French TV - TF1

I can't believe I have been here for 11 months and have not written about one of my favourite topics, Television. There are a multitude of free to air TV stations in Paris (19 to be exact) but of course the age old problem still exists, despite so much variety, there is still little worth watching.

TV here is no different to Australia or indeed anywhere else in the world. We are fed a steady diet of reality (especially reality cooking shows), American crime drama, American sitcoms, French drama, documentaries, news, current affairs, game shows, sport and light entertainment.

One genre that is a lot more prevalent here than elsewhere are panel style discussion shows. French people love to speak and argue about anything, and the only thing they enjoy more than actually arguing about something, is watching people argue about something.

I will start with TF1, number 1 on the dial and home to generally the best TV.

TF1 is home to some of my favourite game shows. 'Le Juste Prix' (The Price is Right) hosted by comedian Vincent Lagaf. The format is very similar to the one most of you would be familiar with, as hosted by Ian Turpie or Larry Emdur. Differently to the Aussie version that in order to win the showcase of prizes at the end of the show, the contestant must guess the correct price of the showcase within 30 seconds, with Vincent

giving them the "higher" or "lower" call after each guess.

This channel is also host to 'La Roue de la Fortune' (Wheel of Fortune) host by Christophe 'Eddie McGuire' Dechanne. I call him Eddie, because he hosts many other TV shows, such as 'Une Famille en or' (Family Feud) and an occasional chat show. He is never on TV in anything other than an annoying V-neck long sleeve shirt.

TF1 also hosts 'Qui veut gagner des millions'

(Who wants to be a millionaire) Although translated directly it is actually, "Who wants to win some millions". This is hosted by the very delightful Jean-Pierre Foucault, who like Eddie, doesn't mind dragging out a question until after the ad break.

A distinctly French game show is hosted by a man with the largest facial birthmark I have ever seen on TV, Jean-Luc Reichmann. Jean-Luc hosts a show called 'Attention a la Marche' which translates to "Mind your step".

Contestants compete against each other answering quiz questions to in order to challenge the carry over champ on the final "steps" round. Each correct answer in the final round and the contestants move up a step, first to the top wins.

TF1 shows a lot of the usual American drama crap such as 'Les Experts' (CSI) 'Dr House' (House) 'Grey's Anatomy' , 'Mentalist' and others, none of which I watch cause they are all shit.

TF1 has a strong stable of Reality TV offerings such as

'Secret Story' (Big Brother), 'Koh-Lanta' (Survivor) , 'Star Academy' (where people dress up and perform as their favourite performer), but my favourite would have to be 'La Ferme Celebrities en Afrique'.

This is basically Celebrity Big Brother, but the house is actually a farm somewhere in Africa. The celebrities (none of whom I have heard of because they are all D-listers) face tasks each day which generally involve doing things they don't enjoy with animals. Eventually they will all be voted off and one will reign supreme. They are about halfway through the series at the moment.

News is always very important to any Frenchman or woman. The two most important times for news everyday are 1pm and 8pm, which is when the major news bulletins are on most channels. 'Le Journal de 20h' is the major daily news program on TF1 and it is read each day during the week by the lovely Laurence Ferrari and on weekends by Harry Roselmack.