‘The moving judge’ disappears from TV after thirty years. ‘Choices must be made’

The program The moving judge will disappear from Dutch television. The director of Omroep Max Jan Slagter announced this on Friday evening during the RTL talk show Renze. « It’s very sad, » Slagter tells presenter Renze Klamer. But in view of the cutbacks, it becomes « a very long list of programs that are going to die ».

In the program, which has been on TV since 1995, a ‘moving judge’ in neighbors and other small disputes mediates. The current season is still being completed, then it stops. Next to The moving judge The programs also disappear Max Pubquiz and TV Monument.

« Choices must be made and those are very painful choices, » Slagter says when asked NRCearlier on Friday evening. According to the broadcasting director, « for a long time was weighed and weighed » which titles would fall victim to the first austerity round. The deletion of programs is done in the run -up to the larger cuts at the public broadcaster as a result of the government policy. According to Slagter, it was looked at which programs best for the mission of Omroep MAX. For The moving judgeThat was taken over by Omroep MAX from KRO-NCRV in 2024, that was less the case than for other titles.

Slagter does regret the disappearance of the program, which he sees as « fixed value within the programming ». The moving judge According to him, the goal of bringing people together and, according to Slagter, is « not after sensation. » This week the makers of the deleted programs were informed by the management. « Tears have really flowed with people who have worked there for a long time, » said Slagter.

‘With that the case is closed’

The moving judge was presented for a long time by Jetske van den Elsen with Frank Visser as a judge. Mr. John Reid took over the position from Frank Visser in 2015 and in recent years the presentation has been in the hands of Mascha de Rooij.

Reid – who always ends his statements with the text: « This is my statement and with that the case is closed » – is a subdistrict court judge in daily life and is also part of the comic trio that Fokke & Sukke makes. He has mixed feelings about the end of his TV program, he says to NRC. Although Reid loves his TV work, he looks forward to it that he will no longer be a well-known Dutchman.

Reid: « I have done it with great pleasure for ten years and I am proud that I was able to help so many people. » He praises the more honest way in which the editors of the TV program weighed arguing neighbors and other people with a dispute: « All those fun, sweet, vulnerable, sometimes weird people were treated with respect. People often think it was monkeys, but what we were looking for was the connection. »

Judge Reid, however, did not like being a well -known Dutchman. « Everyone who wants to become famous is crazy. It is as if you have to take to the streets with your fly every day – people watch you, but you don’t know why. »

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