Le Grand Journal, has been a daily rendez-vous for French people and their TV since 2004. I’m not a big Johnny Hallyday fan at all, and I hate that I have to say this but according to «Mediametrie50», the talk show reached a pik of 4.8 million viewers when singer Johnny Hallyday was invited in October 2008 on the show, a historical record for the show.
The show has established itself as a real «must watch» mixing topicality (in the first part) and culture (in the second part). In 2013, after nine seasons at the head of the show, Michel Denisot announced his resignation due to declining audiences. It probably doesn’t have anything to do with me not owning a TV at that time but that is a weird coincidence. To replace him, Canal+ has decided to recall Antoines de Caunes, a key figure of «Nulle part ailleurs», the show that existed before «Le Grand Journal».
Antoine de Caunes
Le Grand Journal features news, talk, weather and comedy. It is a French nightly news and talk live show diffusing every weekday evening from 19:10 to 20:20 on Canal+. It began on August 30, 2004 and even though the show is broadcast on the premium channel Canal+, this is a non-encrypted program. Taking some of the recipes that made «Nulle part ailleurs» so popular, the show has the same television studio set as its predecessor. However, it is distinguished by a major difference in its concept ; the daily presence of political topics and guests.
Antoine de Caunes is also always supported by several qualified journalists that all have their rôle in the show :
– Jean-Michel Aphatie (political journalist)
– Augustin Trapenard (literary journalist)
– Anne Nivat (great reporter and French writer)
– Doria Tillier (TV presenter, responsible for the weather section «Miss Meteo»)
If I had to talk about the things I miss the most about New-Caledonia, I would probably say the beaches, wearing thongs and Le Grand Journal. What makes it so popular is the fact that the show does not target a specific audience, everyone can enjoy it.
From Broadcast to Post-Broadcast :
Le Grand Journal has gone through many changes, and to keep an ever present and enthuastic audience, the show often renews its sections.
BROADCAST SECTIONS :
The TV show always starts with presenter Antoine de Caunes’ monologue where he announces what is going to be discussed, introduces the crew and the guests.
Jean-Michel Aphatie then takes over with the «eye to eye question». Everynight, political journalist invites a politician to answer a question ( most of the time the question is pretty bold and opens a debate on a specific topic.)
The chronicle literary by Augustin Trapenard comes next : a book, sometimes two are presented and discussed.
Also, «Le Zapping» (translated as ‘Channel surfing’) is probably one of the oldest and most legendary sections of Canal Plus. It is a 2 to 3 minute program which rebroadcasts the moments considered as the funniest, most heartbreaking, most moving or strangest programs all over the world. Watching it is an easy way to sound smart towards your friends as it’s basically all the things you should have not have missed in the past 24 hour on TV.
NOT SO BROADCAST:
The weather section by Doria Tillier : from Monday to Thursday, model and TV presenter performs a humorous weather. Although on Friday she is replaced by a personality.
Le Petit Journal : Le Grand Journal’s little brother, Le Petit Journal is presented by Yann Barthès. The aim of the show is to cover and relate in a caustic, diverted or shifted manner various news topics. It is completely different from Le Grand Journal as Le Petit Journal chooses real topics and turn them into humor, sarcam and often mockery. For instance, Yann Barthès does not hesitate to choose our president as a target and openly mock him (no wonder why French people love it).
In October 2009, Nicolas Sarkozy’s «copy and paste» case became famous due to Le Petit Journal. Indeed, the program broadcast footage of ex President Nicolas Sarkozy holding a speech on agricultural crises in Poligny. He gave a nearly identical speech in February the same year, in Daumeray. This scandal was then relayed the next day in the press, especially in «Le Monde» where it hit the headline.
POST-BROADCAST:
«Les tutos» (The tutorials) is a short humorous program where Jérôme Niel teaches the viewer how to create or cook something different every friday. Always starting its videos with ‘Salut bandes de salopes’ which could be translated as ‘Hey you stupid c*nts’ and finishing with ‘Je vous aimes putain!’ (F*ck, I love you!), it is probably the most degenerated and sassiest program on the show.
connasse
Camille Cotin is one in a million. Unvarnished, messy hair, she’s not scared to speak the truth. Who has never pretended that the chair (taken by her bag) was reserved for a friend ‘who should be here soon’… Her performance in this program is admirable. In this humorous sequence once again, ‘La connasse’ (the bitch) as she likes to call herself features as a young execrable and unceremonious Parisian woman. Filmed with hidden camera, she literally acts as a bitch towards people.
I sometimes feel like she is going too far and I feel bad for the people being pranked (it’s not the first time the actress has copped a plaint) but I keep telling myself while watching it is that these people have later been informed it was a prank.
Finally, The Question Box is a small room where guests go at the end of the show and answer questions asked by the audience. It is often really funny as the questions are unexpected and it’s live!