This is the first Dutch TV series I ever saw, and it's still one of my favorites. The cast is great (newcomer Kirsten van Dissel is a good replacement for Marian Mudder) and so are the scripts. Of course, not all plots are as good, but every episode has interesting solutions, motives and suspects to offer. What I also like about the series is the different themes throughout the episodes. For instance, one episode features a murder in Amsterdam's Red Light District, another focuses on a murder case surrounding a monastery and yet another features Elvis fans, or Wiccas. These things help to make each episode interesting to watch. In some cases the stories rise above the series usual level of 'good', most notably two-parters such as one in which a main characters' sister commits suicide after being suspected of murder. Episodes like these showcase excellent writing and acting, showing that the cast are capable of far more than their usual performances, which are good but routine. This last thing is caused by the fact that, two-parters aside, each episode is a separate entity and the writers must follow a strict format in order to stay true to the books the series is based on. While this format sometimes hinders the series (for instance, when a confession is made before the last commercial break you can bet your bottom euro it's a lie and the real murderer has yet to reveal him/herself), it also helps in making it a very familiar sight on RTL4's Friday evening, something it has been for over a decade now.
Of course, over the years the show has also developed some less-than-favorable characteristics. The commercialism surrounding the show is horrendous- during most episodes (even reruns!) the viewer can play an SMS game and win something by guessing the murderer before the last commercial break. Of course, there have been episodes which rendered this system useless; 2003's ''De Cock en de moord op het water'' (featuring American actor Jack Luceno as a visiting NYPD cop) had the murderer revealed ***before*** the last commercial block. I wonder how they fit the SMS game around that........
But the worst part is blatantly obvious product placement in recent seasons. Believe me, you've never seen anything like this. It peaked during the 9th (2003) season, which featured giant close-ups of coffee vending machines by the brand Nescafe, one of the series' sponsors, when the characters went to get themselves a hot cup.
Also, one thing I really hate about the series nowadays is the criminally reduced number of episodes per season. They went from the original 13 to 10 in 1999, and after 2002 it's been declining each season, leaving us with just six in the 11th (2005) season. SIX EPISODES!!! This is part of a cheapo behind-the-screens ploy to reduce costs: episodes filmed for the 9th season were aired in the 10th and so on. If this continues we'll be left with nothing.
Quality-wise the series has lost very little in steam; in fact some of the best episodes are found in later seasons. However, one element in the show that has shown decline in quality are the two-parters. The first two were some of the best I've ever seen from Baantjer, but the third was not as good. It started out just as good as the others, but had a solution which was too easy and simple in comparison to the excellent closures for the previous ones. The most recent one, written by one cast member and directed by the other, featuring a murder in a famous Amsterdam soccer arena, was the most disappointing. While it was definitely not a bad episode, the solution was too predictable and overall it felt useless as a two-parter; they could have just as easily made it a single episode.
Overall, Baantjer is an excellent series- always has been and still is-, but has suffered from commercialism and cost-cutting. Hopefully we'll get a few more seasons with a respectable number of episodes.
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