“Badehotellet”: The series that was not taken seriously is the most popular among viewers
Sascha Reiffenstein Petersen
"It is the nostalgia and the historical comedy that attract the viewers," says a media researcher about the popularity of "Badehotellet".
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Three of the popular actors in the series: Birthe Neumann, Anette Støvelbæk and Anne Louise Hassing. Archive photo: Jens Dresling/Politiken
The light falls in just the right way, and it's always summer. This is the starting point for TV 2's series "Badehotellet" with the season finale on Monday evening. Approx. 1.5 million viewers have followed each time, and the other day the series won for the fifth time in a row the award as TV program of the year at Billed-Bladet's TV Gold award ceremony.
Many reviewers, ever since the first season rolled across the screen in 2013, have been skeptical of the series, including Jyllands-Posten's reviewers.
In his review of episode 1 of season 4 from 2017, Niels Lillelund wrote:
"Initially, one doubts whether they are serious. It is so poorly played that you sit and think that there is a gang of postmodern spasmagers sitting behind it and slapping their thighs with laughter. It probably doesn't.'
Film and television reviewer Nanna Frank Rasmussen compared the series to fast food in her 2018 review of episode 1 of season 5:
"A handful of McDonald's fries can be crunchy good to eat on a hangover day, but if they're cold and sloppy, there's not much to them. The "bathing hotel" only stays warm, but offers no counterpoint.'
Neither Niels Lillelund nor Nanna Frank Rasmussen have seen the series since their reviews and therefore do not see themselves in a position to say anything new about the series' quality or popularity.
It's Denmark, it's sunny, it's summer, and the sky is high. It is the nostalgia and the historical comedy that attracts the viewers.
In contrast to the reviewers, the viewers love "Badehotellet". It is especially those over 40 and even more so those over 60 who listen to Mr. Weyse's piano playing and accompany the ladies to the beach every Monday. At the same time, the series particularly hits the traditional lifestyle segment, which values the close ones, who bake cakes and go to community centers. Associate professor Palle Schantz Lauridsen from the Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics at the University of Copenhagen says so.
"It is the series' nostalgic focus that appeals to many in the older generation in particular. The series is historical, melodramatic, cozy and a little funny. And it can quickly go wrong, but it clearly doesn't when the series has 1.5 million. viewers on average. It is the Morten Korch of our time,' says Palle Schantz Lauridsen, referring to the Danish author whose novels were the most widely read in his time.
Precisely the historical and nostalgic returns when Gunhild Agger, professor emeritus of Danish media history at the Department of Culture and Global Studies at Aalborg University, has to put into words what the "Badehotellet" can do.
"Some describe the series as light therapy, and that's a nice metaphor, because it really is Danish summer vacation at its best," says Gunhild Agger.
Actors Lars Ranthe, Jens Jacob Tychsen and Peter Hesse Overgaard play three upper-class men who like to holiday in northern Jutland. Archive photo: Jens Dresling/Politiken
The bright and white colors are repeated in the actors' clothing. Here you can see the actors Anne Louise Hassing, Peter Hesse Overgaard, Birthe Neumann and Cecilie Stenspil. Archive photo: Jens Dresling/Politiken
Gunhild Agger emphasizes that it is a family comedy where all generations can watch and gain some historical insight, and this is one of the reasons for its popularity, she believes.
""Badehotellet" is in a way "Matador Light", as the series deals with some of the same themes. In season 6, "Badehotellet" touches on the time leading up to the German occupation of Denmark, and we meet a Jewish refugee who is helped. But in "Matador" the problem is more thoroughly elucidated, for example in relation to the German "Matador" figure Herbert Schmidt, who reminds of the German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who was also a refugee,' says Gunhild Agger.
In addition to the historical perspective, Gunhild Agger also points out that in today's Denmark there are plenty of things to worry about, and therefore the viewers need something light and bright.
"But you shouldn't take the series for more than it is," says Gunhild Agger and adds:
"I also watch "Badehotellet" myself, and I am amused by the stereotypes. It's the rare, bright atmosphere in the series that I like,' she says.
The screenwriters Stig Thorsboe and Hanna Lundblad confirm to TV2 that there will be a season 7 of "Badehotellet". It will take place in the summer of 1940, based on a looseness and a defiance against the Germans, who were not supposed to decide whether the Danes should go on a beach holiday or not.
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