Sunday, April 10, 2022, TF1 will only devote its early evening to the first round of the presidential election. At 9:20 p.m., the channel will abandon the major event in political life to offer “The Visitors”, the cult comedy regularly broadcast on the small screen.
TF1 zaps election night to Visitors
On April 10, the first round of the presidential election will take place. Usually, TF1 devotes the following evening to this major event. But this year, the channel renounces this tradition, preferring to offer its viewers Visitorsthe cult comedy by Jean-Marie Poiré regularly broadcast on the small screen.
The first round debriefing will begin at 6:30 p.m. At 9:20 p.m., it will give way to the feature film with 13.7 million admissions with Christian Clavier and Jean Reno. Gilles Bouleau and Anne-Claire Coudray will be in charge of presenting the results, which will quickly be eclipsed by the tribulations of Jacquouille la Fripouille and Godefroy de Montmirail.
The two journalists will be accompanied in particular by Adrien Gindre, head of the political department of the TF1 group, and Frédéric Dabi, director-general of the IFOP, to look into the first estimates. They will then give the floor to the “main officials of French political life, spokespersons, and supporters of the candidates” to “debate and decipher all the issues of this first round”. In a statement quoted by the HuffPost and Puremedia, the chain specified that special envoys will discuss the situation from the HQs of the main candidates.
Benjamin Fontaine, a journalist for France info said on Twitter that the channel could extend the evening “in the event of a big surprise”.
A long debrief on France 2
TF1 is not the only channel not to devote the entire evening to the presidential election. After a special edition of 19.45 hosted by Nathalie Renoux and Olivier Bost, M6 will broadcast Asterix and Obelix: at the service of Her Majesty, with Édouard Baer and Gérard Depardieu. Another light film was programmed at the end of an important day for French political life.
Conversely, France 2 will remain in the mood until midnight. After television news is shortened to five minutes, Anne-Sophie Lapix and Laurent Delahousse will take control of the election evening, broadcast from 7:30 p.m. Continuous news channels such as BFMTV, CNews and LCI will also set up special arrangements.
On social networks, many personalities and media have reacted to the surprising programming of TF1. For former Minister Cécile Duflot, the dissemination of Visitors sums up, for example, “one of the big worries of this presidential election”. Brain Magazine is already wondering about the choice of channel for the second round. Finally, a user wonders about a possible “hidden message”…
