Television legend has it that a game is effective when you can follow it without sound. Seeing Questions for a Champion in the silent version is an ordeal: it shows a host waving his yellow cards, contestants frantically pressing buzzers and lights flashing. In this case, you have to turn on the sound, the show is better. The game of France 3 inaugurated in 1988 is one of the last media institutions. Every evening, four candidates compete on questions of general knowledge to become the champion and win at worst a dictionary (we caricature) at best money (not crazy sums, we're on public service).
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For 28 years, the game was embodied by Julien Lepers. An artist at heart - he composed the hit "Pour le plaisir" for Herbert Léonard - the host supercharged the programme. Shrill tie, machine-gun diction, grand gestures and perfect handling of the yellow card. Lepers ignites, embraces, embraces. It puts the candidates at ease in a game that is nevertheless hushed and high-end (the questions are difficult. Example: "Structure whose name comes from the Greek meaning unbreakable...", "Atom", "Yes, correct answer"). He screams and plays with his gimmicks, delighting parodies and imitators: "Oh yes", "Gift, William!", "How I love this game", "Four in a row", "A clue at home", "He stays", "he leaves which allows X to come back, questions for two champions"... The energetic mechanics worked: more and more of them tuned in to the game of the 3: up to 6 million viewers at 18 p.m.
The drama of 2016
The success paved the way for "prime time" thanks to thematic programmes: "masters" which pitted the best candidates, the grandes écoles, high school students or French-speaking specials against each other. Lepers excelled and became a huge star. The game stands out from its competitors because it's a formidable oxymoron: a high level, austere candidates without any fantasy, but a totally unbridled master of ceremonies.
Years go by. The show is tiresome. Ratings are dwindling. The Lepers magic works less. And France Télévisions is looking to renew itself. Everything is in place for the drama at the end of the day.
After months of rumors and procrastination, in 2016, the axe falls: the host-singer-composer is thanked from France 3 and replaced by Samuel Étienne, a "serious" and less demonstrative journalist. Lepers pours out, Étienne quenches. Étienne's style is more in line with the show's concept: sober and effective. It's closer to Numbers and Letters, the game that precedes it. Ratings stabilized and then rebounded. The game is still as high-end as ever, manages to be less fussy (everything increases) and dares to change. Except that the program has lost some of its madness. He fell in line. Now, listening to the show without sound isn't so bad...