The big absentee from the flagship programs of December 31 on Radio-Canada? Valérie Plante, mayor of Montreal and priestess of the orange cone.
Apart from a short imitation in See you next yearno trace of her in the Bye bye 2023 and, even more surprising, no chat with Jean-René Dufort for the end of year reviewInfoman. His counterpart from Quebec, Bruno Marchand, appeared there, as did the resigning mayor of Chapais, Isabelle Lessard. But not Valérie Plante, who nevertheless runs the largest city in Quebec.
Like the urban mobility squad, the mayor of 514 was nowhere to be found on the small screen, after a particularly laborious political year. Would she sulk Infoman, with whom she has collaborated in the past? Not at all, replies Jean-René Dufort.
“After her illness at the beginning of December, we decided to give Valérie Plante a break. We didn’t invite her. These days, our politicians get bullied, they get trolled, they get screwed all the time. I find that they really get taken advantage of all year round. That was the idea of the hug at the end of the show. And several politicians were very happy to take it,” Jean-René Dufort explained to me in an interview.
Initially, Prime Minister François Legault refused to sit down with Jean-René Dufort (and his ugly Karl Tremblay tie).
Mr. Legault just wanted to go shopping for a compass with me. He changed his mind, but you see he’s not too strong, I saw him really groggy.
Jean-Rene Dufort
I really liked this Infoman 2023, who opted for comic benevolence, rather than destructive dozer. There is no point, in such a humorous rear-view mirror exercise, to spank the same pinata politicians, about the same issues, which have already been dissected by all the political analysts and journalists in Quebec. It’s a sterile and boring exercise, which doesn’t produce any funny moments.
There were some pretty nuggets in Infoman 2023 : the opening song of Bleu Jeans Bleu, Martin Matte’s self-deprecation, the podcast Parlons babounes with the three Fitz (what a good flash, with Marc Labrèche), François Legault (in self-deprecation mode) who reveals that he was incapable of burning the village of Clova, Justin Trudeau on cross-country skis who orders the shooting down of foreign weather balloons, the resurrection of the third link superimposed on the film Jesus of Nazareththe Drainville triplets, the opera of Martin St-Louis, the neoconservative tales of the drag queen Barbada as well as the SOPFEU plane which extinguished the burning figures for 2023.
Lots of exciting material to Live from New Year’s Day, also. Particularly the surprise within the surprise, which always leads to a magical moment. This time, it was the Canadian singer Gowan who cut the whistle to the “choristers” Véronic DiCaire, Nathalie Simard and Kathleen Fortin, who could not believe singing with the singer of Strange Animal. Their faces were worth all the gold of men.
Same spontaneous and touching reaction when Benoit McGinnis and Patrice Bélanger saw the singer of the Spin Doctors group, Chris Barron, who remade his only success Two Princes (Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong doesn’t really count). Candy.
At the helm of this always busy set, France Beaudoin navigates easily between emotional and festive elements without the change in tone breaking the rhythm of the show. The tribute to the deceased with, among others, Alyocha Schneider and Richard Séguin was magnificent.
It must also be said that the quintet of kidnapped people (Élise Guilbault, Ève Côté, Mélanie Maynard, Gino Chouinard and Benoit McGinnis) were generous, enlightened and enthusiastic. The flow went really well between them.
It’s unique in the world, this tradition where Quebecers spend the year watching so many special shows for several consecutive hours. The gloomy minds who predict the death of this media clearly do not live here, between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m., on the night of December 31 to 1er January. Long live (good) unifying and popular TV.
The Super Bowl of 31
To all those who complain (the whining quickly got over in 2024) about the overabundance of ads in the Bye bye 2023, first of all, calm down, this is what absorbs part of the production costs of the popular Radio-Canada show. You have to live with it. Or skip them.
Then, there were some very good advertisements on the evening of December 31. Starting with that of the Toyota dealerships in Quebec, where members of a family (even the husband!) hid in a Grand Highlander SUV to escape from the far too intense hostess, Aunt Lisette. Really funny.
After his buzzy, droning “La-Z-Boy,” Tanguay upped the ante with his holiday discomforts, which were pasted onto the song But no but no. Beautiful execution.
We also raise our glasses to New Look and his presbyopic grandfather unable to decipher his granddaughter’s greeting card. With the room A little higher, a little more lawn, it was perfect.
The grocer Metro adopted a strategy similar to Tanguay by using food to deflect awkward conversations on party nights. Excellent stuff.
Special mention to hardware store Patrick Morin and his tree house for rent for $2000 per month, not heated. The Coke ad with Antoine Bertrand, Pier-Luc Funk, Denise Filiatrault and Mitsou was also successful, as was the A&W ad where no one from the family of spokesperson Michel Olivier Girard associated him, playing dumpling , to the profession of actor.
On the other hand, no one spends the year at Pacini listening to Jérôme 50 on the carpet and dancing furiously in a group. Misleading advertising! Can we file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Office?