The story of the oldest French series, created in August 2004, More Beautiful Lifeis itself a serial with multiple episodes between total stop and then restart. After nearly 18 years of sweet evening broadcasts on France 3, with record scores like that of 2008 and a peak of 6.8 million viewers, the series brought down the curtain on an audience which was crumbling, falling to 2.7 million on average over the 2021-2022 season.
France Télévisions abandoned broadcasting the series at the end of 2022, much to the regret of fans, actors and technical teams. Stop of filming, end clap. But very quickly, a turnaround in the situation gave hope and made the future brighter. TF1 announced the resumption of the series on its channel on January 8, 2024. Return with fanfare, poster of the series in large format on the TF1 tower in Boulogne, name extended in Plus Belle La Vie, even more beautifulresumption of filming in Marseille at the end of October 2023. New interior sets in the Belle-de-Mai studios in Marseille, new exterior sets in Allauch, new characters in addition to the historical ones, the Mistral and its inhabitants were experiencing a renaissance, also symbolized in the plot which saw the famous fictional Marseille district collapse in a tragic explosion and rise from its ashes elsewhere.
A hit on the TF1 streaming platform
This elsewhere for viewers has been located since January 8, 2024 on TF1 at 1:40 p.m. A year later, TF1 is pleased with the audiences for the daily series produced by Newen. Audiences average 2.9 million viewers from Monday to Friday and no less than 23 million per month on the group’s two channels, TF1 and TFX. But it is above all on the TF1 streaming platform that the series is a hit, placing itself in third place among the channel’s most viewed programs with 250 million videos viewed since its launch.
Enough to continue the series of course for a season 2 which starts this Monday, January 6 at 1:50 p.m., after a truce for confectioners during the Christmas holidays.
A season 2 with intense long-term drama
This first year was rich in twists and turns on the plot side, with bursts of police arcs and new characters who slowly but surely integrated themselves into the midst of familiar faces. At the police station first of all, with the arrival of Samuel (Iñaki Lartigue), Commissioner Liao (Moon Dailly) whose departure last September has already shaken the Mistral, or even Morgane (Jade Pradin), a blue who symbolizes the new youth of the series. The latter evolves in one of the new settings: the city U, a traditional pillar of the French sitcom brought up to date, which welcomes many characters with societal issues still very present in Plus Belle La Vie, even more beautiful (abortion, drugs, student insecurity, etc.).
For all those who followed the last episodes of the season in December, the first year ended with good news: Luna (Anne Décis)’s release from prison for Christmas. But also with a very bad one: Léa’s (Marie Hennerez) cancer that the other characters are still unaware of. This intrigue will last a good part of season 2, also undermining the balance of another character, that of Jean-Paul Boher (Stéphane Hénon), Léa’s husband, as well as the Nebout family. “There will be beautiful scenes, emotions, great intensity“, promises Stéphane Hénon in an interview to be found in our edition of this Wednesday, January 8. Not to mention the twists and turns planned in the life of Gabriel Riva (Joakim Latzko) with the divorce requested by his companion Thomas Marci (Laurent Kérusoré) at the end from season 1.
In short, season 2 is likely to undermine all the certainties of this little world, while anchoring the series even more at TF1, which intends to celebrate this first anniversary with great fanfare on Wednesday January 8, with an exceptional live broadcast on the networks social for an immersion in the beautiful life of the series.
