This new chapter of the cult series promises to lift the veil on what has become of the main members of the Paré clan in 2023. I couldn’t figure out a way to remake La petite vie, then I had the Blitz: You’re turning 30, too, explained actor-screenwriter Claude Meunier at a press conference Wednesday in Montreal.
I called everyone, including Serge Thériault, he continues. I’ve seen all the characters. Everyone agreed to come back except Serge. Serge Thériault, who played the role of the mother in the series, has been stuck in his apartment for several years due to severe depression, as we learned in the documentary Dehors Serge Outside in 2021.
Môman will be in our hearts and in our minds. Nobody else will play his character. Serge gives us his blessing, said Claude Meunier. He specifies that the plot will revolve around the character of môman, but that she will not be played by an actor or actress. “It’s a bereavement,” said Claude Meunier, who, out of respect for his friend, did not want to elaborate on this topic. I think Serge is better. He found it funny, the stories I told him. The first episode will be called “L’absente”.
This is the first time that Claude Meunier is considering writing new episodes of La petite vie. A phone call from one of the producers, Monique Lamoureux, who continues to delight in the popularity of the series’ Saturday episodes on ICI Radio-Canada Télé, indicated that interest in the series was still ongoing. “If we get close to a million ratings on Saturday night where it was 11 times,” it might be worth revisiting, concluded Claude Meunier.
Claude Meunier (Ti-Mé or pôpa) and Serge Thériault (Jacqueline or môman) were the stars of the first version of “La petite vie”.
The same essence
The unifying humor that characterized the 4 seasons of La petite vie will return to screens in an unchanged setting. We are promised that the family will be reunited mainly in the original settings of the kitchen and living room of the parents’ house. “It’s still recorded in front of an audience,” said director Pierre Séguin. The sitcom was invented in the US in the 1950s with I Love Lucy. We’re not changing the recipe. The six episodes will be recorded in two parts in front of two different viewers.
Addressing “acceptable” subjects today, Claude Meunier said he viewed Radio-Canada’s withdrawal of an episode from his series in 2020 as “a storm in a teacup”. He confirms that all of his new jokes for 2023 are tasteful. The only scene removed from La petite vie back in the ’90s is “a scene where Alexis Martin, disguised as a priest, came to Le seigneur est my Grand Marnier,” the screenwriter added with a laugh.
“Let us follow those who love us”
A real joy was felt in the room during the press conference. Not at all concerned about the response the new episodes will have, the actors and actresses “can’t wait to see each other again,” said Claude Meunier. “We don’t want to go back to 1993,” he added. It’s like we’re musicians and we want to repeat our melodies. “Let us follow those who love us,” added Lison’s interpreter, Josée Deschênes.
The cast will bring together all the main characters: Claude Meunier (Ti-Mé), Diane Lavallée (Thérèse), Marc Messier (Réjean), Marc Labrèche (Rénald), Josée Deschênes (Lison), Guylaine Tremblay (Caro), Bernard Fortin (Rod) , Remy Girard (Pogo) and Sylvie Potvin (Linda). The episodes were written by Claude Meunier and directed by Pierre Séguin.
Launched on October 16, 1993, La petite vie quickly became one of the most influential series on French Canadian television. Some of the approximately sixty episodes have been seen by more than 4 million people.
Today, reruns still attract 600,000 viewers every week on ICI Télé.