genres were dance, R&B, pop, and rock music. The music selection is mainly based on the Dutch Top 40 chart. Its breakfast and drive-time shows are talk-intensive.
NPO 1 is the first national television station in the Netherlands. It launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels NPO 2 and NPO 3. Several broadcasting organisations of the Publieke Omroep deliver a wide variety of programs for the channel, usually for larger audiences. In 2018, it was the most viewed channel in the Netherlands, reaching a market share of 22.0%.
RTL 4 is a Dutch free TV channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment channel with infotainment, television drama, talk shows, game shows, news and talent shows. It is owned by RTL Nederland, a subsidiary of RTL Group. The station has three sister TV channels: RTL 5, RTL 7 and RTL 8, and four thematic TV channels: RTL Z, RTL Lounge, RTL Crime and RTL Telekids.
Tien, previously known as Talpa, was the name of a commercial television channel in the Netherlands. Tien opened on August 13, 2005 as Talpa, following a name dispute with SBS Broadcasting. SBS owned the trademark "TV10" and objected to the use of the word Tien. The owner of Tien, Dutch media mogul John de Mol, decided to rebrand the channel as Talpa, the Latin word for "mole", which is mol in Dutch. Subsequently Talpa became the name of De Mol's holding company.
NTR is a Dutch public-service broadcaster, supplying television and radio programming of an informational, educational, and cultural nature to the national public broadcasting system, Nederlandse Publieke Omroep (NPO). NTR was created in 2010, following the merger of the Nederlandse Programma Stichting (NPS) and two educational broadcasters, Televisie Academie (Teleac) and the Radio Volksuniversiteit (RVU). For details of these predecessor organizations, see further below.
NPO 2 is a Dutch television channel, the sister channel of NPO 1 and NPO 3. It was established on 1 October 1964 at 20:00, initially with a 2.5-hour schedule until 22:30.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2006, following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet. The election proved relatively successful for the governing Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party (SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders and the animal rights party Party for the Animals (PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights group to enter a European parliament.
Johan "Jan" Mulder is a Dutch former footballer, writer, columnist, and TV personality.
RTL Boulevard is a daily television programme on the Dutch TV channel RTL 4. It was set up as a television equivalent of a tabloid, with a lot of airy subjects, news items and gossip about the stars, fashion and criminality.
Paul Henri de Leeuw is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor.
BNN or Bart's Neverending Network was a Dutch public broadcasting association supported by Netherlands Public Broadcasting. BNN was founded in 1997 by Bart de Graaff, Gerard Timmer and Frank Timmer and targeted teenagers and young adults. It produced entertainment and information television programming, radio programming, and feature films. Some of BNN's programming dealt with controversial subject matter, including most famously, a hoax reality special made to help raise awareness of the shortage of organ donors in the Netherlands.
Jan Smit is a Dutch singer, television host, and actor. Smit mostly sings songs in the Dutch language, in a genre known as palingsound. In addition to his solo career, in 2015 Smit joined the schlager trio KLUBBB3, and in 2017 The Toppers. As a TV presenter, he has worked on programs like the Beste Zangers and Sterren Muziekfeest op het Plein Since 1999, Smit has been serving as an ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages.
Retecool is a weblog/webmagazine that has existed since May 23, 2000. The initiator of this project is Hubert Roth. According to a survey by marketing blog MarketingFacts.nl, Retecool is currently the fourth largest weblog in the Netherlands. According to themselves the weblog is mainly visited by public aged between 24 and 44 years old. Retecool is a shock blog, similar to Geenstijl.
Vijf tegen Vijf was a Dutch game show based on the original American format of Family Feud. In the game, two teams consisting of five contestants play against each other and have to answer questions based on surveys taken by random people from the Netherlands. They have to guess which answer was given by most of the people involved in the survey.
NPO Humor TV was a digital theme channel of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting dedicated to comedy, cabaret and satire. The channel started as Humor TV on 15 November 2006. On 10 March 2014, Humor TV 24 changed its name to NPO Humor TV. By cuts in public broadcasting NPO Humor TV would stop broadcasting on 1 July 2016.
The Voice of Holland, also known by its acronym TVOH, is a Dutch reality TV singing competition that became a global TV format franchise, created by media tycoon John de Mol and musician Roel van Velzen in the Netherlands and airs on RTL 4. For the first nine seasons, The Voice of Holland was hosted by Martijn Krabbé and Wendy van Dijk. Starting from the tenth season (2019–2020), Wendy van Dijk was replaced by Chantal Janzen.
Talpa Network is a Dutch media conglomerate created by John de Mol Jr. in 2017.
Winston Ronald Gerschtanowitz is a Dutch presenter and actor.
Lucille Martine Werner is a Dutch television presenter and politician. She is best known for hosting close to 2,000 episodes of the word game show Lingo in the years 2005–14.
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