My first instinct was to offer you my viewing suggestions “for the rainy days” of the summer season. But after experiencing a few days of intense heat and consulting the forecast for the coming weeks, I thought that we would start a whole new summer tradition: all the windows of the chalet closed, the air conditioning on max, listening to TV waiting for the heat wave to pass. And if it rains… everyone out!
What to choose for catch-up sessions? First, a few words to highlight the high quality of several Quebec television productions. At the top of my list of excellence, I place TVA’s fall event: Revolution. A dance competition concept from the Montreal group Fair-Play, exported to France, Spain, Russia and China in particular, the show appeals to one and a half million Quebecers a week and is a permanent encouragement to surpass oneself. The quality of the dancers – eclectic and of all ages – of the camera, of the editing (tightened for the last season), of the judges earned him this gold medal. The fact that the program provokes a craze among young people for dance – therefore for physical exercise and effort – should earn them a special prize from the Ministries of Education and Health (in catch-up on TVA+).
In fiction, I highlight in broad strokes the excellence of three series broadcast this year.
The night Laurier Gaudreault woke up. Yes the plot, yes the editing, yes the truth of the dialogues, yes the realization of Xavier Dolan. But, above all, the extraordinary performance of the actors makes this series a jewel in the history of our TV (on Club Illico).
Series Plan B. Screenwriters Jean-François Asselin and Jacques Drolet could have run out of steam after three seasons based on the same principle of the protagonist trying to repair, by going back in time, the mistakes of life. No way. They offer a thrilling and deeply human season 4. Pier-Luc Funk is exceptional there. The series is adapted in Belgium and France and the English-Canadian version is promised an international career. Only question: what is Netflix waiting for to buy it (on Tou.tv Extra)?
The 10 years of the Mégantic tragedy have superbly occupied our screens this year. Was it possible to turn a sensational event into a deeply human series? Screenwriter Sylvain Guy and Sophie Laurin’s team pulled off this tour de force with emotion, tact and authenticity with Megantic. Opinion: it is too hard emotionally to listen to the eight episodes in burst. You have to spread it out over several days (on Club Illico).
Once this trip is over, the viewing of the first episode of the documentary Megantic lake. This is no accident, by Philippe Falardeau, leaves you wondering. Combining testimonies and investigation, we first say to ourselves that we have already given, on the pathos side. But we must persevere, because the investigation takes control of the next three episodes in a crescendo that convinces us of the culpable negligence of the railway industry and the Canadian government in this affair (on True).
Five screenwriters worked on the screenplay of Turn. Double fault, including Éric Bruneau, who plays the protagonist and who definitely stands out as one of the great actors of his generation. The narrative frame is a jewel, until the very last line (on Noovo). I note the presence of Sylvie Léonard as a controlling mother and with declining cognitive faculties, as true in this role as in that, at the antipodes, of the energetic, dapper and naive woman she portrays in the excellent revival ofA boy a girl (on Tou.tv).
Speaking comedy, intelligence and the irreverence of series eye of the storm (Radio-Canada), where Christine Beaulieu bursts the screen, and Happiness (TVA), a caustic vehicle posed by François Avard on our failings, attest to the health of our propensity for self-mockery. Special mention to the ability toInfoman to defy time. The first ten minutes of the programs, devoted to political news, are generally of a caustic acuity.
On the documentary side, The osstidwhat? The osstidshow!, on the legendary show that brought together the Charlebois, Forestier, Deschamps and Mouffe, is an anthology piece and a dive into a time and a year – 1968 – today truly unimaginable (on Télé-Québec). Stay on this site to watch next Robert en CharleboisScopethe latest (for now) show from the timeless 78-year-old rocker, prefaced with excerpts from interviews where the singer, in his early youth, poured a retrospectively hilarious disdain on seniors.
On American online channels, I raise to the top of my politico-social charts the BBC series The Capture, on the manipulation of images by the police, spies, states, and others. The first season was excellent. The second, exceptional (on Prime Video). In The Diplomatwe find the rich texture and intelligence of Westwing and of Homeland, from which the producer comes. The plot does not unravel at the end of the first season, on the contrary (on Netflix).
About Watergate, I loved the series last year Gaslit, whose protagonists, Nixon’s attorney general and his rebellious wife, were played by unrecognizable Sean Penn and divine Julia Roberts (on Prime). This year, HBO offers the account of the two main executors of the burglary. White House Plumbers stay close to the facts. But, written by the creators of the comedy Veepthe series takes on tragicomic airs that do not fail to seduce (on Crave).
In another register, I was literally carried away by the series 1883. Epic, violent, emotional, lyrical, the series tells the rush to the West of a group of immigrants, through the eyes of a young woman thirsty for freedom. His parents are camped by the couple of country singers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. It could have been a disaster. It’s great (on Prime). Finally, those who grew up laughing at the antics of Michael J. Fox must watch the touching documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. A tribute to life, love and humor, despite and through pain (on Apple TV+).
Father, columnist and author, Jean-François Lisée led the PQ from 2016 to 2018. [email protected] / blog: jflisee.org