babyposer

Who watches french telly here ?

Do you enjoy it ?

I watched "Des paroles et des actes" yesterday and was wondering if similar TV shows were available in England.

EuroTrash

Is it like Question Time?
Having said that I haven't got a telly and didn't have one in the UK before I moved, so I'm probably wrong§

cyrian

I think that there is a cultural difference between the UK and France regarding tv broadcasts.
France tends to like groups of "academics" or "personalities" sitting round a table discussing highbrow or lowbrow topics or perhaps spelling competitions.
This is different from UK tv where this type of tv programme is not usual.
Eurotrash is correct that the closest we come to this is Question Time.
I have had a conversation with a French friend who lived in the UK and he found UK tv a bit strange whereas I found the quality of French tv to be really poor. I think that we are used to our own culture and we have a comfort zone which doesn't easily transfer to another country.
I do watch French tv - usually with sub-titles - which helps with language construction and expressions.
Many years ago, I was in Paris and there was a programme with four French language academics discussing some of the more obscure points of the French language e.g. when a colour agreed with a noun and when it didn't.
They couldn't agree amongst themselves.
Riveting stuff.

EuroTrash

I would have been really interested in this

grannybunz

Very little TV is worth watching anywhere but if push comes to shove give me the BBC anytime. The proms have been a joy this year. The problem with all the rest - especially France-is the amount of time taken by pub, especially here when you still have to pay over the odds for the privilege.
The only way to cope is record the programme and edit out the nonsense

Peabrain

I would beg to differ. Although advertising is a pain wherever and whenever it appears, the French have tried to establish a few rules, (as they love to do) to prevent it from cutting programmes up into so many slices of saucisson. By law, films cannot be cut by advertising on free-to-air television whereas they are constantly on ITV. If one takes a series like say Downtown Abbey, if you record it you will record an hour and a half's worth. When you watch it and skip the adverts, this brings it down to about 45 minutes.
Something that I find objectionable on British television advertising are the adverts for alcohol; such advertising is banned on French television.
More generally speaking I don't particularly like French television, but then British television is no longer as good as it used to be, apart from news coverage, which remains excellent, especially compared with the pathetic way French television news bulletins function. No Jon Snows or Jeremy Paxmans, and still the obsequious attitudes towards those in power that date back to the ferocious censorship of the 60s under de Gaulle and a more watered down version under Giscard d'Estaing. The programme mentioned 'Des Paroles et des Actes' is the same sort of format that has been around for years, i.e. shouting matches with politicians yelling at each other, making the whole experience incomprehensible to the viewer. Then self-appointed experts, usually from Sciences-Po Paris or Le Nouvel Obs are wheeled out as a sort of examining board and tell us poor sods what to think. I happened to catch the last programme, and thought it said a lot about French politics. There was little point in watching the mandatory cock fight, but the subsequent debate with philosophers and journalists was far more entertaining, showing that politicians have nothing of relevance to say. Compare this with the civilized atmosphere of Question Time, during which participants actually address each other by their Christian names, thus acknowledging their existence as human beings, and listen.

Touraine

An expat who makes all that effort of moving to France and then to complain that the TV is cr&p......are...............very sad.

cyrian

Not worth a comment

Touraine

I agree.

Believe me, given the choice I think most French will watch French TV

Novocastrian

I didn't get the impression that anyone was complaining. French TV for the most part is indeed crap, but so is most TV in any country including the UK and most definitely including Canada where I am now.

Nonetheless, when in France, I do watch some French TV, some of the "intellectual" discussions are quite informative.

But for the purposes of language acquisition, I watched a totally crass game show called "Au pied du mur" on TV6 IIRC this summer. It was always a morale boost when I knew the answer to the questions and the contestants didn't.

I'm like that.

Elodie14

I prefer French tv (when I last looked) to British TV, main reason being a)I could learn and b) it seemed to have many of the best British dramas imported. I reckon it is pretty good and it has films - and I love French cinema. However, I will admit that the last spell I had in France was 2 months so I cannot be sure, also, I do not watch British TV at all - I don't have a TV or a license.

Blackladder

Novo,
Can you explain the rules of Au pied...? I have switched on to get the early weather on TV1 at 5 to 8 and have seen a few mos of the programme, but can't for the Life of me understand what the object is. By the way, Eveline who presents the weather on weekdays on TV 1 is something of a peach, in fact, to quote my drill instructor I'd walk a mile just to sleep with 'er Dirty washin'.
Blackie

dmu

I need to have the rules explained, too. We catch the end of it just before "Evelyne"'s météo.
Can you believe that Evelyne is well past official retirement age?

Peabrain

Yuk

Blackladder

DMU that I flatly refuse to Believe (don't break my heart!)