François Bellefeuille perfectly encapsulated our collective state in his (tepid) opening monologue: this last Les Olivier gala could (and should have) been an email.
Posted yesterday at 6:15 a.m.
It serves neither the industry nor the viewers to put statuettes back in front of an anesthetized room, distanced and purged of real audiences. You know, the real audience who laughs heartily and doesn’t give up on presenters when they sink into a series of failed gags? Faintness.
TVA made the right decision by postponing its Artis gala, originally scheduled for next May, to an indefinite date. Radio-Canada should have imitated its rival and disconnected the Olivier party. Because there haven’t really been any comedy shows in the last two years in Quebec. Hence the abundance of confusing categories of web sketches, scripted podcasts, unscripted podcasts (kudos to Sam Cyr and Marylène Gendron, that said) or comedy web series that don’t feature Arnaud Soly.
Even host François Bellefeuille seemed taken aback by the thinness of the menu he offered. Cathy Gauthier, very lively, asked the crucial question: “What are we doing here, when there have been no tours for two years? »
Martin Matte, winner for The beautiful discomforts 2.0, quipped about the empty floor, a consequence of the strict sanitary measures imposed by the federal government: “We don’t know where to look in this compact crowd. »
If the artists concerned question their presence at this party, imagine how viewers feel in front of their screen: totally excluded from the partywhich never rose.
Aside from the effective Anne-Élisabeth Bossé and Guillaume Pineault, the majority of the presenting duos seemed frozen on the pellets. It did not flow naturally between Michelle Desrochers and Simon Delisle, nor between Simon Gouache and Martin Deschamps, nor between François Morency and Marie-Ginette Guay. But above all, it was not funny.
A ceremony which celebrates humor and which is not funny is awfully disturbing. Armed with her trophy gun, Ève Côté was the most grating and hard-hitting of the evening. Special mention to the false sitcom The convenience store, which was filled with good flashes. The “Waiting for the Winner” interviews also had some fun nuggets.
In contrast, the parody of The other noon at the next table was painful. The “Who’s Behind the Door: Celebrities” game was long and punchless. And when Maxi’s ad with Martin Matte and Charlotte Cardin strikes the imagination more than monologues delivered by professionals, it’s a sign that there is a problem.
The greatest quality of this award ceremony was to shine the spotlight on Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, the most talented comedian of his generation. Her message not to take the public for idiots, the famous Thérèse of Trois-Rivières or the Martine of Sainte-Martine, resonated very strongly.
Alas, barely 676,000 curious people attended the triumph of Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais on Radio-Canada, an audience down 31% compared to the 975,000 followers who watched the gala in 2021. Star Academy (1,409,000) remained in first place, and Big Brother Celebrities (644,000) tickled Olivier’s numbers.
Who still watches these ceremonies that have already been prestigious and glittery? Fewer and fewer people. Last September, the Gemini gala continued its tumble, dropping from 854,000 viewers in 2020 to 729,000 in 2021. A more dramatic slump for ADISQ, which was only seen by 677,000 people last October, in comparison with its 1,015,000 fans in 2020 and its 1,230,000 diehards in 2019.
TVA’s Artis gala did not escape the dangerous slide with an estimated audience rating of 1,176,000 viewers, very far from that of 1,728,000 fans measured in 2019 (there was no attribution of Artis prizes in 2020).
In a dizzying tumble, the Oscars party, which will take place Sunday at 8 p.m. on CTV and ABC, tried to energize its show by cutting technical categories from the big night. Immediate outcry from people in the industry, who saw it as a disavowal of so-called shadow trades.
It is exactly there, the problem: the galas are co-organized by professional associations (comedy, TV, cinema, music), which juggle with a lot of political stakes. If such and such a stable goes on stage, it is necessary to balance with such and such from the competing box, so as not to make anyone jealous. Every little artistic choice becomes a big behind-the-scenes battle.
And before pleasing the public at home, the organizers prefer to satisfy their members, which leads to dull galas that are disconnected from popular reality.
You have to wonder who these galas are made for. For an industry that loves to look in the mirror? Or for the person who consumes movies, music, TV and comedy shows?
Option 1 gives the Les Olivier gala on Sunday evening. Option 2 would definitely give a better result.