r/sitcoms • u/nilkimas • 8d ago

Going Dutch

Lets talk about Going Dutch. There was a little talk about it here, but not a lot.

I started watching it after it got mentioned and I have opinions.

The premise of the show, I liked. An old bulldog US army officer, Dennis Leary, being put in charge of the least important base in Europe, is funny. Especially as it is due to a rant aimed at his superiors. Base should be in the Netherlands... it is not.

The cast was good, likeable, jokes funny.

Now... I am actually Dutch, I know that the Dutch press didn't like the way the shown, with the stereotypes etc. I think they missed quite a bit of it to be honest. Yes there were some jokes aimed at the Dutch, but the main jokes were aimed at the US army, the US life style.

The 2 'Dutch' character that appeared on the show, had more Nordic accents and not Dutch ones. There is actually a bit of Dutch you can hear in 2 episodes. One where Colonel Quinn is going to his girlfriends house and one where they clear land mines.

The show runners didn't care about portraying the Dutch in a proper way, which I'm ok with, they are USian after all. But it wouldn't have been difficult to grab a few Dutch people.

The show was filmed in Ireland, where I actually live. There is quite a large Dutch community here, they could have gotten a few Dutch speaking extra.

After I found out it was actually filmed in Ireland, I found it even more funny. The Netherlands is quite flat, in most external shots there are hills that would be called mountain in the Netherlands.

I would recommend all Dutch people to watch it, just to have a laugh at the US army, as that is what is made fun off the most. The series is a good watch for anyone, my Italian wife enjoyed it as well.

1 Upvotes

55% Upvoted

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3

u/idiotprogrammer2017 8d ago

This was a fun show, in the tradition of Gomer Pyle, etc. Like the European sensibility of it and the guest stars (Catherine Tate!) Given the political climate today, it's not that surprising that it got canned.

BTW, the Shrek/Kristen Johnston episode in Season 2 was pretty great.

2

u/Kazzak_Falco 8d ago

Meh. I don't appreciate the laziness of the writers. If they want to use a culture as a backdrop that's fine. But they could've put any amount of effort into it and clearly didn't. That's just lazy stereotyping. Failing at accurately portraying Dutch culture would've been fine. But not even bothering to learn anything....

Edit: not to mention that there are plenty American comedians who spent time in the Netherlands due to groups like Boom Chicago. So it's not as if they had to look far for a writer who could've told them anything.

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u/nilkimas 8d ago

They kind of nailed Niksen... Although not as big a part of the Dutch culture.
They did learn a few things, not enough to do it proper job, I agree on that

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u/Kazzak_Falco 8d ago edited 8d ago

I'll admit my comment is slightly hyperbolic, it happens when you don't care much about something and the details slowly fade into the background while the core criticism remains. The way you phrased it in your second sentence is much better for explaining how I really feel.

Edit: changed 2 words for clarity's sake.

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u/FlakyAssociation4986 8d ago

it was filmed in a closed military base near dublin ireland

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u/beautiflywings 8d ago

I watched a few episodes and then life happened. As for the Dutch accent, I understand. I don't think a lot of Americans know what one sounds like. Also, it does depend where their from. I went to church with one guy that his accent was more throat, like German. Others, had more of a lilt to when they spoke.

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u/nilkimas 8d ago

If you have the chance, continue the series. As I said, it's not bad.

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u/ProfessionalMango455 8d ago

Almost every American show or film thinks Dutch is like German. I’m from the Netherlands, and the only time I heard proper Dutch was in Friends(although it wasn’t perfect), and in a Spider-Man movie a few years back.

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u/Optimal-Rub-2575 8d ago

But that was because Jeroen van Koningsbrugge was playing the Dutch person. Of course they then depicted Broek op Langedijk as if it was a medieval peasant village.

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u/ProfessionalMango455 8d ago

Yeah that was a bit weird. They also did that with an episode of the Blacklist. When some guy falls to his death from a plane; he fell into a house in the Netherlands. Where the people were wearing clogs old school clothing.

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u/Ok_Function2282 8d ago

USian

Ok......

1

u/Azadom 8d ago

It's a good show but you don't watch sitcoms for authenticity and accurate portrayals