Grote Genade (Good Grief) marked the end of the so-called Van Oekel era on VPRO television. Unfortunately Sjef goes out with a whimper instead of a bang. When the VPRO commissioned three featured length TV specials from Wim van der Linden/Gied Jaspars/Ellen Jens & Wim T. Schippers, the team spent most of the combined budget on the first one, "De Ondergang van de Onan". The second, "Echo's Uit Het Alpendal" wisely took the form of a clip show, enabling viewers to see Highlights from the Fred Haché, Barend Servet and Sjef van Oekel shows once more in a time before video recorders were common household objects.
However, this third outing is literally the last straw. It is basically 62 minutes of Van Oekel monologuing about nothing much in particular. Sure, all the other regulars make an appearance near the end of the show, but they just sit around in the background making unengaging small talk. It is as if the programmers deliberately set out to annoy the broadcaster (as well as the viewers) by promising one last return of all their staple characters, only to have most of them appear in useless cameos.
We start off promising enough with Sjef in jail, contemplating his memoires. After a lot of woes, he finds out he can easily remove the prison bars from the window and leave his cell. Then there is some self-pitying in fake rain before Sjef enters an empty restaurant. Here he not only takes a long time deciding what to eat, but also has an extended inner monologue (voice over) that seems to go on forever while the camera stays fixed on actor Dolf Brouwer's brow (very artistic high brown Television).
Finally he comes to the train station, where all the usual gang of idiots are awaiting their transport, and none of them is happy to see Sjef. So he goes off on his own again, fails to get some fast food out of a machine, and spends a lot of time in the toilet. He also tries on an old janitors coat for size and finds a suicide note in the pocket that was written in 1893. His reaction to the letter (thinking it was addressed to him and that he has to save the poor woman and her unborn child) is quite possible the highlight of the piece, but again, a little too late.
And guess what happens next? Sjef van Oekel misses the train. Roll credits with special thanks to the Dutch railway station. Well at least that's funny. But what a wasted opportunity this program turned out to be. Especially since it would indeed turn out to be the final appearance of such legendary characters as Haché and Servet. Van Oekel of course, would live on in other shows written by Schippers as well as a ditto comic strip.
4 out of 10
However, this third outing is literally the last straw. It is basically 62 minutes of Van Oekel monologuing about nothing much in particular. Sure, all the other regulars make an appearance near the end of the show, but they just sit around in the background making unengaging small talk. It is as if the programmers deliberately set out to annoy the broadcaster (as well as the viewers) by promising one last return of all their staple characters, only to have most of them appear in useless cameos.
We start off promising enough with Sjef in jail, contemplating his memoires. After a lot of woes, he finds out he can easily remove the prison bars from the window and leave his cell. Then there is some self-pitying in fake rain before Sjef enters an empty restaurant. Here he not only takes a long time deciding what to eat, but also has an extended inner monologue (voice over) that seems to go on forever while the camera stays fixed on actor Dolf Brouwer's brow (very artistic high brown Television).
Finally he comes to the train station, where all the usual gang of idiots are awaiting their transport, and none of them is happy to see Sjef. So he goes off on his own again, fails to get some fast food out of a machine, and spends a lot of time in the toilet. He also tries on an old janitors coat for size and finds a suicide note in the pocket that was written in 1893. His reaction to the letter (thinking it was addressed to him and that he has to save the poor woman and her unborn child) is quite possible the highlight of the piece, but again, a little too late.
And guess what happens next? Sjef van Oekel misses the train. Roll credits with special thanks to the Dutch railway station. Well at least that's funny. But what a wasted opportunity this program turned out to be. Especially since it would indeed turn out to be the final appearance of such legendary characters as Haché and Servet. Van Oekel of course, would live on in other shows written by Schippers as well as a ditto comic strip.
4 out of 10