Just a quick note as I watch a presidental address of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the debate which follows. Some impressions: (1) The format: Not a speech like we are used to in the US, but rather a roundtable-type press conference with 3 TV news personalities grilling the president. At first I was impressed that the president would go before a national TV audience in such a setting, but my roommates quickly assured me that the questions are predetermined and Sarko knows whats coming. Still an interesting difference from the US format, which shows the head of state in a
different context, delivering a speech either all alone in the White House or in front of the Congress.
(2) The post-address breakdown: In the US, we're used to having the talking heads start jabbering on all the networks as soon as the President gets out his last word. A minimum of 15 minutes of breakdown is obligatory. Here in France, the address was shown on three channels. One went straight to the talking heads. One went right to the evening news. And one went right to an episode of CSI Miami - no wrapup at all - straight from Sarko to some supposed detective speaking French on Miami Beach. Curiously, her lips don't match her words...
(3) Every French talk show that I've watched has had a studio audience, always with an "in the round setting" like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" so no matter what the camera angle, you always catch a glimpse of someone in the crowd. They don't participate but they're always there. It's kind of weird to get used to - imagine "Sportscenter" or "Larry King" with a live audience. The weekend soccer wrap-up shows always feature an engaged audience (and the producers know their audience well - the front row is always filled with pretty girls....) but the audience for this political debate is not so interested. The camera just cut to one of the panel members and we could clearly see the guy in the crowd behind him dozing off! until someone jabbed him in the leg or something and he came back to consciousness and resumed pretending that he was interested in the discussion and hadn't just agreed to sit through this so he could be on TV. Poor guy, at least in the US he'd get a commercial break every 10 minutes.
different context, delivering a speech either all alone in the White House or in front of the Congress.(2) The post-address breakdown: In the US, we're used to having the talking heads start jabbering on all the networks as soon as the President gets out his last word. A minimum of 15 minutes of breakdown is obligatory. Here in France, the address was shown on three channels. One went straight to the talking heads. One went right to the evening news. And one went right to an episode of CSI Miami - no wrapup at all - straight from Sarko to some supposed detective speaking French on Miami Beach. Curiously, her lips don't match her words...
(3) Every French talk show that I've watched has had a studio audience, always with an "in the round setting" like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" so no matter what the camera angle, you always catch a glimpse of someone in the crowd. They don't participate but they're always there. It's kind of weird to get used to - imagine "Sportscenter" or "Larry King" with a live audience. The weekend soccer wrap-up shows always feature an engaged audience (and the producers know their audience well - the front row is always filled with pretty girls....) but the audience for this political debate is not so interested. The camera just cut to one of the panel members and we could clearly see the guy in the crowd behind him dozing off! until someone jabbed him in the leg or something and he came back to consciousness and resumed pretending that he was interested in the discussion and hadn't just agreed to sit through this so he could be on TV. Poor guy, at least in the US he'd get a commercial break every 10 minutes.
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