After the #Zomergasten with Bibi Dumon Tak, the main question remains: how to proceed with books on TV?

Adriaan van Dis with an intensely coquettish Renate Dorrestein, who (rightly) got him on the ropes with a few well-aimed pussy remarks. This excerpt from 1991 opened Zomergasten 2023 #4, and it chopped. Nostalgia all around, and during those first minutes of Theo Maassen with animal and children's book author Bibi Dumon Tak, the bar was set high. Could Theo Maassen achieve the same impact with this author as Van Dis's book programme used to do?

Unfortunately, despite the arm-twisting, the many sweetly intended touches (does Theo also do that with his male guests?) and the general conviviality, I did not yet see a new book programme emerge here. And a new book programme is needed in the Netherlands.

Hardly anyone reads anymore, at least, if we limit ourselves to Dutch literary fiction. Since the book club in DWDD occasionally managed to talk a book into the top ten, things have been sad. Brommer Op Zee fell victim to a combination of viewer pressure and attempts to be lively. Again, Eus is not taken seriously enough by other writers.

Time is of the essence

The biggest question is how a book programme can become the talk of the day. Because that is the implicit demand placed on every cultural programme on NPO. If, after a few episodes, only as many people turn on as this website attracts in visitors, it will soon stop. Real investment is a rarity in the book world - and at the NPO: no one wants to afford to run at a loss for a few years, even if it might increase the chances of a gem. Releasing a Dutch-language book is often already too big a risk for many a publisher, and within NPO, too many broadcasters are competing for the precious minutes on primetime.

While time is the most important commodity that writing and media coverage of books should be about. Time to read for viewers and editors, and for the writer to be read. In terms of hourly billing, this is no longer going to work in Hilversum, especially if their primary search is for appealing headlines and titles, familiar enough to attract viewers.

Pure agony

The NPO's caution is still peanuts compared to the sheer agony in the publishing chain (publishing houses and bookshops). Not much has changed, in the 15 years that Culture Press has been operating, in marketing, for example, as this recognisable story from 2011 shows: "Characteristic of the book trade remains the endless chatter, but this evening I wouldn't have wanted to miss." All tweets from #evdu, with video. Incidentally, also something about which there is otherwise little written news, because people who write like to keep good relations with (potential) publishers.

Still, I would argue for the reintroduction of a boring, elitist and poorly watched book programme at a nice time of day on NPO. Give it ample time to develop a style, a tone and a target audience. We have plenty of money for that in the Netherlands. So don't take it off the tube after six months because only 30,000 people a month still watch it. This site manages it too, and we don't even have the marketing tools of a small publisher.

Long live the Music Building

And a few extra tips: no lazy benches in which people can mumble to themselves in a reclined position, but something you don't sit on easily. I quote from an earlier article on this site: "The remarkably small studio where the BBC's flagship Breakfast Television is recorded every day houses the UK's most famous sofa. You don't want to know how horribly it sits. That rotten seat, with a seat too high and a rock-hard backrest too far forward, serves a purpose: the presenters cannot help but exude activity and freshness. Those who slack off end up on the floor." ('Millions still watch the BBC'' (Lessons from Manchester, episode 1)

Zomergasten's current small table plus chairs will do very well, and put audience members there this time. The Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ will yarn about it.