By Elsa Girard-Basset | Web journalist
On the air since January 1972, and a true monument of French television, the program “Des Numéros et des Lettres” will soon cease broadcasting. A real upheaval for fans of the show, as well as for the personalities who have supported it for so long. Bertrand Renard also had difficulty restraining his anger.
It’s over. A program that is part of the PAF heritage, “Numbers and Letters” will soon bow out for good. A small earthquake for viewers, not necessarily in terms of audience, but in terms of habits, with the feeling of a page being turned forever.
Bertrand Renard furious after the end of “Numbers and Letters”
Obviously, and even if the management of France Télévisions assumes this “difficult choice”, the announcement of the news saddened the most emblematic figures of the show. Among them, it’s impossible not to think of Bertrand Renard, former candidate who became co-presenter between 1975 and… 2022! And for him, the pill has difficulty passing.
Questioned by “La Tribune”, Arielle Boulin-Prat’s sidekick did not beat around the bush, criticizing the choice of management:
When we were told that the show was moving to the weekend for a fresh start, I said to myself that we were really being taken for fools. How can we build public loyalty when the game is regularly replaced by sporting competitions? Yesterday at 4:30 p.m., today at 5:10 p.m. It’s a waste.
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A feeling shared by the two historic and most emblematic presenters of the show. Laurent Romejko, in charge from 1992 to 2024, explained on Europe 1 then in “Le Parisien”:
It’s an end that has been anticipated for two years, since the transition from weekdays to weekends. It is perhaps not disappointment but sadness… There is emotion at the announcement of this judgment. It’s a UFO in the PAF.
Afterwards, for two years, when we switched to weekend programming, yes, we definitely felt that there was a drop in performance. We knew that we would not still be here in 50 years (…) The absence of fixed schedules does not help with the public, especially with ours. These are not implementations that favored us.
Patrice Laffont, presenter between 1972 and 1989, echoed this sentiment at the AFP microphone. After professing that “50 years of broadcasting will never exist again”, he revealed his thoughts:
We should have stopped two years ago, for the 50th anniversary. The weekend programming was the chronicle of a foretold death.
Disappointed by the cessation of “Chiffres et des lettres”, a program which constituted a significant part of the lives of all three of them, Bertrand Renard, Laurent Romejko and Patrice Laffont did not hesitate to empty their bags as soon as the announcement was made official. A bitter ending for these three personalities, who believe that the program did not have the ending it deserved…
