You learn more about life from watching 'Big Brother' than from reading a book.
John de Mol, Jr.
'Utopia' is a positive and constructive program that gives people the opportunity, if you can start all over again, start from scratch and create laws and make decisions, will you be able to build a society that is better than the one we have; will it be chaos or happiness.
In Holland, every Monday evening my creative team meets to discuss fresh new ideas. We try to look at what's happening in the world. Are there trends? Are there new developments we should be aware of? And regularly we heard that people are uncertain about the future. People are sick and tired of the rules and regulations.
When we started with 'Big Brother' and created the reality genre, no one could ever foresee that there was so much space in the genre that it could deliver so many formats. There will be periods where there is not enough new stuff to keep the genre alive. But it will never die.
I'm a shareholder in three networks in Holland. That allows me to put ideas that we create in Holland on air in Holland, and if it works, then we distribute the show's format globally.
What I don't like so much is people who - how do you say this? - who make judgments over the genre of reality like it's television from the devil, and that's something that I don't like because I think everybody should watch what they like. It's a free world. It's a form of democracy. If you like it, watch. If you don't like it, don't watch.
Look at my track record: All of the big hits we created in Holland worked globally.
'The Voice Kids' was a tremendous success in Holland. There was a big emotional reaction from the parents of the children taking part.
Working on being creative in the TV world is endless. It never stops. It's a challenge that never disappears.
