No false promises, as we had made to him in the past, but a real relationship of trust that he maintains with the France Beaudoin team from Mammouth at Pamplemousse Media.
As you'll see on Télé-Québec on Thursday at 9 p.m., we've never seen anything like this on television: a half-variety, half-fictional show, filmed in a private home in Longueuil, where the star guests play games and sing with an orchestra, confide in each other by the pool and discuss their worst mistakes.
The first guests are Patrice Bélanger, Véronic DiCaire and Katherine Levac, while Pierre Kwenders and Jacobus provide the musical part and Antoine Olivier Pilon plays the script part with the presenter.
No audience, but about twenty paid extras who play the game to the fullest and dance without ever sitting down if they like the music less, like at our usual parties.
I really liked the musical passages by Jean-Sébastien Houle, as well as the theme of the show. In the first part, Véronic DiCaire offers a perfect, larger-than-life interpretation of Cheap Thrills, Sia's hit. Then she covers her own radio hit “Feel Happy,” remember? Again the magic happens.
Pier-Luc Funk also sings a song at the end of the show, the first song of which ends in the bathtub.
Incidentally, especially during the games, I often had the impression that I was watching a party to which I was not invited.
Playing on musical chairs can be a lot of fun. Watching people play musical chairs is less true, even when the players are Katherine Levac and Patrice Bélanger.
The rest is accompanied by a written sketch divided into three parts with a guest star. In the second week, Pascale Bussières behaves like a rebellious teenager in an existential crisis; Pier-Luc catches her stealing her television before handcuffing herself in the bathroom and suggesting they cheat at the casino.
The sketches are whimsical and absurd and represent a break in the tone of the rest of the group. Either we get going and get carried away with the third degree, or we find the time a bit long.
In the coming weeks you'll see Nathalie Simard playing beer pong, as well as Luce Dufault and Fabiola Aladin (Vikings, I come to you, Belle et bum) performing a techno version of Sous le vent as a duo.
I love Pier-Luc Funk, so I'll give this original concept time to find its identity. At least we dare, we try something that is different from everything else.
Twelve one-hour programs are planned. Among the guests: Mayor Bruno Marchand, Élyse Marquis, Mona de Grenoble, Phil Roy, Christine Morency and Marc Hervieux.
Too short, MasterChef?
After its premiere on Monday at 7:30 p.m., several readers said they found the Quebec version of MasterChef far too short.
This is because the 30-minute daily version should not be confused with the more common 60-minute weekly version.
Did TVA make the right decision to air this popular concept daily rather than once a week? On Monday, 720,000 curious people wanted to see what the candidates are capable of in the fight for the 16 places in the competition, compared to 853,000 for L'oeil du cyclone on ICI Télé.
As I've written before, it will take a few shows for hosts and judges Martin Picard and Stefano Faita to get comfortable with the mechanics of the format and become more relaxed.
Nevertheless, according to preliminary data from Numeris, 1,435,000 followers were looking forward to watching STAT on Monday evening on ICI Télé, compared to 1,213,000 for Indéfendable à TVA.
At 8 p.m., 5th place (894,000) wins over Witches (573,000) and the premiere of Every Second Counts (361,000), while at 9 p.m. Alerts (690,000) is ahead of Reasonable Doubt (416,000) and takes third place in Seasons and I 'm Coming To You (257,000).
Bye Bye exceeds 4.5 million
According to confirmed data from Numeris, Bye Bye 2023 was watched by a total of 4,569,000 viewers on ICI Télé, including people who recorded the broadcast to watch later.
This is a slight decrease compared to last year, when 4,706,000 revelers were in attendance.
The broadcaster says Bye Bye reached the 4.5 million viewer mark for the fourth year in a row and remains the most-watched program of all time.
With 2,383,000 viewers, “Live from New Year's Day” recorded its second-best viewership ever, following 2,493,000 viewers last year.
Infoman 2023 improves its score compared to last year, attracting 3,505,000 viewers compared to 3,236,000 in 2022.
1,976,000 people were interested in going behind the scenes of “Bye Bye,” while 969,000 watched “Behind the Scenes of Live on New Year’s Day.” Finally, “See You Next Year” was seen by 1,806,000 followers.
On the same evening, TVA, Vlog – The Year in Review attracted 575,000 viewers, 450,000 continued with PA Méthot: The Party of the Millennium, while the premiere film Dune by Denis Villeneuve brought together 215,000 viewers.
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