The director of the France Télévisions branches announced in “La Tribune Dimanche” the cessation of the program “Des Numéros et des Lettres”. At the start of the school year, the oldest French game show will stop.
A page is turning for French television. After more than 50 years on the air, “Numbers and Letters” will therefore disappear. It’s regarding PAF’s oldest program following “Le Jour du Seigneur”, but ahead of “Automoto” and “Stage 2”. The objective is clear for France Télévisions to “save money”. Many shows were in the spotlight…
At the start of the school year, France Télévisions wants to make 200 million euros in savings. For example, Bertrand Chameroy’s show, “Bertrand n’a pas slept” will not be renewed while “C Médiatique” will be extended for an additional season. In September 2024, the void that “Numbers and Letters” will leave in the program schedule will be collected by “The game of 1,000 euros”, the famous Radio France game. During all these years, 1 facilitator and 5 facilitators have succeeded one another with more or less success.
Christine Fabréga, first host
There is an early version of the game which did not focus on numbers but only on letters. The game was created in 1965 and is titled “The Longest Word”. Christine Fabréga, first host of the game, precedes the legendary Patrice Laffont. In this version, candidates only play with draws of 7 letters. The show is broadcast every two weeks, on Sunday noon.
Christine Fabréga was then very popular with viewers and the program “Des Numéros et des Lettres” went from a fortnightly broadcast to a weekly broadcast, starting in 1968. However, in 1970, the show ended.
Patrice Laffont: from host to producer
In 1972, the show made its comeback on television. The game changes name, host and gets a “new look”. “The longest word” becomes “Numbers and letters” and the show goes daily. It was broadcast until the 80s before the 8 p.m. news around 7:30 p.m.
In this same version of the game, in April 1975, a candidate caught the attention of viewers and production. Bertrand Renard then tried his luck as a candidate and won 12 matches on his own. He then joined the show. Patrice Laffont will stay 17 years old at the presentation of the game before becoming its producer.
Replacements from Bernard Etienne to Max Meynier
The three animators did not stay running the game for very long. In 1984, Bernard Etienne becomes host of the show “Des Ciphers et des Lettres” replacing Patrice Laffont. In 1989, it was the turn of Laurent Cabrol to host the game. From 1990, the game was moved to 5 p.m. Laurent Cabrol was a leading presenter at the time since he also presented “Une famille en Or” and “Téléshopping” on TF1.
In 1991, a great radio host took over. Max Meynier, who had a successful and long career on radio on RTL and who also hosted “Le Juste Prix”. He becomes the host of “Numbers and Letters”. Unfortunately, the audiences are no longer there and a bad atmosphere would have been palpable on the set during filming.
For 32 years, Laurent Romejko
He will be the last presenter of the game “Numbers and Letters” and he has it animated for 32 yearssince 1992. The show will therefore stop at the start of the 2024 school year and a final goodbye show will be broadcast on the occasion with Patrice Laffont and Laurent Romejko who are respectively the first and last animators of the game.
Laurent Romejko wants to be reassuring, he will always present “Météo à la carte” on France 3, on the air since 2012. In addition, the 60-year-old host specifies in an interview with Parisian that he had been aware of this ruling for a while: “I want to emphasize this, because this is not always the case in television. It is often said that presenters learn from the press that a show has been canceled, but that is not at all what happened to us. There were discussions, things were done normally, properly.« specifies Laurent Romejko.
Also read: Who are the presenters who have already hosted “Just Price”?