Go all the way back! According to our information, France Télévisions is retracing its steps regarding the fate of its “Maternelles XXL”. Indeed, after only a few weeks in prime time access on France 4, the daily magazine hosted by Marie Portolano and Houssem Loussaief will already leave its place and move to another slot, and on another channel!
From January, viewers will be able to find it… every morning on France 5, at a time which remains to be specified. A return to basics for the show on parenting and education since it was broadcast in the mornings of La Cinquième which became France 5 from 2001 to 2020, seeing Maïtena Biraben, Karine Le Marchand, Elizabeth Tchoungui, Daphné Bürki, Julia Vignali and Sidonie Bonnec succeed one another in the animation.
“Management is coming to its senses,” people laugh in the corridors of France Télévisions. Putting the show on France 4 at this time was incomprehensible. No one wants to hear about episiotomy during dinner… And then the parents are wrung out at 7:30 p.m., where they can sit down and listen more in the morning. »
The show is good but poorly presented
From the beginning of fall, questions emerged about this new programming choice. Studies were even commissioned internally with a clear finding: the show is good but poorly presented, whether through its channel or its schedule.
And the public was not mistaken since the audiences declined sharply, bringing together only “between 40,000 and 50,000 viewers each day”, according to the admission of Florent Dumont, director of magazines for the public audiovisual group to “Satellifacts” in mid-November. Or 0.3% of the public… The previous season, on France 2 at 9:30 a.m., Agathe Lecaron could count on 352,000 followers (11.6% PDA).
“France 4 arriving on channel 4 with the visibility that we know, we had to make the link between the daytime schedule dedicated to a children’s audience and the evening schedule, intended for an adult audience. XXL Kindergartens was the ideal program to make the transition and speak to families, provided it broadens its spectrum and addresses all the subjects of parenthood, from early childhood to adolescence,” he said then, claiming however “700,000 people in contact with the show. »
“Switching to France 5 will help put the spotlight back on this fantastic show,” concedes a France Télévisions executive. This is precisely why the decision was quickly made, rather than waiting until the end of the season and risking damaging the brand…”