U.S. Head of 'Voice' Producer Leaving in Feud?

[Mark Jeffries]

Stijn Bakkers, who runs the U.S. branch of the Netherlands' Talpa Media, the creator of "The Voice," is supposedly stepping down over how his boss, Dutch entertainment magnate John DeMol, wants to do the U.S. version of their new format "Utopia," the reality comp that sounds like a "Survivor" knockoff that Fox will be airing later this year:

http://www.thewrap.com/voice-ep-stijn-bakkers-expected-exit-talpa-media-usa/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=contactology

I seem to recall that when DeMol was running Endemol, he demanded that CBS do "Big Brother" in its first season exactly as they did it in Europe and it didn't work over here--and that it only took off in the U.S. when Arnold Shapiro and Alison Groedner were allowed to come in and perform major tweaks on the format.  And it would seem to me that the U.S. version of "The Voice" probably has more of Mark Burnett's stamp on it than DeMol.