Which series were the best and worst of 2016? From 5 January until 4 February you can vote for the Annual Series Awards. This column is intended to give some extra information regarding the nomination of the best Flemish and Dutch series of 2016.
The trend of making more and more series is also being followed in both the Netherlands and in Flanders. The boom of new streaming services and the World Wide Web ensure that series fanatics can follow every series they think might be interesting. Following the sudden global success of Scandinavian series, the last few years both the Netherlands and Flanders were able to create quite a few productions which were also successful abroad. Series of excellent quality, which in the past were mostly found on Eén, a Belgian national TV station, were also emulated by other broadcasting companies. This resulted in quite a lot of new series which can easily compete with many foreign series which are being pushed down our throats.
All of this made it very difficult to select the nominees. Being Flemish myself, I obviously know all the Flemish shows and once in a while I watch a Dutch show on the NPO, the Dutch national broadcasting company, or on one of the Flemish channels. Eventually I came up with a list of about twenty shows and had to consider which ones to nominate or not to nominate.
Because I want to remain neutral, I chose to nominate four Dutch and four Flemish productions, and one co-production. While compiling this list, I also tried to select series of different genres from the number of series from the Low Countries.
Eigen Kweek
Bevergem
Callboys
Chaussée D’Amour
Vlucht HS 13
Moordvrouw
Nieuwe Buren
Petticoat
Als De Dijken Breken
Is your favourite not among the nominees? No problem, just fill in your own choice. The only condition is that the series was broadcast in 2016, even if it was just one episode, and it should fit the category. From 5 January you can vote for your favourite series in twelve categories and the category of the best Flemish and Dutch series is one of them. In February 2017 we will announce the winners.