Our own idols: Appropriations of popular television in dutch festivity culture

The 2004 annual theatrical evening at the Gertrudisschool - a primary school in the Dutch city of Utrecht - had as its theme the popular Dutch TV show Idols.1 Pupils were invited to sing live in front of their peers and a crowd of parents. They could choose to imitate a well-known Idols finalist or come up with their own choice of song. As in Idols, the performances were introduced by a male and a female presenter and judged by a panel of judges. Even the intervening advertising breaks were not forgotten: the singing was interspersed with skits in which pupils acted out current TV adverts. At the end of the evening, a winner - not an ‘Idol’ but a ‘School Idol’- was announced (personal correspondence with A. van Veldhuizen, 16 February 2005).