Where is the culture on TV?

When I learned that Mariana Mazza was going to host a literary show in the fall on ICI ARTV, I admit that I jumped. Mind you, I have nothing against this comedian who could make an orangutan read a novel thanks to her immense powers of persuasion and her legendary energy.

And I also have nothing against the concept that, from what I understand, will lead Mariana to go snooping around in the libraries of certain personalities. After all, The Press has already had Louis-José Houde as an (excellent) literary columnist. Mariana will talk about books and that’s what counts.

The problem is that his show will be a different story. If we had a real literary rendezvous with a host or hostess worthy of the name and columnists who know their stuff, we could allow ourselves this kind of thing. happening.

But there you have it, “traditional TV” has long since abandoned culture. I know, you’re going to tell me that it’s an old refrain. But every time we broach the subject, it’s to say that we’re losing pieces. Today, we find ourselves facing a desert.

To convince myself, I made a call to all those around me asking what are the most significant cultural programs on our television. Before going any further, I would like to distinguish between programs that offer cultural content (Beautiful Sundays are a good example) and those that deal with cultural news. It is this second category that interests me.

Many people still miss Good Sundayespecially the period with Reine Malo. This Télé-Métropole show is the supreme example of a cultural magazine where a host of columnists speak in the simplest terms about the world of music, dance, cinema, theatre and literature.

The show Flashpresented between 1994 and 2008 on TQS, continues to capture the public’s imagination. Nothing escaped the solid team of reporters and critics. And then, the outbursts of The Gang of Six (renamed The gang of bitches) continue to resonate still.

When you think about it, entire shows have already been devoted to books (Thousand sheets, Never without my book, Under the cover, One hundred titles) or at the cinema (At first glance, Free Screen, The Seventhetc.). I’m not talking about the 1950s, I’m talking about yesterday.

And then there were these shows that had a wide reach: Telex Artswith Winston McQuade, A lookwith Suzanne Lévesque, The big visitwith Nathalie Petrowski and Daniel Pinard, Scene of cultural lifewith René Homier-Roy, To the arts etc.with Johanne Prince, The rush for artwith Marie Plourde, Free exchangewith Yves Desgagnés, From mouth to earwith Johane Despins, Sophie’s choiceswith Sophie Durocher, Eat your city, with Catherine Pogonat, 125, Marie-Annewith Christiane Charette, and, closer to us, Critical mindwith Marc Cassivi and Rebecca Makonnen.

For my part, I have an unforgettable memory of The artist’s life which gave the floor to creators who expressed themselves without the presence of an interviewer. First hosted on Thursday evening, it then occupied the Sunday evening slot, just before Beautiful SundaysYou see how, at the end of the 1990s, the bosses of the Canadian Radio-Canada favoured culture.

I could go on and on listing concepts that we put forward before withdrawing them after a year or two. We tried so many things that we even created a cultural news show hosted by… two puppets. Do you remember the megaflop of Fred & Co ?

Launched on June 6, 1994 on Radio-Canada, this idea inspired by the Bebe Showin France, was withdrawn after five weeks after an avalanche of complaints and bad reviews. Our former colleague Louise Cousineau had written that the great quality of this show was that it made her enjoy the summer.

In August 1999, The duty proposed a report on the death of cultural programs on Quebec television. A TVA spokesperson defended herself by saying that culture was now everywhere, citing the example of the program Point J.

It’s true and it’s even more true today. Culture is mostly sprinkled in talk shows. Between an anecdote about their vacation and a confidence about botox, artists “plug” their cultural news. As for shows that give artists and creators a real space, they are very rare. We can mention For takeout.

What place is left for culture on our television? Last season, the handful of appointments consisted of Beautiful and bum, Culturama And Back to culture. These shows all have in common that they benefit from a thankless niche.

At TVA and Noovo, cultural programs are no longer on the radar. Variety shows (Revolution, The voice, Star Academy, What talent, Double occupation, Get me out of here, Masked singers, Survivor Quebec, Big Brother Celebrities) and talk shows (It ends the week well, The true nature, Sweety salty) dominate everything.

Television no longer wants these cultural programs that do not make scores. So we leave it to newspapers and public radio stations (There will always be culture, Culture Clubetc.) the care to talk about culture. This is the choice that traditional television has made. Okay. I can understand. But when a TV specialized in culture can’t even take up the torch, then I don’t play anymore.

I’m talking to you about ICI ARTV, this public channel that navigates without a compass. It’s a collection of old series (Me and the other, Salt and pepper, Under a variable sky, Beautiful stories from the countries above), dubbed series, films and a few rare documentaries.

I don’t understand why Radio-Canada doesn’t create a TV channel just for its archives (with an audio counterpart on the web) and doesn’t give culture all the space on ARTV.

Initially, television had four missions: information, entertainment, education and culture. Over time, with the advent of technologies (web) and the multiplication of channels, it abandoned education and culture.

Information manages to keep its head above water. Entertainment remains. That, to be entertained, we are entertained. We are so entertained that we manage to forget that culture still exists.