Has Thierry Ardisson’s luck finally changed? Shunned in France despite his audiovisual prowess, the French host of genius has attracted praise from the Americans for his new show, Hôtel du temps, which has already been stopped due to lack of audiences.
Audrey Crespo Mara’s companion has in fact imagined a new concept: a fictional interview magazine of a missing celebrity, where his real words are recovered from archive images and exploited using deepfake technology . The first episode was dedicated to Dalida and broadcast in May 2022, the second to Coluche, and broadcast on Friday June 23, 2023. The show broadcast on France 3 was finally removed from the program schedule last August.
No one is a prophet in his own country
A few weeks later, we learned that the program, produced by Médiawan and Ardimages, had just been nominated for the International Emmy Awards in the Non Scripted Entertainment category. A press release greets: “This nomination rewards the work of the Médiawan and Thierry Ardisson teams, as well as the audacity of France Télévisions which, for the first time in the world, put on the air a program using Artificial Intelligence“.
In the United States, we are thus highlighting two major technological advances, Face Retriever and Voice Cloning, which are made in France, and which Thierry Ardisson used, in addition to enormous documentation work. Proof that no one is a prophet in his country.
A new episode coming soon
Three years after his resounding departure from the Canal + group, in 2019, “Hotel of time”, in 2022 promised to be the great comeback of the man in black, on public service. At the launch of this bet, the host confided to Puremédias “I’m very realistic. If it works, I hope to do Johnny Hallyday. If it doesn’t work, I won’t insist. I have lots of projects”. And there should be many more, with this prestigious distinction.
For the catch-up session, note that the Jean Gabin episode, already filmed in 2021, will be broadcast on France Télévisions before the end of 2023.
F.A.