Les enfants de la télé (The Children of Television) is a television show which has been running for several years now on Radio-Canada.   The theme is actually quite unique. The program invites small groups of public personalities (often well known actors and singers, as well as other types of public personalities) to appear with the host on stage.  The host then presents the invitees with archived television footage of some of their quirkier appearances, sometimes dating back 10, 15, 20 years or more.  The footage is used to ask the invitees funny questions regarding what-the-heck they were doing in the footage (it’s meant to be funny)

Example:  An actress of yesteryear appeared on the show last night.  We were shown footage of a drama program she appeared in.  In one very serious and dramatic scene, her co-host undressed before her eyes (the camera shot remained “waist up”), but the actress, who was supposed to be stone-faced, seem to be trying to fight off a laugh… and she wasn’t doing a very good job of it.  When quizzed why on earth she seemed to be trying not to laugh when her co-actor took off his pants, she answered that her co-actor wrote “Hello” across his butt cheeks!

Because the show is produced by Radio-Canada, the footage tends to be from RC archives, and can go back decades.

This is a great show if you want to learn about programs and personalities who have become part of the historical collective psyche of Québec pop culture.  it’s also a great way to get to know the personalities of a number of famous people.

For four years, it was hosted by Véronique Cloutier, but now is hosted by André Robitaille.   HERE is the link to the official website.    It airs across Canada on Radio-Canada at 8pm every Wednesday.