More than 20 years after the debut of Star Academy and Jenifer’s victory, TF1 is relaunching its famous musical reality TV show on Saturday in the hope of attracting a new generation brought up on social media, while banking on nostalgia.
Singing, dance, theatre and stage performance lessons at the Château de Dammarie-les-Lys, daily broadcasts, live performances with French-speaking and international artists on Saturday evenings under the direction of Nikos Aliagas…
The format of the show, which made headlines in the 2000s, revealing Grégory Lemarchal and Nolwenn Leroy, will remain more or less the same, like its opening credits, still by Bob Sinclar (Love Generation).
From October 15 to November 26 – a reduced season due to the World Cup in Qatar co-broadcast by TF1 from November 20 to December 18 – 13 candidates will learn the art of being an artist and try to avoid elimination at the end of the week. The prize is a sum of 100,000 euros and an album with Sony Music, the record label that succeeds Universal as the show’s partner.
Youth of today
Robbie Williams will be the patron of this edition, which will also feature Juliette Armanet, Amir, Slimane, Véronique Sanson, Michel Polnareff, Gims, Dadju, Naps, Soprano, Pomme, Mika, Adé and Julien Clerc.
To the main ones « “What’s new is the casting,” assured Rémy Faure, director of entertainment programs at TF1, to the press.
Exit Kamel Ouali and Raphaëlle Ricci, replaced by new teachers under the direction of Michael Goldman, son of Jean-Jacques and co-founder of the crowdfunding platform MyMajorCompany.
Above all, room for new students, aged 18 to 26, “representative of today’s youth, « which has nothing to do with that of 2000,” according to Rémy Faure. It is a ” generation who grew up with the screen,” noted Nikos Aliagas, commenting on the level of sophistication of the more than 20,000 applications received by the production. « Today, they know how to put themselves on stage in front of a telephone,” added the host, recounting his visit to a candidate who « already had the whole range.”
The new recruits will have to learn to do without their smartphones: like their predecessors, they will be cut off from the internet and will only be allowed one minute of phone time per day.
Strong brand
Which does not mean that social networks, in their infancy when the « Star Ac » closed its doors on TF1 in 2008 (due to declining audiences and before a brief return on NRJ 12 in 2012-2013), will not be used to advantage. « On will be very present there”, so that “certain younger populations”, far from traditional television, “may follow the show” and to “make them want” to watch the prime time or daily shows broadcast around 5:30 p.m., explained producer Mathieu Vergne (DMLS TV).
The students, whose adventures will be broadcast continuously on MyTF1 Max, the channel’s pay platform, will also be awarded “phones not connected to make stories » and other content that the production will post for them. First on the show’s official accounts, then on their own accounts, after an initiation with an artist on « “Dos and Don’ts” online, according to Mathieu Vergne.
The show’s resurrection is part of a recycling trend within channels that, shaken by competition from streaming platforms, are relying on strong brands to capture audiences while limiting risks. TF1 has already been able to experience the show’s nostalgia capital during anniversary evenings that brought together up to 4.2 million viewers last year. And the program’s return to Quebec since 2021 has « worked very, very well,” according to producer Jean-Louis Blot, president of Endemol France.
It remains to be seen whether the concept will also appeal to young people who were not among the 12 million or so viewers who watched Jennifer’s coronation in 2002.
