The talk show, “a space to be together” on TV

What is a French talk show?

In opposition to the argued debate of the years 1960-1970, where a impartial journalist distributed the floor, an animator-star, surrounded by columnists, addresses the news in an entertaining way.

The genre was born in the early 1980s, with Right of response, On TF1, Forum-Café on company issues led by Michel Polac, seconded by designers like Cabu or Sempé.

And he experienced a golden age in the early 2000s, with Everyone talks about it, by Thierry Ardisson, on France 2, who, supported by his sniper Laurent Baffie, confronts politicians, singers, models …

What difference with the American version, born in the early 1960s?

In the United States, it is a face-to-face between a humorist animator and a star, where everyone engages in a performance, under the benevolent eye of the public. The goal is to bring out a political or cultural figure out of its role, to humanize it, without revealing its flaws. For example, Jimmy Fallon, in his Tonight show, On NBC, in 2016, had fun breathing Donald Trump, then presidential candidate.

Why do talk shows multiply on French channels?

In an individualistic society, where places of exchange such as the village square or the local coffee tend to empty, this relational TV offers a space to be together. At the time of superinformation, often anxiety-provoking, the talk show constitutes, unlike the high mass of 20 hours, a warm meeting to continue to follow what is going on in the world.

By the multiplicity of his sequences and his direct tone, he lends himself to the resumption of significant extracts on social networks and affects a fringe of the customary youth of Zapping.