The ax fell at the Mistral: France Télévisions will stop broadcasting its flagship series in November More beautiful life, on screen since 2004 on France 3, she announced to AFP on Thursday, citing the evolution of “viewer expectations” and “program consumption” for 18 years. “This Thursday, May 5, 2022, the management of France Télévisions announced to the teams of More beautiful lifein Marseille, that this season would be the last”, specified the public group in a press release. “More beautiful life will thus conclude its long journey on the air in November 2022”, he added.
Longest French series
“This pioneering and emblematic soap opera has become the longest daily French series in history and a strong brand of France 3”, praised the group about a “transgenerational program, anchored in proximity, the authenticity and the realities of French society in all its diversity”. But “a renewal of the creative offer is necessary” estimates France Télé, at a time of the boom in streaming platforms and when three other daily soap operas compete with “Plus Belle la vie” on TF1 and France 2. The public group s is however committed to pursuing “a new story with Marseille and its region” via “a new creative pact” in the Marseille city, “in the extension of the France 2030 plan”, which must “translate into the filming of new original series “.
“That’s it, it’s the end clap. We were told the end of filming at the end of September”, lamented to AFP Thierry Lavaille, Force Ouvrière union representative, present Thursday on the set at the Belle de Mai .
2.7 million on average this season
“We are relieved in a sense, because France Télévisions has undertaken to compensate to the nearest cent, or 30 million euros per year, the amount of the filming of More beautiful life in Marseille via mini-series “or TV movies”, added this technician who has worked for 17 years on the series. Asked by AFP, the production company Newen did not respond.
The hearings of More beautiful lifewhich tells the daily life of the inhabitants of the fictional Marseille district of Mistral, had reached nearly 7 million viewers in the 2000s, but has crumbled in recent years, falling to 2.7 million on average over the 2021-2022 season, according to Mediametrie.