Since the time he has been working on his return to TV and refining the concept of his debate and news set The world upside downStéphan Bureau is eager to jump into the arena this Friday on TVA.
• Read also: Stéphan Bureau unveils the decor of his show “Le monde à l’envers”
The journalist and host wants to do “useful work” by allowing Quebecers to learn or relearn how to debate.
“Feverish” as the first 90-minute meeting presented live approaches, the 58-year-old communicator intends to lead frank, direct and open discussions, in short in a setting more conducive to civilized exchanges than on Twitter.
“It’s easier to stay focused, hate yourself from a distance and assume the worst than to risk saying, ‘Here’s what I think, do you have a better idea?'” he said. at the QMI Agency, last Friday, when he unveiled the decor installed in studio A of the TVA building in Montreal.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
He believes the show, while it will feature heated debates, will “show that you don’t die and you can have fun” by sharing ideas.
In his opinion, “the space for discussion has shrunk” in Quebec during the pandemic. “Apart from incitement to violence and hatred, or the dissemination of shameless lies, we all agree: opinions, different visions and critical looks, it is possible to hear them without it being threatening, without telling the other “shut up!””.
Employees, guests and the public
Each week, Stéphan Bureau will surround himself with four employees who will rotate among a group of eight, namely Yasmine Abdelfadel, Biz, Gregory Charles, Louise Deschâtelets, Sophie Durocher, Raed Hammoud, Guy Nantel and Richard Martineau.
For the first meeting, Yasmine Abdelfadel, Louise Deschâtelets, Raed Hammoud and Guy Nantel will cross swords on various themes established in the middle of the week to allow them to do their homework. As we will be live, it is not excluded to change a subject at the very last minute, and even during the broadcast, in order to stay glued to the news.
The host will also do three interviews, including one with the guest of the week. To break the ice, Fabien Cloutier will lend himself to the game. Even people in the audience and Internet users will be able to share their opinions and comments.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
long talks
When he left ICI Première at the end of the summer of 2021, Stéphan Bureau did not expect to find himself hosting a debate and current affairs set a year later.
“We had conversations with TVA and it didn’t work out because it didn’t work with my schedule. And the phone rang once more in October 2021, a call I was not expecting. This is where we started talking. We did two pilots who were pretty good in the spring, but it wasn’t for a lot of reasons, starting with the fact that we had a setting created during a pandemic, with distance. You needed binoculars to see the guests, it was very frustrating. We also wanted the public. We went back to the drawing board and we gave birth to this project, ”he said.
Produced by Sphère Média in collaboration with Quebecor Content, the program The world upside down will be presented every Friday, at 8 p.m., on TVA, as well as repeated on LCN every Saturday at the same time.
Different approaches
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
The actress and columnist Journal Louise Deschâtelets says she is “getting out of her comfort zone a bit a lot” by participating in the Upside-down world. “Given my age and the experiences I have, I think I can bring a more distant element of reflection to what is happening in society. Today, we react spontaneously because of social networks. I may have a different opinion and [on peut] talk to each other calmly without being enemies.”
The Loco Locass singer and author Biz had come forward to collaborate on the show, and the production also had him in their sights. So he speaks of a “perfect marriage, free and informed consent”. “The format, the proposal, with Stéphan Bureau, that was very important to me. I am allowed to be what I am, to have my color, to be the guy from Quebec who defends the French language, independence, the regions, the First Nations, all with my tone, humor and historical perspective. It is an extremely rare forum.”
For her part, the columnist of Journal Sophie Durocher “wishes that we speak in the whites of the eyes without shouting names” on the show. “The intention is not to destroy the person who does not think like you, but it is not Master key no more. I will tell the other that he is in the field, but with a smile. When I write a column that makes people talk, I see a difference between the reaction of people on social networks, the rowdy minority, and the people who write to me and are respectful.