Un gars, une fille
Encyclopedia
Un gars, une fille is the title of a Quebec
comedy television series created by Guy A. Lepage
and broadcast on Radio-Canada
, as well as the title of its French
adaptation on France 2
. It is one of the most successful Quebec television shows, with a concept exported to more than thirty markets around the world. It is the first Québécois
television program to be adapted in the United States
(see below).
blue and pink and rough lines and scribblings (seen in the transition graphics, see Original section), as well as a logo with simulated printing mistakes and smears, have been imitated for much of the other versions, with the notable exception of the American version. The character names are often those of the actors, as in the first version.
network daily talk-show hosted by Guy A. Lepage than ran from 1995 to 1996. Lepage is a veteran of the renowned comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles
(RBO). He played the couple along with Sylvie Léonard
and the duo would reprise their roles in what would become in 1997 Un gars une fille, a weekly 26 minutes programme of great success and many adaptations. It was celebrated numerous times in award presentations, notably winning in the Gémeaux
and Félix
and MetroStar Award
s. It was also nominated twice at the American Emmy Award
s. Produced by Avanti Ciné Vidéo, the show aired from 1997 to 2003 in its initial run and continued life in reruns afterwards. 130 episodes were produced, translating to about 4,000 scenes. The script writing team has included RBO members André Ducharme
and Bruno Landry
, as well as Sylvie Léonard herself. Yves P. Pelletier
, also from RBO, has been featured onscreen. After the series concluded in 2003, Lepage went on to more success, producing and hosting the hugely successful Tout le monde en parle
, adapted this time from the eponymous French hit talk-show.
The standard episode is presented in three act
s and each of those acts is split into five to seven scenes. Flashy pastel blue and pink graphics
with squiggly lines follow punchlines and mark transitions, coupled with an upbeat percussive tune and often a spoken voice-off
phrase summing up the previous segment. Appropriately, the show's publicity and early video releases covers are often recognizable by the presence of those pastel blue and pink colors and askew lines, mimicking the graphics that separates the scenes of the programme (traditionally, the blue color is associated with boys and the pink one with girls).
The two main characters, "Guy et Sylvie", are named after those who play them. Guy likes to tease Sylvie on a variety of subjects and hates her mother. His father is remarried with a young good-looking stripper, Mélanie, played by Mahée Paiement
, and had a child with her. The attention that this little one gets makes Guy jealous, his father having spent little time on him when he was a child. Sylvie dreams of having a baby, unlike Guy. She is herself jealous of Geneviève, Guy's sexy and promiscuous office colleague with whom he had a one-time affair years ago. She is also obsessed with cleanliness and resents Guy for being untidy. A curious running gag
from the show involved Guy surprising Sylvie by grabbing her breasts from behind while shouting "Road Runner
!", followed by the cartoon character's emblematic honking "beeb beeb" sound. While she ostensibly loves it, she pretended the exact opposite when it was obliquely brought up by Guy in front of her mother. This joke was developed on the set by the two actors. The last season saw notable developments: a marriage and a trip to Vietnam
to adopt a little girl.
n version, known as Тя и той (She and he) is aired from 2002 to 2005 on bTV
. In 2007 the show moved to Foxlife and the fourth season started airing. The show was cancelled after the final 25th episode of the season, ending with a cliffhanger. 96 episodes were produced during the show's run. Since then reruns are airing on Foxlife and bTV
Comedy. Stefaniya Koleva starrs as Silvia, the girl of the show, and Julian Vergov as Martin, the guy of the show.
adaptation are held by producer of the original show Luc Wiseman, from the Avanti
television production company. However, the main English Canadian networks CBC
, CTV
and Global Television
refused the concept. Wiseman stated: "They were saying that it was not for the Canadian market, that it was too audacious." With A Guy & A Girl as title, it ended up on Women's Television Network (WTN, now known as the W Network
), a cable television
specialty channel
, and lasted two seasons. Jeff Clarke was the guy, Mike, and Kate Ashby was Susy, the girl.
, Cyprus' public broadcaster's main television channel and on CyBC Video on Demand platform, in the format of one 35-minutes episode every week.
Following the original concept, it kept the actors' actual names: Marios is the guy (played by Marios Mettis) and Niovi is the girl (played by Niovi Haralambus). Both Marios Mettis and Niovi Haralambus are graduates of the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece.
Also called Un gars, une fille, the version adapted for the French
public began broadcast on October 11, 1999. After a rocky start, it went on to become a success and garnered around 5 million viewers each day, that is to say a third of the people watching television at that timeslot in France (these figures are from the footnoted article; the official website claims an average of almost 7 million). Its format, from 26 minutes weekly, is reduced to episodes of about seven minutes daily, which is more common in France than Canada (inversely, the French television show Caméra Café
was expanded from nine to thirty minutes). These were supplemented by two 26 minutes television special
s during the holidays of 2001. The Christmas
special garnered 27.4% market share (approximately 6 million people) and the New Year's special 25%.
The French show stars Jean Dujardin
(later Brice de Nice
fame) as Jean and Alexandra Lamy as Alex; it keeps the first names of the actors, as the original. This version introduced pet name
s for the lovers: "Loulou" for the guy and "Chouchou" for the girl. "Loulou" happens to be how Sylvie, the "girl" of the original, calls one of her friends. After three years of portraying Alex and Jean on screen, the actors blended fact with fiction when they left their respective significant others and married each other in autumn 2003. It won a Sept d'or award for "best entertainment show" in 2001 and concluded in 2003. Un gars, Une fille contains 486 episodes with 4,500 sketches.
starting in 1999. Its format is weekly 26 minutes episodes, much like the original. Thodoris Atheridis plays Thodoris, the guy, and Dimitra Papadopoulou plays Dimitra, the girl, replicating the original version's concept of keeping first names for the characters.
version of Un gars, une fille is known under the name of Szeret, nem szeret. It began airing in 2002 on TV2
. According to the Internet Movie Database
, the format is 7 minutes, much like in France. The guy is Brúnó, played by Szabó Győző and the girl is Brigi, played by Oroszlán Szonja.
version chose Love Bugs as title, which is the international marketing name of Un gars, une fille. It ran on Italia 1
from 2004 to 2005 with a couple interpreted by famous comedian Fabio De Luigi (already famous for its collaboration with Gialappa's Band
) and Michelle Hunziker
(veteran of Zelig Circus). A second edition was aired from 2005 to 2006, known as Love Bugs 2, in which Elisabetta Canalis
replaced Hunziker. The character's names in both series are those of the actors, in the fashion of the original show. In the third edition (on air in 2007), Love Bugs 3, the couple is interpreted by Emilio Solfrizzi and Giorgia Surina
(MTV's Veejay). Because of low ratings, Love Bugs 3 was withdrawn after some of weeks of airing. Nevertheless around 50 episodes of the thirs edition were filmed and broadcasted, pretty much as the other two editions.
, Kasia i Tomek began broadcast on September 3, 2002 on the TVN
network. The title refers to the first names of the characters, the Polish equivalents of the English "Kate
" and "Tom
". It starred Joanna Brodzik
(Kasia, the girl) and Paweł Wilczak (Tomek, the guy). It won two Telekamery awards in 2002: one for "best comedy series" and one for "best actress" for the work of Joanna Brodzik. There were 100 episodes divided into 3 seasons.
saw its version begin in 1999 with Entre Marido e Mulher ("between husband and wife"). The format chosen was weekly 26 minutes episodes, as the Canadian original.
a version of the showed aired on TNT
channel starting 2003 under the title Sasha + Masha . The show became a hit and remains popular, as of 2009. The lead actors are Elena Biryukova (Елена Бирюкова) and Georgiy Dronov (Георгий Дронов).
opted, with El y Ella ("he and she"), for a format similar to France with 7 minutes shows each day. It began in the year 2000. As in the original, the actors's first names remain: Josep Julien is Pep while Cristina Solá is Cristina. "Pep" is a hypocoristism
for Josep.
the series is adapted to Turkish as 1 Kadın 1 Erkek ("One Woman One Man") featuring Demet Evgar
and Emre Karayel. First season is completed on June 2009 with 36 episodes that are aired on the channel TurkMax. Every Thursday prime-time, each episode runs approximately over 27–28 minutes. Despite the series airing on a thematic channel on a satellite network (Digiturk) that requires subscription, its popularity among the young generation is increasing steadily thanks to viral marketing and sharing of clips over YouTube and Facebook.
version of Un gars, une fille called Lesya + Roma ("Леся + Рома") began broadcast in 2006 on ICTV
. Starring Irma Vitovska as Les′a, the girl, and Dmytro Lalenkov as Roma, the guy, it is the first comedy show to be produced in the Ukrainian language
. It airs on weekdays, with an average rating of 2 million viewers.
version began broadcast on September 13, 2006 with comedian Paul Reiser
as executive producer and writer. It was co-produced by JWT
, the world's fourth largest advertising agency. While the original format was 26 minutes, the American version consisted of a season of 82 episodes of two and a half minutes (which was not part of the original contract, see below). 65 should be seen on television while 17 will be available for computers and cell phones. It aired on the TBS cable television network on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at some time between 11:00 pm and midnight, and on Friday morning at some time between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.http://www.tbs.com/stories/story/0,,82302,00.html Lovebites stars David Julian Hirsh
(a native of Montreal
, Quebec
, seen in CSI: NY
and Naked Josh
) and Lauren Bittner (seen in Law & Order: Criminal Intent
and Third Watch
). The characters, called Max and Katie, are about 25 years old, younger than the original Guy and Sylvie. Another notable difference with the original version is that the couple in Lovebites breaks the fourth wall
and speaks directly to the camera.
Lovebites was the first time a Québécois TV concept was adapted for the American audience (Louis 19, le roi des ondes
, a movie, had already been remade as EdTV
). Reiser is said to have been seduced by the series when it was presented to him by Michel Rodrigue, president of Distraction Formats, the Montreal-based international distribution company for Un gars, une fille. Rodrigue said "The selling process has been long and complicated. It has been a very long time that we have been working on it." Creator Guy A. Lepage said that he thought the chemistry worked well between the two main actors. Nevertheless, he has stated his disappointment with the finished product, giving it a "2 out of 10". He declared that, in his opinion, the problem did not lie with the acting but with the length of the show (two and a half minutes long, as mentioned above), the sponsor, the broadcasting and the assembling. He summed it up by saying: "It's media concentration to the power
of 1,000, like a super big TVA
". Sunsilk, a shampoo marque from Unilever
, was the main sponsor of Lovebites. TVA is part of Pierre Karl Péladeau
's Quebecor
media conglomerate
. As of 2006, Canadian and American producers are still caught up in legal contention, notably about the aforementioned short length. The initial contract planned a guaranteed minimum of seven minutes per episode.
, Cuba
, Denmark
, Germany
, Indonesia
, Israel
, Latvia
, Lebanon
, Mexico
, the Netherlands
, Romania
, Sweden
, Switzerland
, the United Kingdom
and many others, totalling more than thirty exportations. Not all of these countries have necessarily produced a show with the acquired rights.
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
comedy television series created by Guy A. Lepage
Guy A. Lepage
Guy A. Lepage is a Canadian comedian turned producer.-Career:Lepage was one of the five founding members of the Quebec comedy group Rock et Belles Oreilles , and remained with the group from 1981 to 1995.Lepage became a media mogul and...
and broadcast on Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
, as well as the title of its French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
adaptation on France 2
France 2
France 2 is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4, France 5 and France Ô...
. It is one of the most successful Quebec television shows, with a concept exported to more than thirty markets around the world. It is the first Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
television program to be adapted in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(see below).
Overview
A typical episode features several vignettes of the daily everyday life of a couple with the camera mostly centered upon them, often cropping out other characters, giving it its unique visual style. The duo receive friends for supper, go to the convenience store or leave on a trip and sometimes get on each other's nerves. Their quirks and loving bickering provide therefore much of the humor of the program. The graphic design style associated to the original Un gars, une fille, which consists of a palette of pastelPastel
Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
blue and pink and rough lines and scribblings (seen in the transition graphics, see Original section), as well as a logo with simulated printing mistakes and smears, have been imitated for much of the other versions, with the notable exception of the American version. The character names are often those of the actors, as in the first version.
Original
The concept of Un gars, une fille began in the 1990s, as a series of short segments featured in Besoin d'amour, a TQSTqs
V is a Canadian privately-owned French-language television network. The network has owned-and-operated and affiliated stations existing throughout Quebec, although it can also be seen over-the-air in some bordering markets in the provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick...
network daily talk-show hosted by Guy A. Lepage than ran from 1995 to 1996. Lepage is a veteran of the renowned comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles
Rock et Belles Oreilles
Rock et Belles Oreilles, often referred to as R.B.O., was a Québécois radio and television comedy group that was very popular in the essentially French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec during the 1980s. Its name was a pun on the name of the famous Hanna-Barbera blue dog character Huckleberry...
(RBO). He played the couple along with Sylvie Léonard
Sylvie Léonard
Sylvie Léonard is a French-Canadian actress. She has acted in theater, film and television for over 40 years. Her most notable roles include Sylvie in Un Gars, Une Fille, Mimi Jarry in Rue des Pignons and Annick Jacquemin in Terre Humaine.-External links:...
and the duo would reprise their roles in what would become in 1997 Un gars une fille, a weekly 26 minutes programme of great success and many adaptations. It was celebrated numerous times in award presentations, notably winning in the Gémeaux
Gemeaux
Gemeaux is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France.-Population:-References:*...
and Félix
Félix Award
The Félix Award is a music award, given on an annual basis to artists in the Canadian province of Quebec.The first Félix awards were presented on September 23, 1979, by the Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois...
and MetroStar Award
MetroStar Award
The MetroStar Award was presented for achievements in French-Canadian television and was based on popular vote. Many notable Québécois performing artists have been honored with this award; for example, Céline Dion in 1988 and Roy Dupuis in 1991, 1992, and 2003.The sponsorship of this award and...
s. It was also nominated twice at the American Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s. Produced by Avanti Ciné Vidéo, the show aired from 1997 to 2003 in its initial run and continued life in reruns afterwards. 130 episodes were produced, translating to about 4,000 scenes. The script writing team has included RBO members André Ducharme
André Ducharme
André Ducharme is a Québécois author, comedian and humorist. He was part of the Rock et Belles Oreilles group from 1981 to 1995. He was credited as André G. Ducharme in RBO; "G. Ducharme" has the same sound in French as "J'ai du charme," which means "I have charm" or "I am charming."-References:...
and Bruno Landry
Bruno Landry
Bruno Landry is a Québécois comedian and humorist. He was part of the humor group Rock et Belles Oreilles from 1981 to 1995.-External links:...
, as well as Sylvie Léonard herself. Yves P. Pelletier
Yves P. Pelletier
Yves P. Pelletier is a Canadian film director, actor and comedian....
, also from RBO, has been featured onscreen. After the series concluded in 2003, Lepage went on to more success, producing and hosting the hugely successful Tout le monde en parle
Tout le monde en parle (Quebec)
Tout le monde en parle is a Quebec talk show hosted and co-produced by Guy A. Lepage, broadcast on Radio-Canada since 2004. It has been adapted from the French show of the same name, created and hosted by Thierry Ardisson.- Concept :...
, adapted this time from the eponymous French hit talk-show.
Act (theater)
An act is a division or unit of a drama. The number of acts in a production can range from one to five or more, depending on how a writer structures the outline of the story...
s and each of those acts is split into five to seven scenes. Flashy pastel blue and pink graphics
Graphics
Graphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
with squiggly lines follow punchlines and mark transitions, coupled with an upbeat percussive tune and often a spoken voice-off
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
phrase summing up the previous segment. Appropriately, the show's publicity and early video releases covers are often recognizable by the presence of those pastel blue and pink colors and askew lines, mimicking the graphics that separates the scenes of the programme (traditionally, the blue color is associated with boys and the pink one with girls).
The two main characters, "Guy et Sylvie", are named after those who play them. Guy likes to tease Sylvie on a variety of subjects and hates her mother. His father is remarried with a young good-looking stripper, Mélanie, played by Mahée Paiement
Mahée Paiement
Mahée Paiement is a Quebec movie and television actress and known for playing several roles in popular Quebec movies and films since 1986.-Background:...
, and had a child with her. The attention that this little one gets makes Guy jealous, his father having spent little time on him when he was a child. Sylvie dreams of having a baby, unlike Guy. She is herself jealous of Geneviève, Guy's sexy and promiscuous office colleague with whom he had a one-time affair years ago. She is also obsessed with cleanliness and resents Guy for being untidy. A curious running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
from the show involved Guy surprising Sylvie by grabbing her breasts from behind while shouting "Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner
Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
!", followed by the cartoon character's emblematic honking "beeb beeb" sound. While she ostensibly loves it, she pretended the exact opposite when it was obliquely brought up by Guy in front of her mother. This joke was developed on the set by the two actors. The last season saw notable developments: a marriage and a trip to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
to adopt a little girl.
Bulgaria
The BulgariaBulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n version, known as Тя и той (She and he) is aired from 2002 to 2005 on bTV
BTV
BTV is an abbreviation that can stand for:Television stations*Bahrain Television Station, a series of channels broadcasting in Bahrain*bTV , a major national television channel in Bulgaria...
. In 2007 the show moved to Foxlife and the fourth season started airing. The show was cancelled after the final 25th episode of the season, ending with a cliffhanger. 96 episodes were produced during the show's run. Since then reruns are airing on Foxlife and bTV
BTV
BTV is an abbreviation that can stand for:Television stations*Bahrain Television Station, a series of channels broadcasting in Bahrain*bTV , a major national television channel in Bulgaria...
Comedy. Stefaniya Koleva starrs as Silvia, the girl of the show, and Julian Vergov as Martin, the guy of the show.
Canada (English version)
The rights for an English CanadianEnglish Canadian
An English Canadian is a Canadian of English ancestry; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadian. Canada is an officially bilingual state, with English and French official language communities. Immigrant cultural groups ostensibly integrate into one or both of these communities, but...
adaptation are held by producer of the original show Luc Wiseman, from the Avanti
Avanti Communications
Avanti Communications Group plc is a provider of satellite broadband internet services. Currently using rented satellite capacity, their first satellite, HYLAS 1, launched on the 26th November 2010 and will offer Ka-band satellite coverage of most of Western Europe from 2011.Avanti's second...
television production company. However, the main English Canadian networks CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
and Global Television
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
refused the concept. Wiseman stated: "They were saying that it was not for the Canadian market, that it was too audacious." With A Guy & A Girl as title, it ended up on Women's Television Network (WTN, now known as the W Network
W Network
W Network is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. W Network broadcasts lifestyle and entertainment programming aimed at women....
), a cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
specialty channel
Specialty channel
A specialty channel can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted television market at a specific demographic....
, and lasted two seasons. Jeff Clarke was the guy, Mike, and Kate Ashby was Susy, the girl.
Cyprus
"Εγώ κι εσύ" is airing since October 2010 on CyBC1Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation
The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ) or CyBC is Cyprus's public broadcasting service, transmitting island-wide on four radio and two television channels. CyBC is a non-profit organization that utilises its entire income for the promotion of its main mission, which is the objective provision of...
, Cyprus' public broadcaster's main television channel and on CyBC Video on Demand platform, in the format of one 35-minutes episode every week.
Following the original concept, it kept the actors' actual names: Marios is the guy (played by Marios Mettis) and Niovi is the girl (played by Niovi Haralambus). Both Marios Mettis and Niovi Haralambus are graduates of the Drama School of the National Theatre of Greece.
France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
public began broadcast on October 11, 1999. After a rocky start, it went on to become a success and garnered around 5 million viewers each day, that is to say a third of the people watching television at that timeslot in France (these figures are from the footnoted article; the official website claims an average of almost 7 million). Its format, from 26 minutes weekly, is reduced to episodes of about seven minutes daily, which is more common in France than Canada (inversely, the French television show Caméra Café
Caméra Café
Caméra Café is a French-born concept of comedy television series exported around the world. A movie spin-off has been made in France under the title of Espace détente...
was expanded from nine to thirty minutes). These were supplemented by two 26 minutes television special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
s during the holidays of 2001. The Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
special garnered 27.4% market share (approximately 6 million people) and the New Year's special 25%.
The French show stars Jean Dujardin
Jean Dujardin
-Life and career:Dujardin was born in Rueil-Malmaison. Dujardin first became famous on the French talent show Graines de star in 1996 as part of the comedy group Nous C Nous, formed by members of the Carré blanc theater. From 1999 to 2003 he starred in the French version of the comedy television...
(later Brice de Nice
Brice de nice
Brice de Nice is a 2005 French film, directed by James Huth. It is set in France, centering on the city of Nice.-Plot summary:The main character, a thirty-something surfer named Brice, lives for one thing: the perfect wave, despite the fact that Nice lies on a completely waveless bay on the...
fame) as Jean and Alexandra Lamy as Alex; it keeps the first names of the actors, as the original. This version introduced pet name
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s for the lovers: "Loulou" for the guy and "Chouchou" for the girl. "Loulou" happens to be how Sylvie, the "girl" of the original, calls one of her friends. After three years of portraying Alex and Jean on screen, the actors blended fact with fiction when they left their respective significant others and married each other in autumn 2003. It won a Sept d'or award for "best entertainment show" in 2001 and concluded in 2003. Un gars, Une fille contains 486 episodes with 4,500 sketches.
Greece
S'agapo M'agapas ("I love you, you love me") began broadcast in GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
starting in 1999. Its format is weekly 26 minutes episodes, much like the original. Thodoris Atheridis plays Thodoris, the guy, and Dimitra Papadopoulou plays Dimitra, the girl, replicating the original version's concept of keeping first names for the characters.
Hungary
The HungarianHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
version of Un gars, une fille is known under the name of Szeret, nem szeret. It began airing in 2002 on TV2
TV2 (Hungary)
TV2 is a Hungarian commercial television channel operating since 1997, providing a large variety of programming. It is owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG...
. According to the Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
, the format is 7 minutes, much like in France. The guy is Brúnó, played by Szabó Győző and the girl is Brigi, played by Oroszlán Szonja.
Italy
The first edition of the ItalianItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
version chose Love Bugs as title, which is the international marketing name of Un gars, une fille. It ran on Italia 1
Italia 1
Italia 1 is an Italian commercial television channel on the Mediaset network. It is oriented especially at young people.Italia 1 was launched in January 1982 and, originally, was owned by Rusconi; after a few months, however, due to the aggressive dumping practices of Silvio Berlusconi's rival...
from 2004 to 2005 with a couple interpreted by famous comedian Fabio De Luigi (already famous for its collaboration with Gialappa's Band
Gialappa's Band
Gialappa's Band is the name used by Marco Santin , Carlo Taranto and Giorgio Gherarducci , the Italian trio of TV and radio commentators.-Overview:...
) and Michelle Hunziker
Michelle Hunziker
Michelle Yvonne Hunziker is a Swiss television hostess, actress, model and singer.-Early life:Hunziker was born in Sorengo , in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Her mother Ineke is Dutch; her father Rudolf, who died of a heart attack in the fall of 2001, was a German-speaking Swiss...
(veteran of Zelig Circus). A second edition was aired from 2005 to 2006, known as Love Bugs 2, in which Elisabetta Canalis
Elisabetta Canalis
-Career:Canalis had minor roles in the films Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and Virgin Territory. She was also a velina in the television show Striscia la notizia. In 2007, she hosted the annual music festival, Festivalbar. In 2009, she co-hosted the Italian version of Total Request Live. In 2010,...
replaced Hunziker. The character's names in both series are those of the actors, in the fashion of the original show. In the third edition (on air in 2007), Love Bugs 3, the couple is interpreted by Emilio Solfrizzi and Giorgia Surina
Giorgia Surina
Giorgia Surina is an Italian television personality known for presenting TRL Italy, the Italian version of Total Request Live broadcast by MTV Italia. She has also starred in some movies, like Una talpa al bioparco and the TV series RIS Delitti Imperfetti and Love Bugs third series.-External links:...
(MTV's Veejay). Because of low ratings, Love Bugs 3 was withdrawn after some of weeks of airing. Nevertheless around 50 episodes of the thirs edition were filmed and broadcasted, pretty much as the other two editions.
Poland
In PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Kasia i Tomek began broadcast on September 3, 2002 on the TVN
TVN (Poland)
TVN is a major Polish commercial television network. The broadcaster was co-founded by Polish businessmen Mariusz Walter and Jan Wejchert. The network launched on October 3, 1997. TVN belongs to the TVN S.A...
network. The title refers to the first names of the characters, the Polish equivalents of the English "Kate
Kate (given name)
Kate is a feminine given name. It is a short form of Katherine. The name comes from Latin, French, English, and Welsh origins. The name literally means either 'pure' or 'blessed', used in different contexts...
" and "Tom
Tom (name)
Tom is a diminutive of Thomas.Notable people who use the diminutive include:* Tom Anderson , American MySpace co-creator* Tom Baker, British actor, the Fourth Doctor Who* Tom Brady, American football player for the New England Patriots...
". It starred Joanna Brodzik
Joanna Brodzik
Joanna Honorata Brodzik is a Polish actress. She is most famous for her roles in two soap operas: Magda M...
(Kasia, the girl) and Paweł Wilczak (Tomek, the guy). It won two Telekamery awards in 2002: one for "best comedy series" and one for "best actress" for the work of Joanna Brodzik. There were 100 episodes divided into 3 seasons.
Portugal
PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
saw its version begin in 1999 with Entre Marido e Mulher ("between husband and wife"). The format chosen was weekly 26 minutes episodes, as the Canadian original.
Russia
In RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
a version of the showed aired on TNT
TNT (Russia)
TNT is a Russian brand name of TNT-Broadcasting Network, one of Russia’s top five television networks. It reaches over 100 million people throughout Russia offering a light entertainment aimed at a younger audience from age 16 through age 30.Thanks to its blend of innovative reality programmes and...
channel starting 2003 under the title Sasha + Masha . The show became a hit and remains popular, as of 2009. The lead actors are Elena Biryukova (Елена Бирюкова) and Georgiy Dronov (Георгий Дронов).
Spain
SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
opted, with El y Ella ("he and she"), for a format similar to France with 7 minutes shows each day. It began in the year 2000. As in the original, the actors's first names remain: Josep Julien is Pep while Cristina Solá is Cristina. "Pep" is a hypocoristism
Hypocoristic
A hypocorism is a shorter form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.- Derivation :Hypocorisms are often generated as:...
for Josep.
Turkey
In TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
the series is adapted to Turkish as 1 Kadın 1 Erkek ("One Woman One Man") featuring Demet Evgar
Demet Evgar
Demet Evgar is a Turkish actress with an increasing fame in Turkey through roles in feature films and TV series but who also still pursues an active career as an actress in theatre where she had made her débuts...
and Emre Karayel. First season is completed on June 2009 with 36 episodes that are aired on the channel TurkMax. Every Thursday prime-time, each episode runs approximately over 27–28 minutes. Despite the series airing on a thematic channel on a satellite network (Digiturk) that requires subscription, its popularity among the young generation is increasing steadily thanks to viral marketing and sharing of clips over YouTube and Facebook.
Ukraine
The UkrainianUkraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
version of Un gars, une fille called Lesya + Roma ("Леся + Рома") began broadcast in 2006 on ICTV
ICTV (Ukraine)
ICTV is a privately-held TV channel in Ukraine. Its coverage area allows it to be received by 56.6 % of the Ukrainian population, making the channel the fourth in the nation in terms of coverage , and third by the viewers' ratings.The channel is owned by...
. Starring Irma Vitovska as Les′a, the girl, and Dmytro Lalenkov as Roma, the guy, it is the first comedy show to be produced in the Ukrainian language
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. It airs on weekdays, with an average rating of 2 million viewers.
United States
Entitled Lovebites, the AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
version began broadcast on September 13, 2006 with comedian Paul Reiser
Paul Reiser
Paul Reiser is an American stand-up comedian, actor, television personality, author, screenwriter and musician. He is most widely known for his role on the long-running television sitcom Mad About You.-Early life:...
as executive producer and writer. It was co-produced by JWT
JWT
JWT is one of the largest advertising agencies in the United States and the fourth-largest in the world. It is one of the key companies of Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP Group and is headquartered in New York. The global agency is led by Worldwide Chairman and Global CEO Bob Jeffrey who took over the...
, the world's fourth largest advertising agency. While the original format was 26 minutes, the American version consisted of a season of 82 episodes of two and a half minutes (which was not part of the original contract, see below). 65 should be seen on television while 17 will be available for computers and cell phones. It aired on the TBS cable television network on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at some time between 11:00 pm and midnight, and on Friday morning at some time between 9:00 am and 10:00 am.http://www.tbs.com/stories/story/0,,82302,00.html Lovebites stars David Julian Hirsh
David Julian Hirsh
David Julian Hirsh stars on the TV series Hawthorne on TNT. He is an actor best known to Canadian audiences for starring in shows such as Naked Josh on Oxygen/Showcase, the American version of Un Gars et une Fille - called Lovebites , and the adaptation of Mordecai Richler's iconic novel St...
(a native of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, seen in CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
and Naked Josh
Naked Josh
Naked Josh was a Canadian television series broadcast on Showcase. The show starred David Julian Hirsh as Josh Gould, a university professor in Montreal who, although he teaches a sexual anthropology course, struggles to understand the ever-shifting rules and expectations of the dating scene.It...
) and Lauren Bittner (seen in Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
and Third Watch
Third Watch
Third Watch is an American television drama series which first aired on NBC from 1999 to 2005 for a total of 132 episodes, broadcast in 6 seasons of 22 episodes each....
). The characters, called Max and Katie, are about 25 years old, younger than the original Guy and Sylvie. Another notable difference with the original version is that the couple in Lovebites breaks the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...
and speaks directly to the camera.
Lovebites was the first time a Québécois TV concept was adapted for the American audience (Louis 19, le roi des ondes
Louis 19, le roi des ondes
Louis 19, le roi des ondes is a Canadian comedy film, released in 1994.The film stars Martin Drainville as Louis Jobin, a television fanatic who wins a contest to be on TV...
, a movie, had already been remade as EdTV
EdTV
EDtv is a 1999 American comedy film directed by Ron Howard. An adaptation of the Quebec film Louis 19, le roi des ondes , it stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, Ellen DeGeneres, Martin Landau, Rob Reiner, Sally Kirkland, Elizabeth Hurley, Clint Howard, and Dennis Hopper.The...
). Reiser is said to have been seduced by the series when it was presented to him by Michel Rodrigue, president of Distraction Formats, the Montreal-based international distribution company for Un gars, une fille. Rodrigue said "The selling process has been long and complicated. It has been a very long time that we have been working on it." Creator Guy A. Lepage said that he thought the chemistry worked well between the two main actors. Nevertheless, he has stated his disappointment with the finished product, giving it a "2 out of 10". He declared that, in his opinion, the problem did not lie with the acting but with the length of the show (two and a half minutes long, as mentioned above), the sponsor, the broadcasting and the assembling. He summed it up by saying: "It's media concentration to the power
Exponentiation
Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as an, involving two numbers, the base a and the exponent n...
of 1,000, like a super big TVA
TVA (TV network)
TVA is a privately owned French language television network in Canada. The network is currently owned by Groupe TVA Inc. , a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media...
". Sunsilk, a shampoo marque from Unilever
Unilever
Unilever is a British-Dutch multinational corporation that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products....
, was the main sponsor of Lovebites. TVA is part of Pierre Karl Péladeau
Pierre Karl Péladeau
Pierre Karl Péladeau is President and CEO of Quebecor Inc., Quebecor Media Inc. and Sun Media Corporation. He was educated in Montreal and Paris. He holds a degree in philosophy from Université du Québec à Montréal and a law degree from Université de Montréal....
's Quebecor
Quebecor
Quebecor Inc. is a communications company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded by Pierre Péladeau, and remains run by his family. Quebecor Inc. owns 55% of Quebecor Media Inc...
media conglomerate
Media conglomerate
A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet...
. As of 2006, Canadian and American producers are still caught up in legal contention, notably about the aforementioned short length. The initial contract planned a guaranteed minimum of seven minutes per episode.
Others
The concept of Un gars, une fille was also bought in BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and many others, totalling more than thirty exportations. Not all of these countries have necessarily produced a show with the acquired rights.
See also
- List of Quebec television series imports and exports
- List of Quebec television series
- Television of QuebecTelevision of QuebecTelevision in Quebec is an essential part of the culture of Quebec, as well as the rest of French Canada. With over 99% of households owning a television in Quebec, it has the power to reach every Quebecer...
- Culture of QuebecCulture of QuebecThe Culture of Quebec emerged over the last few hundred years, resulting from the shared history of the French-speaking majority in Quebec. It is unique to the Western World; Quebec is the only region in North America with a French-speaking majority, as well as one of only two provinces in Canada...
- List of French television series
- Culture of FranceCulture of FranceThe culture of France and of the French people has been shaped by geography, by profound historical events, and by foreign and internal forces and groups. France, and in particular Paris, has played an important role as a center of high culture and of decorative arts since the seventeenth...
Official
- Official website of the Quebec version
- Official website of the American adaptation
- Official website of the French adaptation
- Official website of the Italian adaptation
- Official website of the Polish adaptation
- Official website of the Turkish adaptation
Videos
- Promotional video for international distribution featuring the Quebec version and various adaptations
- Promotional video of the American adaptation
- Various videos of the American adaptation
- Video of the French adaptation
- Video of the Greek adaptation
- Video of the Polish adaptation
- Video of the Turkish adaptation