HLN Media Watchers“I was happy with the start of ‘The Dream Factory’, but it was exciting,” Bart Peters takes a look at the VRT 1 show “The Dream Factory” on the HLN podcast “De Mediawatchers”. “Especially when the telephone exchange failed in the final. 'We're having a cash grab moment,' I thought.”
It was a good start for The Dream Factory. “There hasn't been a custom of watching on Saturday evenings for years, but Flanders still watches us en masse,” said the ever-young broadcaster. “But it was very exciting,” he readily admits. “Everything was brand new. Compare it to a new car that you still have to learn to drive. Then things can go wrong sometimes. When the telephone exchange blew up at the final end because of too many calls, so it has to be better next time, it occurred to me Right away we were having a “take the money” moment.
“Take the Money, Millionaire Show” was a then BRT program sponsored by the National Lottery and broadcast in 1987. During the inaugural broadcast, everything that could technically go wrong actually did go wrong. As a result, the presenting duo Rene and Manu Vereth completely lost their pedals. Manu Vereth tried to reach viewers by phone, but was unsuccessful. Then Sheriff Van Buckley responded with the historic line: “We can't wait for you to learn to phone.”
Presenting duo Bart and Gloria clearly didn't panic. On the contrary, as it turns out. “Gloria and I have a little fun with these messy situations,” Bart laughs. “Because suddenly you can award the main prize in your own way without consulting the bailiff. And with all the noise at the end, we also managed to cheer up the real winner. Yes, we charged extra for the VRT, but the telephone exchange wasn't supposed to blow up.”
Besides Maaike Cafmeyer, who sat at a vortex-shaped desk as a common thread throughout “The Dream Factory,” there was little excitement to be experienced in the big TV studio. “We consciously chose to play things a little safe,” Bart admits. You'll notice in the coming episodes that we'll do this less often. When Mikey invites biker gangs to sign up, I'm afraid we've brought some things upon ourselves. “I think we have not yet reached the limits of what is possible.”
Listen to the full conversation with Bart Peeters on the HLN podcast “The Media Watchers.”
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