Few animators survive the war of media empires, which virtually forces them to sign a loyalty pact with the blood of their firstborn. Stéphan Bureau, the Teflon man, is the exception.
In the last three years, the host has spoken into the microphone of Radio-Canada radio, crossed over to the enemy TVA to return to Télé-Québec, where in the fall he will pilot the major public affairs show A wonderful time.
Stéphan Bureau also survives the battle of ideas, which regularly places him at odds with a more progressive or more progressive media elite. woke, depending on your point of view. For example, his nuanced – or less panicked – comments about Donald Trump raise the hackles of a significant contingent of political commentators.
In an interview, Stéphan Bureau maintains his position, in a calm and polite tone. “What bothers me is the reduction ad Hitlerum that we make of him. Can we get away from simple reductions? Since 2016, Donald Trump has embodied our times more than many other people. People still talk about him hysterically. There are 75 million people who voted for him, they can’t all be idiots. I refuse to succumb to the systemic demonization of the character,” explains Stéphan Bureau in an interview.
According to him, “denying or hysterizing” a polarizing figure will not make him invisible to his audience. This principle also applies to Mathieu Bock-Côté, colleague of Stéphan Bureau at Quebecor. We can criticize it, we can not like it, but we cannot deny that it has an impact, recalls Bureau, who also lives in Paris, like Mathieu Bock-Côté.
Télé-Québec gave Stéphan Bureau carte blanche to choose the social topics covered on A wonderful time. Each of the one-hour episodes, the time slot of which has not been specified, will have three main themes, not necessarily tied to current events.
Examples ? Stéphan Bureau refuses to reveal what would constitute a typical broadcast ofA wonderful timea question of not alerting the competition.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Stéphan Bureau
Contrary to Upside-down world, Stéphan Bureau will not surround himself with certified analysts at Télé-Québec, but with people directly affected by the subject of the show. However, he wants to perform in front of an audience of spectators. “The public is a very important element, it will be very interactive. I will be in conversation with the people in the room. There will be a little “Stéphan wants to know” aspect. A bit in the tradition of Janette Bertrand and Claire Lamarche,” says Stéphan Bureau.
The host is currently observing the movement of tectonic plates and speaks of social changes “as fruitful as they are devastating”. A tipping point, he notes. “This is an opportunity to take control of our destiny and refuse indifference. If we stay silent, we will miss a big meeting,” he thinks.
Already, we feel that Stéphan Bureau intends to shake things up with his new project, which Sphère Média will produce. Will he be deliberately provocative? Stéphan Bureau prefers the word “bold”. He will not indulge in “simple provocation”, he assures.
Stéphan Bureau continues: “Quebec is perhaps a little more muffled than the United States or Europe. The convulsions of the world seem to affect us less,” he remarks.
It is extremely difficult to attach a label to Stéphan Bureau. He remains an enigma since his controversial interview with doctor Didier Raoult, which led to his departure from Radio-Canada in August 2021.
A formidable interviewer, he conducts solid interviews with Marie-France Bazzo, Fanny Ardant and Monia Chokri for his podcast series Contactthen he receives guests with debatable or controversial ideas.
On the show Everything can happen on ICI Première, his oratorical jousts with host Marie-Louise Arsenault are epic. Big caliber. Then, the balloon deflates and Stéphan Bureau visits the channel Élo wants to know of Éloïse Boies, a vlogger obsessed with Satanism among Hollywood stars as well as “the children of stars who become trans”.
As if there were two Stéphan Bureaus since the Raoult affair. A brilliant interviewer who pleases his first audience with lively and in-depth exchanges. And another, against the grain, which presents interviews more receptive to conspiracy theories. The gap between these two versions of Office always surprises me.
Stéphan Bureau’s commitments to Télé-Québec do not compromise his regular participation in TVA News to 10 p.m., as well as his interventions at QUB or at Hi hello !. His contract with Quebecor media ends next spring. In France, Stéphan Bureau dissects the race for the American presidency for the BFMTV news channel.
To return to Télé-Québec, Stéphan Bureau hopes thatA wonderful time will last several seasons. “You don’t want to launch a rocket and have it come back to Earth quickly. I experienced this last year at TVA,” he notes, slipping in that “Télé-Québec is not going through the crisis that TVA is going through.” According to a grid plan circulating in advertising agencies, A wonderful time would play on Wednesdays at 8 p.m., just before In the media.
“We were the canaries in the mine, canaries who announced difficult times,” says Stéphan Bureau, whose The world upside down was disconnected in August 2023, three months before the elimination of 550 positions at TVA Group.
Five weeks before celebrating his 60th birthday, Stéphan Bureau does not feel anxiety or nostalgia. Nothing at all. “It leaves me completely indifferent. It won’t even be emphasized,” he says.
No matter the number, thinks Stéphan Bureau, “if you are there, can you still be relevant? »
It’s a question more TV hosts should be asking themselves.