Hoepla (Whoops) was a Dutch experimental cultural television show broadcast in 1967. It aimed at a young teenage audience and was notable for being unpredictable and risky in its subject matter, featuring reports, performances, declarations, and interviews that tied in with the subversive atmosphere of the Provo movement. Three episodes were made for the VPRO, and the show caused national controversy when a naked woman, Phil Bloom, appeared on the show, being the first time this happened on Dutch television.[a] A fourth episode was taped but did not air until 2008. The show was written and produced by the team of Wim T. Schippers, Wim van der Linden, Willem de Ridder, and Hans Verhagen.

According to Hans Verhagen, one of Hoeplas writers and directors, the show was intended to operate on a wavelength which had hitherto not been tried on television.[4] That Hoepla was in tune with happening developments in popular culture was indicated by its guest list: musical performances were given by some of the eras hippest artists, including Soft Machine (episode 2), The Mothers of Invention (ep. 2), and The Jimi Hendrix Experience (ep. 3),[5] and there were declarations by and interviews with such idols as Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger. The Experience performed Foxy Lady, Catfish Blues, and Purple Haze in the studio on 10 November 1967, before playing an evening show in Rotterdam; that rendition of Catfish Blues was reissued on the 1994 compilation album Blues.[6] (The section with Foxy Lady appears to be lost, and might have been stolen from the archive by a Hendrix fan.)[7]
First episode

The first episode aired on 28 July 1967 and immediately redrew the earlier battle lines familiar from the Beeldreligie controversy. Opposition against the show was mobilized by the national daily newspaper De Telegraaf, who had complained earlier that Zo is het toevallig was a waste of the publics television licence, and published pictures of the cast and crew of Zo is het toevallig to accompany its coverage of Hoepla, to remind its audience of what was at stake.[4] Notable sections of the show included an interview of Pete Townshend by Hans Verhagen[8] and the appearance of Phil Bloom, naked except for a strategically placed garland of plastic flowers, during a performance by the singer Teddy Lee J. (a 25-year-old singer from Suriname)[9] who sang Im a sexman[7] Verhagen paid Bloom 150 guilders for her work, and the VPRO lost 67 members.[7]
Second episode

For the second episode, the writers had upped the ante, and got Phil Bloom to appear completely naked. During a skit, she is reading a newspaper, sitting on a sofa; she reads, out loud, a review of the first episode of Hoepla that appeared in the Protestant [10] daily Trouw and when she lowers the newspaper she is shown to be completely naked. But when photos of the taping leaked out and were published, the scene was shot again; this time Bloom is on a chair (likewise naked) reading another Hoepla article, this time from Het Vrije Volk, the social democratic daily paper, which states that the VPRO cut Blooms scene after the photos leaked out. As soon as the scene is over, the screen shows the VPROs postal address, to accommodate those who wished to cancel their membership.[11]

Reactions were predictable: Telegraaf columnist Leo Riemens referred to the show as filth and pornography, and letters to the various editors struck the same chords. Other newspapers, though, were more positive, and the commentary in parliament by SGP representative C. N. van Dis (the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij is a small, orthodox, Calvinist party), who strongly criticized the Minister of Culture Marga Klompé for allowing women to be degraded, did not meet with approval in parliament or the press.[12] The VPRO anticipated angry letters from some of its members, and had prepared a standard reply in which the organization said it understood that not everyone would agree with the shows message, but that it wanted to be an open organization which could adjust to the rapidly changing attitudes toward societys norms.[13]
Third episode

The third episode was taped on 10 November 1967 but did not air until 23 November, minus two controversial items that the VPRO cut: a section called Vleesch (an old-fashioned spelling for vlees, meat), which reported on the last five minutes in an abattoir of a cows life, and a section in which a model performs a striptease over an audio tape of Dutch prime minister Piet de Jong,[11] responding to the questions asked in parliament by C. N. van Dis about Hoepla[7] The Vleesch section had been moved from the second to the third episode; after a committee of child psychiatrists had delved into the matter, it was approved as safe for children but was again moved, to the fourth episode, which never aired. The section was conceived by Hans Verhagen and vegetarian Wim T. Schippers; Wim van der Linden filmed the section, and afterward became a vegetarian as well.[14] The story on the missing episode was reported on Vlees Magazine (Meat Magazine), since it and the attendant video footage provided insight into slaughter procedures in the 1960s.[15]
Fourth episode

A fourth episode was supposed to air on 8 January 1968 (and apparently a record number of people had tuned in to watch it),[16] but it was decided on that very day to cancel it, with the explanation given that Phil Bloom had been photographed by Playboy during rehearsals, and such commercial ventures were not allowed on public television.[11] The VPRO told the shows makers on 15 January that there would be no more new episodes. The tapes for the fourth episode were discovered early in the 21st century, unedited; they were newly edited and aired in January 2008.[7]
References