French TV

For me, the bigger problem is franceInfo still don't see to want / have the ability to put together more than a 15 minute bulletin (roughly) each hour during the day. Wouldn't the obvious target to be to have something similar in length to BFM? I'm especially glad Marianne Théoleyre and Louis Laforge are both back, but it's a pity they are still not presenting together. I assume this is still all down to the hassle of operating the channel during the pandemic, and yet, they can still have four guests at the desk in the studio during lengthy éditions spéciales - one of which they chose to produce when there was alternative coverage on France 2.

Maybe what they ought to do is refresh or step up the franceinfo cross-promotion at the end of 13h / 20h, e.g. have Patricia Loison etc. in the studio occasionally to talk about what's coming up. If they can do it for the live prime time France 2 shows…

What I'd like to see in daytime and at weekends is for a 45 min bulletin in each hour, leaving the final 15 mins for the distinctive filler and shows such as Zéro Emission and Vrai ou Fake can be scheduled.

The radio headline bulletins are unnecessary and should be axed. It's silly having a 15 min bulletin to have a bulletin read in a cupboard 5 mins later with exactly the same headlines as the tv bulletin.

One of the things I like most about Franceinfo outside of the presentation is the fact it isn't all round table opinion as you get on BFM, CNEWS and LCI, so there's actual news and analysis, but it's clearly still not running at full steam due to Covid and it's really affecting the output.

The condensed morning show and the 11pm bulletin are still the strongest shows on the channel.

After the 14/17 last week, the new morning schedule launched this morning with the addition of "L'info s'éclaire". Sadly the 90" updates appear to have disappeared - unlike London Lite, I find these add structure especially where the schedule is fairly news-lite and heavy on analysis, interviews and features. Between 8:30 and 10:30 there is a dearth of real news and not even a summary between 9:20 and 10:30. The final addition to the evening schedule "Votre Instant Politique" is now pushed back to next week. They're taking their time!

The theme music for "L'info s'eclaire" is an interesting choice, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were on a Pacific island rather than watching an hour of political analysis. Here's the theme in its full glory...

17h:20h was good on the whole this afternoon. There's also a nice socially distanced handover (all in the same shot) between Sophie and the double-headed presenters at the end of 14h:17h.

The old studio used for headlines from the Franceinfo radio station is back!



Edit, it also can be used for other shows as well as shown here.

I think this rentrée has been quite a miss for most of the French (and UK, if you can call it a rentrée) news channels. Nothing really distinct and they've started copying each other more and more.

To complete some comments re Franceinfo - le 23h is the standout, the rest is not great. Removing several JTs/flashes throughout the day to replace them with debate/talk is stripping Franceinfo of its USP. It would seem the strategy is now "If you can't beat them..." As predicted le 14h:17h is not an actual news block, it's about 45 minutes of content done in the first hour chopped up and spat back out for the rest of the afternoon. L'info s'éclaire I thought was actually a very good programme, 2 big issues though - 1. it's C dans l'air 2. it's unlikely to reach the target audience at 9.30 or 1?!

Le 21h:23h has been quite surprising - it is more interesting than last year's franceinfo soir , a titulaire for the bulletins would be good. The 9pm magazines are quite good and it's nice seeing specialists presenting their interests with passion each week, not necessarily something you get on other channels. I find the vrai ou fake stuff very condescending though, it's as if the target audience is 12-15 year olds.

Surprised that Darius Rochebin has not yet increased the audience share for LCI at 8pm (very hard timeslot fair enough), surprised that CNEWS gets any audience for this year's diatribe schedule and BFM TV for now seems safe in its position as one of Europe's most watched news channels to me.

L'info outre mer is now daily (including Saturday and Sunday) on France 3 and Franceinfo, seemingly now presented alternately by Kessi Weishaupt and Karine Zabulon. The weekend editions are at 11.18 on France 3 and 15.23 on Franceinfo. All bulletins are now 6 minutes.

It's finally happened! 😯

https://www.ozap.com/actu/tf1-jean-pierre-pernaut-va-quitter-le-13-heures/596896

A minor thing considering the TF1 story, but I spotted the green screen Franceinfo use for signing during a steadicam shot this morning - it is, as I suspected, directly to the right (as viewed on screen) of the main desk, behind the partition. (Nice doing the signing close by, I have a feeling for BBC the studio is somewhere else entirely?)

Outre-mer express is, I'm guessing, a regular thing at 12h30 - if it wasn't already.

Nice to see Marianne hold up an actual print copy of Le Monde this afternoon too.

Marie-Sophie Lacarrau to replace Jean-Pierre Pernaut

https://www.ozap.com/actu/depart-de-marie-sophie-lacarrau-sur-tf1-nathanael-de-rincquesen-presentera-le-13-heures-de-france-2-vendredi/597010

A very interesting, dramatic turn of events, meaning that the ball is now in France Télévisions' court as their pick for a successor might just change the fortunes of their 13h (and possibly France 2 bulletins in general) which have been on the back foot against TF1 for years.

Seemingly, Marie-Sophie Lacarrau has been 'garden-leaved' or removed as although she concluded her bulletin with, "à demain !", Anne-Sophie Lapix ended her 20h tonight saying that Nathanaël de Rincquesen is presenting tomorrow and she wishes her well for her new adventure. Perhaps this was on the cards seeing as Nathanaël de Rincquesen was left without a regular presenting gig in this year's rentrée bar co-presentation of a Franceinfo segment? It will be very interesting to look at ratings for lunchtime bulletins in the first week of January in France for sure!

A bunch of France Télévisions "behind the scenes" videos for "virtual" European Heritage Day…

https://www.francetelevisions.fr/et-vous/notre-tele/en-coulisses/jep2020-a-france-tv-vos-animateurs-preferes-deviennent-vos-guides-virtuels-3625

How could I miss the news of JPP leaving TF1!

I thought a woman would be the replacement, but not Marie-Sophie Lacarrau when they have in-house talent such as Anne-Claire Coudray and LCI's Audrey Crespo-Mara who is the weekend jockey for ACC.

It also means France 2 will need a new presenter for Prodiges, although it appears Marie-Sophie has recorded the 2020 editions already.