Capturing all the light, the emission Planting with Marthe pushed ahead of all its Monday night television competitors. In front Survivor and Ssweet salty. Before the final of Chiefs! and that of Traitors. In front of everyone! her host would say with her colorful frankness.
TVA’s new horticultural magazine brought 841,000 curious people to Marthe Laverdière’s greenhouse, packing Sweety salty, seen by 745,000 followers, from the top step of the podium. An astonishing performance for a summer gardening show? Not so much, no.
The popularity of Planting with Marthe relies on the charisma of its presenter, an energetic, laughing and, above all, authentic woman. Marthe Laverdière does not hide under 14 layers of makeup and does not wear designer clothes that would disguise her local personality, I write her without any sarcasm or malice.
Marthe shows herself as she is every day, with her pink cap which transforms into a visor, her brown apron and her gray lulus attached in a nonchalant manner.
Quebec television has few stars, like Marthe Laverdière, who appear without artifice, without white (gardening) gloves. His naturalness comes across the screen. Often, Marthe speaks directly to the camera to eliminate the technical barrier that separates her from the people at home.
I’m not his biggest fan, I admit. Half an hour of this high intensity and its uninterrupted flow of words is already a lot. This is because Marthe Laverdière, like Mariana Mazza, takes up a lot of space, to the detriment of the guests she should highlight. Leading also means listening.
I wouldn’t pay to hear the jokes on his comedy show, either. Marthe Laverdière puts on a show!, which is sold out throughout Quebec. Marthe, I consume it in homeopathic doses. In a culinary column at Good evening !, it is digested. During a 90-minute show, locked in a room, no thanks.
On the other hand, I understand why the public loves this 61-year-old horticulturist, originally from the Bellechasse region, so much. TV is a rigid and heavy medium, often caught in a straitjacket of time and image. Marthe Laverdière breaks all the codes. She minces her words, speaks super fast and very loudly and indulges in several vulgarities (insert pocket or seed gags here).
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
Marthe Laverdière to Good evening !with host Jean-Philippe Wauthier
In the first episode of Planting with Marthe, she repeated the words “icitte”, “enwèye”, “ajète” (for buy) and “fourrer”. She used the invented adjective “iniment”. She referred to her breasts as a tablet and even slapped her guest Guy Jodoin.
It works because she’s Marthe Laverdière, a comical grandmother, who has no ounce of malice. Viewers feel like they know her because she looks like their awkward cousin or their verbose mother.
Marthe embodies the revenge of the regions on television. The vast majority of small screen hosts live around Montreal. They speak with a standard urban accent and gravitate in the same social circle of bobos. Not Marthe Laverdière, more comfortable in a vegetable garden than having a drink at the Rouge Gorge, the haunt of the guests of Everybody talks about it.
It is not for nothing that Love is in the meadow prepares for 13e season. Like Marthe Laverdière, this reality show from Noovo takes us out of Mile End and points its cameras at sincere, friendly and natural people. And it’s refreshing.
In all her intensity, Marthe Laverdière allows herself a little gentleness, especially when she speaks to Minou, her lover of the last 42 years, who is active behind the cameras. Minou is actually Sylvain Talbot, whom she has been seeing since high school.
In the style of Jean-Marc Parent, Marthe Laverdière tells stories in a simple and slabby language, let’s say it. We would never forgive so many linguistic differences in a 30-year-old host, whom Guy Fournier would crucify in The Montreal Journal.
It works because Marthe Laverdière does not pretend to be perfect and she accepts her faults.
In her new show on TVA, Marthe proves to be a good teacher when she explains the properties of different types of soil or when she gives advice on the best plants to place on your terrace. I would take more practical information of this type, less histrionics.
TV generally doesn’t put women over 60 on prime time shows. In addition, Marthe Laverdière has white hair and shapes. His face isn’t as smooth as a sausage, either.
In theory, Marthe should not be as successful. Too old, too cheesy, too regional. In practice, it is everything that is criticized about it that makes it so popular: its experience, its spontaneity and its simplicity.
Marthe is like the favorite aunt in a family: accessible, full of good advice and really fun.
I levitate
With Presumed innocent on Apple TV+
Yes, like Alan J. Pakula’s 1990 thriller starring Harrison Ford, but remade as an eight-hour miniseries. It’s a popcorn legal series from David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, The Lincoln Lawyer), well constructed, which leads us into a case of adultery and a contaminated trial. In Chicago, efficient prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Jake Gyllenhaal) inherits the murder case from his colleague Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve). We quickly discover that Rusty, the exemplary father of the family, was sleeping with the victim Carolyn, which propels the investigation in unsuspected directions, yes, your honor.
I avoid it
The filling at Survivor Quebec
Don’t get me wrong. I adore Survivor (go Kassandre!). Still, the content of the last two weeks has been too diluted. As if the show was already going into assessment mode and slowing down, when the tension should have increased a few days before the big coronation. Yes, it was emotional to see the final contestants meet their loved ones. But it’s even more exciting to witness stressful trials and hectic tribal councils. In short, less yelling and more bickering, please.