For the first time in 26 years, TVA will directly oppose its own daily fiction to that of Radio-Canada, hoping to delight the public broadcaster with the 7 p.m. time slot, Monday to Thursday.
It is a titanic fight that has been taking shape for months. Behind the scenes, the two channels are honing their weapons. For the past few weeks, we have known a little more about the two meetings, ICI Télé betting on short clips to make known the main characters of Stat, while TVA has been looping a promising first trailer for Indéfendable in waiting for the official trailer, in two weeks.
Over the past few days, the all-important Indéfendable timeslot information, first shared with advertising agencies this spring, has finally been confirmed directly to viewers in TVA ads. Yup, Indefensible will be going up against Stat every weekday from 7-7:30 p.m.
The most fond of them will of course watch the two daily ones, with the help of their recorder or the free platforms of the two channels, but which one will they see live, with the advertisements? That's the big question.
TVA is betting on the judicial fiction Indéfendable, while ICI Télé, in an attempt to join in the success of District 31, is offering the medical drama Stat.
Since 1996, Radio-Canada has always broadcast daily fiction at 7 p.m. There was successively Virginie (1996-2010), 30 vies (2011-2016) and District 31 (2016-2022), all programs produced by Aetios Productions, the box of Fabienne Larouche – who wrote the first two series – and Michel Trudeau. To avoid being outdone, we bet in Stat on renowned actors like Suzanne Clément, Normand D'Amour, Patrick Labbé, Anglesh Major, Ludivine Reding, Stéphane Rousseau, Geneviève Schmidt and Lou-Pascal Tremblay. This time, Aetios is sharing the production load with A Média (Les mecs, Discussions avec mes parents).
On the side of TVA, we moved The tower after its two seasons in the 7 p.m. time slot, Monday to Thursday, to leave the field open to Indéfendable and the fight which promises to be epic with Stat. For the time being, TVA does not want to confirm to the QMI Agency the start date of Indefensible, while Stat begins its journey on September 12. We also use the talent of actors much appreciated by Quebecers in Indéfendable, including Sébastien Delorme, Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Michel Laperrière, Marilyse Bourke, Mikhail Ahooja, Martin-David Peters, Catherine Renaud, Mathieu Baron and Nour Belkhira, the star of the Antigone movie.
Nadine Bismuth (In therapy, A family bond) concocts the plots of Indefenable, based on an original idea by criminal lawyer Richard Dubé. Pixcom produces.
