After 32 years of animation, William Leymergie left Télématin in June 2017. Five years later, on Europe 1, he said what he thought of the duo formed by Julia Vignali and Thomas Sotto at the helm of the show.
William Leymergie and Télématin, it was a love story that lasted more than 30 years. In June 2017, the host announced his departure from the morning of France 2 before bidding farewell to viewers of the public service. It was then Laurent Bignolas who took the reins of the show, entrusted since the start of the 2021 school year to Julia Vignali and Thomas Sotto from Monday to Thursday. On the waves of Europe 1, William Leymergie gave his opinion on the new formula of Télématin. And against all odds, he is totally seduced! “I find that very good. Very very good. It proves that no one is indispensable, explained the host. The youngsters are not doing badly at all. Then it’s difficult. They have the courage to take a succession which was not easy to take so from this point of view I congratulate them, of course.”
“It’s true that there is also this phenomenon: look at Bernard Pivot, it would have occurred to no one to say to him ‘good Bernard, you have to stop talking about books, he added. When you’ve been in the store for a long time, there’s kind of a habit that forms with the viewer. It was a bit the case with Télématin. After leaving public service, William Leymergie joined the ranks of the Canal+ group. Since September 11, 2017, he has hosted a daily meeting, William at noon. “It wasn’t an easy decision. I left a huge machine for a smaller structure. But I had gone around it a bit. On C8, I found concerns and even beginner’s reflexes… There are fewer intermediaries, he rejoiced in the columns of TVMagazine. We meet in the hallways, we chat, we have a coffee with the boss.
William Leymergie: “I was able to behave in a somewhat paternalistic way”
At the time, William Leymergie took stock of his decades spent on the antennas of France Télévisions. “For a long time I led a gang of journalists whose members, about 35, were all much younger than me. I was able, then, to behave in a somewhat paternalistic way. I was told that I was not convenient. It affected me because that was not my goal, confided the journalist to our colleagues. And I learned to be more flexible. There remains the tyrant label that hangs around, especially on the Internet. But it’s so far from me now. It no longer saddens me. Especially since, in the band of ‘not friendly’, I believe that I am basically the nicest.” From the start of the next school year, C8 viewers will once again be able to find it every day for this daily meeting.
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