The start of the 2022 school year is a real one. We will have to have eyes all around our heads to make our television choices. In the meantime, here is what emerges.
• Read also – Return of Stéphan Bureau: a moving welcome to TVA
ENGAGE THE PUBLIC FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE EVENING
We often talk regarding a locomotive that attracts viewers to a channel hoping to keep them on the air all evening. District 31 was an incredible locomotive for Radio-Canada. This valuable daily fiction slot sees two offerings emerging this fall.
The state-owned company hopes to stay the course and strikes a chord with a series that invests the medical world, Stat. Among the headliners: Suzanne Clément, who following several years in France is returning home, Patrick Labbé, Stéphane Rousseau, Normand D’Amour.
TVA enters the competition with another cutting-edge theme rich in twists and emotions, justice, with Indefensible. The distribution was built around Sébastien Delorme, whose love rating reached new heights last year. Anne-Elisabeth Bossé and Michel Laperrière are at his side. Note that at VAT Tower and Gildor Roy, its new host, are also likely to retain the audience. As for Télé-Québec, a new daily family series promises to be unifying: Like chicken heads.
STRONG DRAMATICS
Several highly anticipated returns are coming this fall: That’s how I love you, Cerebrum, The honorable, The flaw we all offer a 2nd season. Among the intrigues that left us in suspense, The Breakaway seemed to end in collective sectarian suicide, Alerts ended in rape, 5e rang by a disappearance.
Among the novelties we already detect sensitive subjects. Anna and Arnaud deals with homelessness as a mother sees her son’s life turned upside down.
My mother will tackle mental health issues as a bipolar mother tries to bond with her children. For you Flora takes a look at the consequences of residential schools. In Before the crash, it will be regarding performance. In A criminal case we will follow the struggle of a mother to clear her son accused of a crime he did not commit. Pet deals with the delicate relationship between a teacher and her student.
Note that Bell is now developing a lot of fiction. Our dramas take us to many worlds to keep us going. Audacity is more and more palpable.
PLACE FOR OPINION DEBATES
The live formula of Everybody talks regarding it has distinguished itself since the start of the pandemic. Discussions, such as the one on education with Gregory Charles and Normand Baillargeon, aroused interest and lively reflection. The programs where it is possible to debate, there were more at a certain time. They are quietly returning to our airwaves. The success of talk radio and the omnipresence of social networks may have something to do with it.
Courtesy photo, VAT
The world upside down
At TVA, Stéphan Bureau will set up a new slot with The world upside down, a 90-minute set of live debates on topical issues. We promise lively, non-consensual discussions. On the Noovo side, Michel Bherer will host four evenings a week The debaters where it will also be topical. The channel thus revives a late-night slot that suited it well (remember the sports debates) while consolidating its information sector.
LARGE DEPLOYMENT FORMATS
The voice, Star Academy, Big Brother, who can sing, Masked singers are just a few of the foreign formats that Quebec teams have been able to adapt particularly well. Let us also mention Live from the universe, a concept created by France Beaudoin which is not running out of steam, quite the contrary. Large-scale formats continue to arouse curiosity and attract more than interesting ratings. The trend is not likely to weaken. It is therefore not surprising that the adaptation of popular formats such as Survivor et I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here (get me out of here) will land in the coming months, and The game master, starting this fall.
AN EPICUREAN SIDE
The attraction for the kitchen does not run out of steam either. After all, we have to eat three times a day. But the concepts are refined and diversified. Restaurant is a culinary competition that will give entrepreneurs the chance to showcase themselves.
To drink and to eat risks gaining followers by promoting local products and intuitive cuisine. Ricardo, Marina and her chefs, Geneviève O’Gleman, Marilou are also back to take the time to live and appreciate the pleasures of the table. With Spaces, Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse casts her gaze on owners whose homes, built in harmony with nature, are the stuff of dreams. Everything related to home, comfort and beauty remains trendy. Being well has become more important.
INTIMATE ENCOUNTERS
The proximity between the public and the artists they love is precious. It creates attachment. In some cases, it responds to a little voyeuristic side that we all have. An immersion in the lives of others allows you to understand them better, to learn more regarding their universe or to identify yourself. Having privileged access to personalities or people who experience extraordinary events also allows us to put things into perspective, to compare ourselves, to cultivate our empathy.
Sometimes these confidences can even lead us to introspection. In other cases, these stolen moments can turn out to be tasty and have no other claim than to entertain us. true nature covers all these aspects well. At Rémi’s cottage et Christine Morency – no filter will also be in this vein by giving us access in a friendly, intimate and unpretentious setting to people we love or who deserve to be known. Same thing for my first house with Mélissa Bédard who will go beyond planning issues. This is also why The Groulx family is just as successful and returns for a sixth season.
THE DIVERSITY
Many initiatives have been put in place to promote and train artists from diversity, whatever it may be. We are starting to feel it today. In fiction, leading roles are finally offered to actors who illustrate the richness of Quebec multiculturalism. Roles that take them out of the clichés too often conveyed.
The talented Nour Belkhiria inherits a lawyer character in Indefensible. We are delighted with the presence of Anglesh Major in four series this fall: Stat, Larry, Cerebrum et A criminal case. Mélissa Bédard is asserting herself more and more in animation with authenticity. These are just a few examples. We are progressing