History Series / SamsonEnGert

* TheGhost: Gert's Girlfriend Marleneke is often spoken about and alluded to but never shows up.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield?: The location of the town where the series takes place is never revealed; even its name is a mystery.

** WhereTheHellIsSpringfield?: The location of the town where the series takes place is never revealed; even its name is a mystery.

** Sometimes, a guest starring role is even filled by a main member of the cast, like the mayor's twin brother who is played by the mayor's actor.

''Samson en Gert'' (Dutch for "Samson and Gert") is a hugely popular Flemish children's program that ran from 1990 until 2005. A movie was made in 2008, along with a Christmas special. In 2010, a 20 year anniversary special was made. In 2014 and 2017, respectively, a [[Spin-Off special winter and summer series]]were produced.

''Samson en Gert'' (Dutch for "Samson and Gert") is a hugely popular Flemish children's program that ran from 1990 until 2005. A movie was made in 2008, along with a Christmas special. In 2010, a 20 year anniversary special was made. In 2014 and 2017, respectively, a special winter and summer series were produced.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Koen Crucke, the actor who plays Alberto, had lost so much weight by the time the 2017 summer series was in the making that his character's gluttony would not be believable anymore. To solve this problem, it was told in the series that Alberto, while on vacation, had been lost in the jungle without food for weeks before finding the way his hotel.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Koen Crucke, the actor who plays Alberto, had lost so much weight by the time the 2017 summer series was in the making that his character's gluttony would not be believable anymore. To solve this problem, it was told in the series that Alberto had been lost in the jungle without food for a few weeks while on vacation.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: In the very first episodes, the most important side character apart from Samson and Gert was their neighbour Joop Mengelmoes. The character disappeared after two seasons with no given explanation and his existence was almost never mentionned again in the series.
** This became subverted in the 2017 summer series, in which Joop's brother Jaap Mengelmoes is a character.

''Samson en Gert'' (Dutch for "Samson and Gert") is a hugely popular Flemish children's program that ran from 1990 until 2005. A movie was made in 2008, along with a Christmas special. In 2010, a 20 year anniversary special was made.

Samson and Gert are frequently visited by friends, usually in function to the plot. Some characters (like neighbour Joop Mengelmoes and Jeannine de Bolle, the mother of Octaaf) were only present in early seasons and then replaced by new characters. Other former [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen invisible characters]] were later played by actual people. The most prominent characters over the course of the show's lifespan are Alberto, an Italian barber who enjoys singing opera; the mayor of the town, who is interested in toy airplanes; the mayor's hyperactive secretary Van Leemhuyzen and Octaaf de Bolle, the selfimportant owner of a grocery store and hobby gymnast. Every episode closes with a moral and a EverybodyLaughsEnding.

* SliceofLife: Follows the daily live of Samson & Gert and their constant disturbance by their silly friends, mostly leading to hilarious situations.

* Keet: Van Leemhuyzen.
* Sick Episode: The episode "Gert is ziek" features a bedridden Gert. It's one of the rare times the bedroom is seen in the series.
* Sinterklaas: Being a familiar face in Belgium and the Netherlands, the kind old man has visited Samson & Gert in more than one episode. He even asked Gert once to deliver his toys when he fell ill in the episode "Sinterklaas is ziek".
* SliceOfLife: Follows the daily live of Samson & Gert and their constant disturbance by their silly friends, mostly leading to hilarious situations.

* {{Crossover}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQB1wb2uFA8 The music video "Droom"]] which celebrated the series's 20th Anniversary features various Studio 100 characters such as Piet Piraat, Series/KabouterPlop,K3, and Bumba all singing about them.

** Octaaf's ''"Dat is toevallig één van mijn specialiteiten" '' ("Coincidentally, that's one of my specialities"). Usually, it's not.

** Octaaf's ''"Dat is toevallig

* {{Crossover}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQB1wb2uFA8 The music video "Droom"]] which celebrated the series's 20th Anniversary features various Studio 100 characters such as Piet Piraat, Series/KabouterPlop,K3, and Bumba all singing about the them.

** Octaaf's ''"Dat is toevallig één van mijn specialiteiten" ("Coincidentally, that's one of my specialties")'', which he says about pretty much everything.
** Jeannine often blames everything her son Octaaf does wrong on his father's side of the family. All the things he does well are, of course, from her side of the family.
** Samson's ''"Dag, meneer die ik niet ken!" ("Hello, sir I don't know!"''), whenever someone visits their house who he's never seen before.
*** He also mispronounces the word ''"problem"'' at least once each episode as ''"plobrem"''. The rest then loudly reminds him its pronounced ''"A PROBLEM"''.
* TheCameo: Several Flemish and Dutch celebrities have had special guest appearances in the show.
* CharacterFocus: The Minister's Assistant during the last two seasons.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Several characters have been written out of the series over the years. Sometimes they are still mentioned, but always off screen like Octaaf's mother Jeannine after the actress (Ann Petersen) who played her died in 2003.
** Octaaf's daughter Miranda also disappeared, though she is frequently mentioned afterwards as an extension of Octaaf's catchphrase concerning his specialties.
** In probably the most accurate example, Gert's insane neighbour Joop Mengelmoes was actually the first character to appear other than Samson & Gert, but left without explanation after about a year on the show.
* CrossOver: Done way back in 1990, with ''Series/BassieEnAdriaan'', two highly famous performers from the Netherlands (at the time and still now).
* DemotedToExtra: Alberto during the last few seasons, luckily he was still part of the main cast.
* DoNotCallMePaul: Alberto does not like to be called by his real name, Albert. Ironically, he allows his mother to call him like this.
* DropInCharacter: Everybody except Samson and Gert.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first few seasons were more glorified continuity announcements than a sitcom, with characters frequently breaking the fourth wall to announce cartoons, read letters from viewers or hold contests. Later, the sitcom was made completely in-character and the other elements would appear in a surrounding show taking on various formats, such as Samson & Gert sitting in a news studio or in a caravan. This made it a lot more convenient to rerun the sitcom episodes later.
* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Used regularly.
* FantasticComedy: It's a sitcom, with a talking dog.
* {{Flanderization}}: For both Samson and Gert. Gert started out as the straight man who would attempt to moderate the outlandish schemes of the other characters, but this eventually morphed into him being quick to shoot things down and being a bit of a [[JerkAss Jerk Ass]]. Though Samson's naive personality hasn't been enlarged too much, his speech style has changed considerably. In early episodes, he simply has a low voice and fairly standard speech outside of his mispronunciations, but the later and more recognizable version has him speaking with a very gravelly voice while frequently using filler words and starting sentences with "Wah!"
* FriendToAllChildren: Samson sings in his theme song that he likes all children.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The show has his share of invisible characters:
** Marlène, Gert's love interest.
** Bobientje, Samson's love interest.
** Jean-Louis Michel, the snobbish guy Marlène usually likes more.
** Fred Kroket, the French fries seller.
** Alberto's mother.
** Octaaf's father. Octaaf
** Octaaf also had a daughter, Miranda, for a few seasons, but his wife was never mentioned, nor seen.
* JerkAss: Except for Samson himself, EVERYONE can be this. They get their comeuppance though.
** Some of the guest characters (usually a villain) can be worse than them.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: All other cast members will lie, cheat and fight with each other, but Samson always remains the voice of reason and feels himself to be above all this quarreling and dishonestness.
* JustEatGilligan: Seriously, if the characters, especially Alberto, lived in RealLife, they wouldn't survive long. In their universe, the reason they get away with their behaviour is because no one else in the village (or the country) does anything about it.
* KarmaHoudini: Some characters get away with the jerkish things they do, especially Alberto and the Minister's Assistant (the latter having a high position).
* LargeHam: Gert, who has a tendency to over-act tremendously.
* {{Leitmotif}}: At the start of each scene an instrumental arrangement of the song "Kijk, daar heb je Gert en Samson" can be heard. There are usually several variations: a quiet piano version, a loud fanfare sound,...
** Also, almost every sad scene has Carillon by Sky playing in the background.
* LongRunner: The show ran from 1990 until 2006. In 2014, however, another season was made, bringing the total amount of seasons to 17 and the amount of episodes to 782.
* ManChild: With the exception of Gert, every character acts particularily child-like, sometimes with motivations like candy or cake. Alberto is the most childish of all.
* TheMovie: In 2008, "Hotel op Stelten"
* MadScience: Often happens. In fact, one of the first characters was Joop Mengelmoes, who was really an inventor.
* MeaningfulName: Samson is named after [[Literature/SamsonAndDelilah the biblical character of the same name]], presumably because he has long hair.
** Fred Kroket, who sells French fries. A "kroket" is Dutch for a croquette.
* MyBelovedSmother: Octaaf's mother is very dominant and belittles him every chance he gets.
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Gert has a tendency to call Alberto "Albert", which is his real name, yet Alberto prefers to be named Alberto, because it sounds more Italian. Therefore, whenever Gert mispronounces it Albert will shout: "First of all, it's ALBERTOOOOOOOOOO!" Strangely enough, the mayor calls him by his last name "Vermeersch" and Samson even manages to change it into "Meneer Spaghetti", but he doesn't seem to be that irritated by those names.
* NoNameGiven: The Minister's Assistant's real name is Roger De Zeper, but nobody, nor himself, calls him like that.
* NoPronunciationGuide: Samson has a tendency to mispronounce even the least complex names, verbs and nouns. Especially the word "problem" is a "plobrem" for him.
* OneSteveLimit: A RealLife {{Aversion}}: there are [[RuleOfThree three main actors]] having Walter as first name.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Since Samson is unable to pronounce most of the other characters' names right they become their personal nicknames to him.
** The mayor is called "Mister the Mayor" by everyone, despite having a real name (See NoNameGiven above).
* PaperThinDisguise: Oh yes, sometimes even multiple disguises in the same episode. In one episode, Octaaf dresses up as a little girl with pigtails. No one is bothered by his bushy moustache.
* ParentalBonus: Many of Samson's misspoken words are words kids have never heard in their life.
* PuppetKing: The mayor apparently isn't that powerful. Whenever he insists on having things going his way the others don't automatically obey him, despite having a higher function than them.
* PutOnABus: Many characters during those 15 years, cutting down the cast to only six as of 2012. One of the actors is considering to leave, making it five.
* RecursiveCanon: The show has a lot of ProductPlacement for its own merchandise.
* RuleOfThree: Whenever Samson is all alone in the room and needs Gert he shouts his name three times before Gert comes rushing in.
* RunningGag:
** The door bell doesn't work. So everyone knocks on the door and says, before entering: "Yes, I had to knock because the bell doesn't work."
** De Burgemeester is usually secretly playing with his toy planes in his office whenever someone calls him by phone or door bell.
** Gert calls Alberto "Albert", to which Alberto shouts: "First of all, it's Albertoooooooooooooo! And second of all..."
** Samson mispronounces words and names and is corrected by the others. Especially the word "problem" will be mispronounced every episode.
** Whenever someone announces he's going to say something there'll be a sudden knocking on the door. The character then says someone's at the door, while all the other characters believe that was what he was going to say originally.
** Alberto visits Gert and Samson, goes into the kitchen and eats everything there.
** Jeannine claims that all of her sons' good habits are from her side of the family and his bad habits are from his dad's.
** Octaaf says that a certain activity just happens to be one of his specialities.
* SaturdayMorningKidsShow: From 1994 to 1996, a studio show.
* SherlockHomage: In one episode the character Octaaf said he would investigate a case, because he is an expert amateur detective. As he leaves Gert tells Samson: ''People still think that by wearing a Sherlock Holmes outfit they are automatically eligible to be a great detective.'' Cut to the next scene, where Octaaf re-enters the house, dressed up as Holmes!
* ShoutOut: Alberto is a parody of the cliché of a typical barber and opera singer.
* SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying: In the song "Joebadoebadoe" it is implied that the prehistoric version of the Burgemeester rides a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The music video also shows cavemen with dinosaurs.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Usually played for laughs (especially Octaaf), but his mother Jeanine literally believes she's better then everyone else.
* StandardizedSitcomHousing: With a front door on stage right and a door to a kitchen on stage left.
* SpecialGuest: Some famous Flemish and Dutch celebrities have had cameos in the series, including Mark Uytterhoeven, The Radios, Frans Bauer, Hans Kazan, Margriet Hermans, Series/BassieEnAdriaan, ...
* StraightMan: Gert. Sort of.
* TalkingAnimal: Samson.
* ThreeWallSet: The rooms are all sets.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: The main character is a talking dog. Nobody, not even the people who only appeared in one episode, think this is strange.
* WhatExactlyIsHisJob: Gert is always at his house, but it is never explained what he exactly does for a living? It could be argued that most of the episodes presumably take place during weekends, because all the other characters, who do have clearly defined jobs, are often seen randomly appearing at their house.
* WritingAroundTrademarks: The song "Joebadoebadoe" is about life during the age of cavemen. The refrain "Joebadoebadoe" sounds suspiciously similar like "Yabbadabbadoo" from WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones.

Samson and Gert are frequently visited by friends, usually in function to the plot. Some characters (like neighbour Joop Mengelmoes and Jeannine de Bolle, the mother of Octaaf) were only present in early seasons and then replaced by new characters. Other former [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen invisible characters]] were later played by actual people. The most prominent characters over the course of the show's lifespan are Alberto, an Italian barber who enjoys singing opera; the mayor of the town, who is interested in toy airplanes; and Octaaf de Bolle, the selfimportant owner of a grocery store and hobby gymnast. Every episode closes with a moral and a EverybodyLaughsEnding.

* {{Crossover}}: The music video "Droom" which celebrated the series's 20th Anniversary features various Studio 100 characters such as Piet Piraat, Series/KabouterPlop,K3, and Bumba all singing about the them.

The program quickly became an enormous success, which was increased once the show was broadcast in the Netherlands. It was also dubbed in French. It became a huge CashCowFranchise with aggressive merchandising which spawned Studio100, one of the largest European entertainment companies. Samson's name has lead to comic strips, bread, clothing, toys, a magazine, films, Christmas shows, [=CDs=], [=DVDs=] and even an amusement park.

* ManChild: Every character acts particularily child-like, sometimes with motivations like candy or cake. Alberto is the most childish of all.

Samson and Gert are frequently visited by friends, usually in function to the plot. Some characters (like neighbour Joop Mengelmoes and Jeannine de Bolle, the mother of Octaaf) were only present in early seasons and then replaced by new characters. Other former [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen invisible characters]] were later played by actual people. The most prominent characters over the course of the show's lifespan are Alberto, an Italian barber who enjoys singing opera; the major of the town, who is interested in toy airplanes; and Octaaf de Bolle, the selfimportant owner of a grocery store and hobby gymnast. Every episode closes with a moral and a EverybodyLaughsEnding.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Gert has a tendency to call Alberto "Albert", which is his real name, yet Alberto prefers to be named Alberto, because it sounds more Italian. Therefore, whenever Gert mispronounces it Albert will shout: "First of all, it's ALBERTOOOOOOOOOO!" Strangely enough, the major calls him by his last name "Vermeersch" and Samson even manages to change it into "Meneer Spaghetti", but he doesn't seem to be that irritated by those names.

** The major is called "Mister the Major" by everyone, despite having a real name (See NoNameGiven above).

* PuppetKing: The major apparently isn't that powerful. Whenever he insists on having things going his way the others don't automatically obey him, despite having a higher function than them.

* ActingForTwo: Walter De Donder (who plays Burgemeester) also played his twin brother Basiel in several episodes. Ditto for Walter van de Velde (Octaaf) who played his identical cousin named [[TheDanza Walter]]

* TheDanza: Gert Verhulst as Gert. Although in the first seasons, he wasn't playing a character. It was a case of actor being himself. Only when the series became CashCowFranchise, Gert decided to distinguish himself from his fictional counterpart.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Home video releases are rather limited, and while the show is still regularly rerun, many episodes are left out due to various reasons, including the episodes not having been remastered in HD, the earlier episodes having a different format or the broadcast tapes just straight up being lost.

* TheOtherDarrin: Samson has been voiced by two actors.
** Three as of 2013, though the current voice (Dirk Bosschaert) has only appeared in live performances.