The Holiday Meetings

Broadcasters are scrambling to keep you entertained during this time of celebration and rest. Here are 10 (good) reasons to spend the next two weeks in front of the small screen.

Marc-André Lemieux
The press

1. Gusts

Several specialty channels are taking advantage of the holiday season to present bursts of programming. Because there is nothing like spending hours slouching in front of the TV to feel that you are taking full advantage of a vacation. Among the gusts that are worth the detour, let us point out that of Campus. On Tuesday, December 28 from 1:30 p.m., VRAK broadcasts the 13 episodes of the drama for “young adults” by François Pagé (After), which relates the daily life of a group of university students in residence. Until January 2, Canal D offers the fourth season of Madame Lebrun every evening at 8 p.m. Scrambled until January 20, Zeste rebroadcasts its original fall productions as Three times a day & you, Potluck Station and Food shots, every evening from 7 p.m.

2. Bells in the bungalow

After Madame comes from afar and Madame wants to be noticed, Chantal Lamarre and Sylvie Dumontier, alias Gayle and Gert Galipeau, are joining forces once again to present this Christmas-time musical variety-TV, in which Pierre Brassard, Sonia Vachon, David Savard, Pascale Montpetit and Isabelle Vincent also participate. Arranged until January 17, the channel speaks of a hybrid between “a pastiche of service program of the 1970s” and … a fantasy played and sung “like a Jacques Demy film”. If we don’t know what all that means, we can declare our curiosity piqued. At ICI ARTV, Monday, December 20 at 8 p.m.

3. The Olympic dream

To set the stage for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, which will take place from February 4 to 20, Radio-Canada presents this series which chronicles the journey of some of Quebec’s medal hopefuls: short track speed skaters Charles Hamelin (December 21) and Kim Boutin (December 24), long track speed skater Laurent Dubreuil (December 28), snowboarders Maxence Parrot (December 22) and Éliot Grondin (December 23), hockey player Mélodie Daoust (December 27) , skier Valérie Grenier (December 29) and finally, freestyle skier Mikaël Kingsbury (December 30). On ICI Télé, starting Tuesday at 7 p.m.

4. News from local platforms

While in December, traditional channels are usually stingy with new things, on the platform side, it’s quite the opposite. On Vrai, the documentary Tame your dragon (online from Tuesday) with Ève Salvail seems promising. Sober for five years, the ex-top model tells her story and interviews people who have also fought an addiction, such as Éric Martel-Bahoeli, singer Eva Avila, influencer Lysandre Nadeau and actor Sylvain Marcel. On ICI Tou.TV Extra, we really liked Gazebo, a comedy written and performed by Marie-Soleil Dion and Louis-Olivier Mauffette which has fun blurring the line between fiction and reality. Finally, Club illico offers Maria, a dramatic comedy directed by Alec Pronovost (Club Soly, Completely high school) starring comedian Mariana Mazza.

5. Christmas Eve at Télé-Québec

Télé-Québec is taking care of Christmas Eve this year. Normand Brathwaite and Mélissa Lavergne will start the evening of December 24 at 8 p.m. by piloting a Belle and Bum Holiday celebrations attended by Lisa LeBlanc, Guylaine Tanguay, Marc Hervieux, Amay Laoni, QW4RTZ and Élizabeth Blouin-Brathwaite. Christian Bégin will take over at 10 p.m. with There are people at Christmas mass. For the occasion, he will be surrounded by Jean-Marc Parent, Karine Vanasse, Kevin Raphaël and Émilie Mandeville from the organization Dans la rue, which helps homeless youth. On the musical side, we will be served Damien Robitaille, Michel Rivard and Nathalie Simard.

6. Oscar-winning films

December requires, quality films are jostling at the gate to be released before 2021 comes to an end, just to be eligible to win an Oscar. This year, several of them are relayed by Netflix, including Don’t Look Up (in French version, Cosmic denial), a comedy by Adam McKay (The Big Short) with a five-star cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Timothée Chalamet. Online as of Friday. Netflix also offers Tick, Tick… ​​Boom! by Lin-Manuel Miranda and The Power of the Dog (The power of the dog) by Jane Campion. On the Amazon Prime Video side, Being the Ricardos enjoys a favorable rumor. Directed by Aaron Sorkin, this biographical feature film chronicles the relationship between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as they starred in I love lucy, an American hit series. With Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, we can hardly go wrong! Online tomorrow.

7. New Years Eve on Radio-Canada

Why change a winning formula? This is probably what the management of the public broadcaster thought when building its December 31 programming. The evening starts at 7 p.m. with Live from New Years Day. France Beaudoin’s guest list remains secret, but Radio-Canada promises a “mega party”. See you next year occupies the 8:30 p.m. box with Philippe Laguë, Pierre Verville, Michèle Deslauriers, Dominic Paquet, Véronique Claveau and Benoit Paquette. At 10 p.m., MC Gilles, Chantal Lamarre and Jean-René Dufort deliver Infoman, and then, place at Bye with Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, François Bellefeuille, Guylaine Tremblay and Mehdi Bousaidan. Many surprise guests should join the quartet to revisit 2021 in humor.

8. Harry Potter Festival

After the reunion of Friends, earlier this year, another important reunion is taking place: that of the trio of actors at the heart of the Harry Potter films, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Along with director Chris Colombus, these actors will mark the 20th anniversary of the first feature film, Harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone, released in theaters in November 2001. All this on the occasion of a special program called Return to Hogwarts, which Crave promises to offer in a version with French subtitles from 1^er January. You’re not quite in the mood? No problem, Crave has offered all eight films since November, not counting the series of specials. Harry Potter Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. On Crave.

9. Dashing Cowboys-Pirate Heart Combo

Two big names in the Quebec music industry, two unique events. At 8 p.m., Télé-Québec broadcasts the recording of the Cowboys Fringants concert with the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, given in the spring. At 9:30 p.m., Cœur de pirate stars on a 90-minute special that takes on the form of a (really) quirky 1970s talk show, with laughter and cane applause included. Very pregnant, the artist answers Gab Bouchard’s often left-field questions, revisits her repertoire of the last 10 years (Screaming low, Like children) and sings with Rita Baga (Do not call me). Also on the program, a duet with Mitsou (Tell me, tell me), a lip-sync by Ariel Charest, and performances by Choses Sauvages, La Compagnie Creole, Pierre Kwenders and Jacobus. On Télé-Québec on Sunday January 2.

10. It starts well the year

In It starts well the year, José Gaudet and Julie Bélanger receive the winter headliners at TVA, including Gregory Charles, Marc Dupré, Guylaine Tremblay and Jean-Philippe Dion for Star Academy, Fabien Cloutier for Leo, Michel Charette, François Avard and Sandrine Brisson for Happiness, Guy Jodoin for The cheater, Yan England for Red bracelets, Sophie Lorain and Rachel Graton for Robot portrait, and Marilou for Three times a day & you. At TVA, Sunday January 2 at 7:30 p.m.