The French television landscape suffered an earthquake with the announcement on Friday October 27, 2023 of the disappearance of the Health Magazine of France 5. It’s official: in June 2024, after 26 years of service, the emblematic medical show will bow out. An announcement which sparked saddened reactions from Marina Carrère d’Encausse and her co-presenter, doctor Jean-Marc Sène. A choice that Benoît Thévenet, deputy general director of Newen Studios, explained to AFP on the day of the announcement: “It is quite normal that there is a profound renewal after 25 years, and well-being is in tune with the times. We have supported the fact that patients have become actors in their own health. next step is for them to become actors in their own prevention, to age in good health.” Monday November 13, 2023 at the microphone of Media culture on Europe 1Michel Cymes, who left the show on June 30, 2018, gave his opinion on this judgment…
A new version of the show?
He first returned to the reasons behind his departure in 2018: “I had done the trick, I had had enough, I was no longer motivated. You have to make people want to watch a show and I think that after 20 years, I had reached the end of the ’emission”, he confided. But Michel Cymes said he understood the group’s need to want to evolve after a quarter of a century of broadcasting: “It did something to me, but Marina said it very well too, this show has been on the air for 25 years. After a moment, I understand that France Télévisions wants to change.“ Nonetheless, he offered a glimmer of hope by suggesting the show could make a return in a new form through a tender: “All the production companies in Paris will rush to respond because it’s a great place. It’s been 25 years, it’s already incredible that we’ve managed to last this long”, he concludes. Thus, a rebound could take place for the show…