This year there will be no red carpet program before either the Gala des Gémeaux or the Gala de l’ADISQ. Goodbye forever! SayonaraBye, arrivedci! You won’t see me cry, quite the opposite! If there’s one TV concept I’ve always found meaningless, uninteresting, superficial and redundant, it’s the idea of giving the stars a microphone and asking them over and over again, “Who dresses you?” and “How does it feel to be nominated?” and the classic “Have you prepared an acceptance speech?” a step in the right direction!
THE PRECIOUS LAUGHERS
Let’s face it, the only interesting moments on the red carpets are when the stars drive the hosts away by letting them feel how odorless, colorless and tasteless their questions are! Remember at the Oscars when Hugh Grant sarcastically answered model Ashley Graham’s endlessly repeated questions? Graham had asked him who he would like to see win. Grant had replied, “No one in particular.” When asked “What are you wearing?” he replied, “My costume.” And to the question “Who dresses you?” he answered “My tailor”. If only all artists had been so open and direct, we would have done away with those pre-gala shows a long time ago!
Why did Radio-Canada ditch the red carpet this year? “We want to do something different and showcase our excellent cultural program Retour vers la culture, produced by France Beaudoin and her production company Pamplemousse,” said Marc Pichette, Communications at Radio-Canada. “We will therefore have two special editions of Retour vers la culture: one before the Gémeaux Awards Gala and one before the ADISQ Gala.”
It will make a difference when celebrities don’t hear us say they had “the most beautiful shoot of their lives” with “an amazing team” that was “like a big family.”
We’re not in France or the United States where stars have access to fashion designers or great jewelers to lend them outfits and jewellery. In comparison, our red carpets have always been a bit “peak peak”. What’s always pissed me off about red carpets is the huge hypocrisy of exercising. Like the year a red carpet host called an artist who wore rags on her back “amazing.” If she had met her at Dollarama, she would never have complimented her “look”.
THE SIMAGRIES GALA
“It doesn’t mean we’re banning the red carpet formula forever, it just means we want to try a different formula this year,” said Marc Pichette. As far as I’m concerned, Radio-Canada can “ban forever” this formula. Over the years we’ve had the best and the worst, but more often the worst. Like back when, to be fashionable, we hired a drag queen who didn’t recognize half the stars. An unease that was quickly swept under the rug.
