The debate reaches the highest levels of government, as evidenced by the recent hearing of C8 representatives (including Cyril Hanouna) at the Commission of Inquiry on the allocation, content, and control of national television service authorizations on the TNT. A commission that seems to have been initiated solely to hear representatives of C8.TPMP to hold them accountable. Let's add to that the exorbitant fines that C8 has received for the show's transgressions when other TV or radio channels have only received a simple reminder of the law for similar or even more serious offenses... and you get a total, assumed and hardly understandable relentlessness.
Laugh or be serious, you have to choose
But in the end, where is the problem? Most likely in the man who embodies TPMP, Cyril Hanouna. Detested or adored, the star host and producer of the Canal group elicits an unparalleled duality among viewers. It almost seems like there is no middle ground or neutrality when talking about Cyril Hanouna. A debate that ultimately is quite representative and symptomatic of our current society. A society in which everyone should stick to a unique role, a predefined box. One cannot entertain and be s...Serious to follow. You can't make silly jokes and then switch hats to question a political representative. You can't act the fool and expect to have a respected opinion on a serious matter. It's as if the group of commentators, from Gilles Verdez to Valérie Bénaïm to Jean-Michel Maire, have put an indelible and definitive mark on their past as journalists by joining the show. Whether we like it or not, Cyril Hanouna revolutionized TV with TPMP. With its infotainment format (a mix of "information" and "entertainment"), Touche pas à mon poste manages to blend the absurd with the serious, laughter with information, letting go with freedom of speech. With over 2 million viewers every night, TPMP is the most popular daily show on TV. It's also the only live one, making it more authentic but also riskier. And that's precisely what gives it its uniqueness and strength.
« Before, I used to be ashamed to admit that I watched TPMP »
The question is so burning that simply assuming, in society, that you follow the show makes you shameless. Romain, a loyal viewer of Touche pas à mon poste for several years, confesses, « Before, I used to be ashamed to admit that I watched TPMP. I felt obligated to justify myself by saying that it helped me relax after work, I even said that I would 'put my brain on the table to watch the show'. But today, I fully embrace the fact that I love TPMP and praise the talent of Cyril Hanouna even if it has caused me to have many arguments with friends and family. »
Because yes, the debate creates tensions to the point of being a kind of condition for whether or not to be in a relationship with someone. We are absolutely certain that couples have not formed or have broken up because one of them watched TPMP and the other didn't.
Almost as absurd as a politically sensitive left-leaning person refusing to share their life with someone more to the right, or vice versa... And yet, the show serves as an information channel for hundreds of thousands of French people every night. Of course, you can dislike the show and/or its host and therefore choose not to watch it. But why so much animosity, superiority complex, and judgment towards those who enjoy it? And after all, if we can have a little laugh to better digest the countless controversies, news stories, and political debates that constantly shake France, why on earth would we deprive ourselves?
