Imagine if Gino Chouinard or Guy Mongrain were arrested with their pants down with cocaine in their pockets, after a looong night of partying that left them with dark circles even deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Quebec would not recover. Neither do sponsors. And social media would implode.
This is the starting point of the audacious series good morning chuck (or the art of harm reduction), which will appeal to fans of original television works, more of the HBO type, in line with Black sequence or some Invincible.
And this filiation will surprise no one, because Jean-François Rivard (That’s how I love you) wrote and co-directed with Mathieu Cyr the ten episodes of good morning chuckthe first two hours of which will land on the Crave platform on Wednesday, May 24.
Warning: this gritty comedy-drama unfolds entirely in black and white and yes, it surprises at first, but we end up forgetting it. The version that Noovo will eventually broadcast will go into color, that said. I’ve only seen two episodes and I can’t wait to watch the rest.
So Chuck. His name is actually Charles Bélanger (Nicolas Pinson) and he wakes up the viewers of Good morning, a coffee? for 11 years now. Everyone loves Chuck. He is part of the furniture and he even sells jars of sauce with his chubby face on them.
But, you see, Chuck likes to party – we know a few Quebec showbiz animators who have gone through this phase. One of the first sequences of good morning chuck, never before seen on TV here, shows us the total slippage of Quebec’s favorite helmsman. Face oozing, Chuck alternates between cigarettes, powder and alcohol in a clandestine bar (yes, that exists) and ends up in a bathroom stall with two girls on the same buzz as him. There’s poo involved, vomit, burlesque and a very raw reply: “Get out of my little girl!” »
Yes, it’s vulgar, but the context justifies it. After this decadent party, Chuck skips the TV station and urinates in a public parking lot. An older fan takes a picture of him with her iPad, what else, and scandal erupts.
The cop who intercepts him sums up Chuck’s position in the star system perfectly: “He’s not a star, he’s an institution. Without him, it’s morning chaos. If we stop him, it’s not just him who falls, it’s collective morale. »
Like Maripier Morin, three years ago, Chuck lost everything: his show, his contract with Toyota, his agent (Marilyn Castonguay), the Bye and her friend Emma (Nathalie Doummar), the star actress of a historical-hospital soap opera about Jeanne Mance, the co-founder of Montreal.
The actor Nicolas Pinson, also the creator of the series, has been in treatment three times and the problems of excessive consumption of Chuck are inspired a lot by his own.
In denial of his own drug addiction, Chuck drops into the recovery home of psychiatrist Marie Chagnon (Chantal Fontaine), who offers him a deal. Chuck talks about his therapy and publicizes his establishment, which allows Dr.D Chagnon to keep his government grants. It’s win-win.
Obviously, the plan will not go as planned. Chuck hardly mixes with the other residents, who are wary of him. Sylvain Marcel, Hugo Dubé, Lyna Khellef, Claire Jacques and Amélie B. Simard embody characters addicted to a panoply of vices: alcohol, gambling, fentanyl, crack or benzodiazepines. Bernard Fortin plays their therapist.
It may sound cliché on paper, but it’s not. good morning chuck winks at the world of television without however making it the heart of its concerns. The episodes talk about addiction and rehabilitation with humor and sensitivity.
Moreover, accurately describing this singular production is not easy. The soundtrack includes jazz, Penitentiary doors and Marie Carmen. A small cartoon dragon is embedded in the script alongside a quote from Bukowski and a tap dancer. Surprisingly, this motley mix forms a coherent and intelligent series.
Also, it’s very well acted and executed. Danielle Ouimet is surprising in the role of Chuck’s empathetic neighbor, who hands her a pole while our protagonist hits the bottom of the barrel (of powder, it is the case to say).
Before receiving a deluge of angry emails from lovers of the French language, yes, the expression “bon matin”, modeled on the “good morning” in English, is not recommended in French. The host of Good morning, a coffee? knows that it’s an Anglicism and that exasperates him: “It’s not French for a crisp of pennies, we should say hello.” Hi, a coffee? Hello, a coffee? Simple, unifying, worse in French, tabarnak. »
This is an issue that has been addressed, I wanted to share it with you. We must emphasize this type of fault that does not make sense.