Plafond over de vloer

Wim T. Schippers first used the pseudonym J. Plafond on the back of a vinyl collection of songs from 'De Fred Haché Show' (1973s 'Waar Gaat Dat Heen'). By 1978, 'J' became 'Jacques' as Schipper hosted the theater show 'An Evening With Jacques Plafond'. Next up the character appeared in the radio & TV versions of Schipper's sit-com 'De Lachende Scheerkwast' and then on television in 'Op Zoek Naar Yolanda'. By now you may have noticed that everything W.T. creates is somehow interconnected so it would come as no surprise when characters from all his previous shows began popping up in his weekly radio program 'Ronflonflon avec Jaques Plafond', which premiered October 10 1984 and would be broadcast until Januari 1st 1991. J. Plafond and his musical collaborator Jan Vos (Clous van Mechelen) were joined by a bunch of inspired new characters (most of them voiced by Janine van Elzakker). They even managed to get director/producer Rogier Proper in front of the microphone as Jaap Knasterhuis, the film-critic with a weakness for very young girls.

The show was loud, messy and anarchistic. Jacques Plafond broke every rule of radio making: he wouldn't stop talking after putting on a record, was rude to guest and would constantly interrupt everybody when interviewing people over the phone. Also of note were the countless jingles that introduced each item (while yet more jingles were used to mark the end of them). Naturally the show became an instant hit with teenagers. In 1986 the VPRO decided to give Plafond & Co a shot at expanding their world onto television and Schippers jumped at the chance. His original plan was to have the start each episode segue from the radio broadcast right into the television version but this did not work out. 'Plafond Over De Vloer' was broadcast at 15.30 on Wednesday afternoon, an hour and a half before Ronflonflon went on the air. It would have been unwise to broadcast the show at 18.00 as nearly every episode included Schipper's customary toilet humor anyway. Still, by scheduling it at the earlier time it was made to look like a children's program, which it definitely was not (though W.T. did inadvertently managed to plug one of the popular Bert & Ernie LP's he wrote and performed with Paul Haenen at the time).

As an extension of the radio show, Plafond Over De Vloer worked best when confined to the recording studio. Schippers managed to get an enormous set to portray the radio studio while in reality it was broadcast from a tiny one. At last fans of the show got to see their beloved characters in the flesh: Jacques himself with his necktie draped over his left shoulder, Jantje Vos and his band, poetry sprouting Wilhelmina Kuttje Jr (Janine van Elzaker), blonde bimbo Jacqueline van Benthem (Janine van Elzaker) and waitress annex singer Elsje de Wit (Janine van Elzaker). Even Jaap Knasterhuis (Rogier Proper disguised with silly wig and hat) was reluctantly dragged in front of the camera's. While the preparations for the radio show remained a significant part of the program, most of the time was spend following Plafond's adventures once he left the studio.

Jacques's life turned out to be even more hectic in his spare time than it was in that weekly hour of radio air-time. The man's tendency to bump into every inanimate object that crossed his path even surpassed Frank Drebin's. His girlfriend leaves him for another man. He is thrown out of his house. A computer makes sure he doesn't get any salary (all this just in the first episode). His cabdriver wants to commit suicide. He meets characters from some of Wilm T. Schippers' previous Television shows. Some songs from Ronflonflon are performed on air as well as new musical numbers written especially for this series. Jacques spends most of his time in restaurants and bars, whether it is Henk Pal's restaurant 'Potverdomme', the radio cafeteria or Boy Bensdorp' sloppy diner. Characters appear and disappears for no apparent reason and new plot lines are introduced by way of an extended flashback or end with an abrupt 'it was all a dream' ploy. Most of the episodes end with a cliffhanger, including the last one. In short, the show somehow managed to be even more of a mess than the radio version. Which is probably just what Wim T. had in mind. And although he is credited as writer, producer and director, he is never credited for playing Jacques Plafond. This is perhaps for the best as Wim's overacting isn't exactly leading man material (sorry, Wim). Still, it remains one of Schippers personal favorites to this day.

The show went off the air after nine weeks and was never mentioned again, not even on Ronflonflon. It wasn't until 2008 that it was rebroadcast on Han Peekel's digital channel 'Hilversum Best'. By this time the VPRO had started releasing all of Schipper's television work in DVD sets under the name 'Wim T. Schippers' Televisiepraktijken Sinds 1962'. Plafond Over De Vloer was coupled with the infamous pop culture program 'Hoepla' from 1967 (which unlike PODV is still vividly remembered because it featured the first nude woman on Dutch television). The package is very nice, with an informative booklet and all the original air-dates listed on the back (very handy for IMDb contributors) but the DVD itself is a bit of a letdown: the menu's are simple and not very nice to look at, the episodes are not divided into chapters and the 'play all' function doesn't work the way it should either. It's like Jacques Plafond slapped it together himself. At least there's a nice extra in the form of a 2008 reunion between Schippers, Elzaker & Proper.

7 out of 10