At a Uniqlo store, the Japanese equivalent of Gap, there is so much laundry that the clothes make you dizzy.
Published at 8:00 p.m.
Sweaters pile up to the ceiling, t-shirts come in a million different materials, not to mention loose, tapered, pleated, straight, fitted, relaxed or cropped pants. Help.
How do you find the ideal piece that fits perfectly into this sea of fabrics?
In my case, I give up in the face of this herculean task. Sayonara, Uniqlo. Who has the time and patience to try so many things before finding the right one?
Too much choice, it seems like a consumer’s paradise, right? No longer. Faced with so many options, people become discouraged. They would need a stylist to guide them through the crowded aisles of the store.
That’s exactly what’s happening on Quebec television this fall: there are too many fiction series to follow. Yes very much. Viewers bought in at the beginning of the season, then gave up and postponed watching until later “when I have more free time.”
We all know that a new television cycle with brand new stories will begin in January and that the backlog accumulated since September will never be caught up.
Result ? Live ratings are falling on all channels. And several excellent Quebec series fail to make it through and go completely unnoticed.
Nobody, not even me, has time, Alarms, 5th Rank, Witches, STAT, Unstoppable, A Criminal Case, Fragments, Beating Heart, Megantic, Plan B, Symbol, Before the Crash, After the Flood, Discussions with me Parents, Raspberry Time, One-Way Journey: Survival, Between Two Sheets, The Candidate, Little Life 2.0 and The Rebels.
In one columnist’s memory, the offering has never been so extensive. It is extremely abundant. Cross-border frightening.
“We shoot too many series in Quebec. We do too many series for the money we have. We should do less, do them better and prefer event series, large series. We have to invest more, our series has to become indispensable,” says director and producer Alexis Durand-Brault (Mégantic, Désobéir: le selected de Chantale Daigle).
The overabundance of fictional series and their demoralizing effect on viewers is causing a stir in the world of Quebec television. This overloaded context dilutes the individual impact of a show that gets lost in a sea of similar titles.
Even more daring shows like After the Flood on Noovo aren’t a hit. What works is STAT and Indefensible, which are still at the top of the listener charts.
And the viewers who follow these two daily newspapers (we watch one live, the other we record) then mortgage their television evening. These fans don’t necessarily have the taste or time to continue with Before the Crash and Alerts. So they postpone it and don’t come back.
But be careful: the current situation of abundance is coming to an end, warn small screen watchers. “The post-pandemic era has created a demand for content that is difficult to sustain. That’s what we’re seeing in the air right now. Club illico, Extra d’ICI Tou.tv and Crave empty their reserves. “The situation will return to normal soon,” notes an experienced producer who does not want to involve her clients and employer in the debate.
Another factor that threatens to weigh on this unprecedented offer: the rise in interest rates, yes, yes. Without going into technical details, you should know that a television producer only receives his public funding 18 months after the delivery of his episodes. To begin filming, these producers take out loans from the bank, negotiating lines of credit that cost a small fortune over a year. “Interest rates are rising, but our budgets aren’t moving,” complains a spy in television production.
In addition, broadcasters fear that by reducing their catalog of fictional series, they will accelerate the migration of their customers to platforms such as Netflix. A legitimate concern.
“No, there aren’t too many TV series. I’d rather watch Quebec shows made here by local artisans than give this space to American or foreign shows. We make damn good television here. The problem is underfunding. For two years now, all producers have exceeded their budgets, which no longer reflect the real costs of television production,” notes producer Sophie Deschênes, president of Sovimage (Before the Crash, A Criminal Affair).
In fashion, you can invest in a few quality pieces that will last a long time, or buy 43 at a bargain price that will self-destruct in two seasons.
On television, the same appropriateness is not done so directly. The proof? STAT and Indefensible, the most cost-effective series, offer the best value for money. And they have not yet gone out of fashion in the hearts of viewers.
I’m floating
PHOTO FROM THE MASKED SINGERS FACEBOOK PAGE
Anouk Meunier
With Anouk Meunier Masked singers
Of the four investigative judges on the popular TVA show, she is the most insightful, mischievous and enlightened. She discovers the smallest clue in the capsules, brings them together into a hypothesis, and is rarely wrong about the identities of the stars hidden in the mascot costumes. First impression: successful.
I avoid it
PHOTO FROM MAISON LADORE INSTAGRAM PAGE
Wines from Maison Ladore
Wine ads from Maison Ladore
There is nothing natural in these commercials that appear during the breaks of Double Occupation – not the wine, nor the performance of the “actors,” nor their interactions. It feels like a Marc Labrèche sketch. The blonde woman in those grocery store wine commercials is Cassandra Lavoine, and let’s just say her wildly popular recipe books are more digestible than what she bottles.