Twenty years later, we still don’t know if Michal stole the merchant’s orange – AFP
- TF1 offers this Saturday evening Star Academy: the event doc to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the telecrochet.
- Duets with international stars, memorable performances, cult moments, the show offers a best of the most striking sequences of the Star Ac.
- 20 minutes takes stock of what we liked and what we would have loved to see in this doc.
Watch Star Academy: the event doc Saturday night on TF1 is perhaps what comes closest to a trip down memory lane. For an hour and a half, the channel offers its audience to dive into the memories of a time when a French show could attract Beyoncé, Madonna and Elton John to its set. Twenty years later, the candidates react to the images that have unveiled them in the country, sometimes in front of more than ten million people.
Maxi best of menu
This “event documentary” as presented by TF1 is to be savored as a zapping of the best moments of the show. For example, there are outstanding performances by candidates, whether because they were moving or explosive. Part of the show also gives us the guilty pleasure of listening to the anthems of the various promotions, which we still know by heart today even if we have not listened to them for two decades. Above all, the documentary does not ignore what has been its strength for eight seasons: international stars. So have your remote handy to turn up the sound when Beyoncé, Madonna, Celine Dion, Rihanna, Britney Spears, Enrique Iglesias or Tina Turner arrive on your screen.
The return of the “prince”
“I’m not waiting for someone to give me my freedom, I take it”. If there is one sentence that will have marked the years Star Ac, it is that of Pierre who, during the third season, decided to leave the competition directly, facing a disconcerted Nikos Aliagas. The sequence, which the singer claims not to have seen before it was shown to him in the documentary, still has its small effect even today. Eighteen years later, the ex-candidate party “a bit like a prince” sheds light on this symbolic moment in the life of reality TV in France.
Forgotten extracts
Celine Dion who goes crazy when announcing the program of the semifinals of the seventh season, that surely does not mean anything to you. This is one of the sequences that we had completely forgotten and that we take pleasure in rediscovering. We also hallucinate when we review the images of Jean-Pascal who, while he wanted to leave the game, went to go green (or rather in the rain) in London, in the middle of the competition. At the end of the week, the cards were put in the hands of the public who had to determine whether the candidate deserved to return to the Star Ac. Another era.
Where are Jenifer and Nolwenn?
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of a show without the two women who have contributed the most to the phenomenon, it’s a shame all the same. Absent from Doc event, we would have liked to listen to Jenifer and Nolwenn Leroy reveal their latest secrets about the period that changed their lives. Small consolation prize, the first winner nevertheless appears through an old interview. On the faculty side, no trace either of Raphaëlle Ricci, the scenic expression teacher feared for her weekly debriefs which the public reveled in.
Where are the last seasons?
We can imagine by clicking on “play” that the general idea of this documentary is to celebrate the moments of glory of the candidates, but we would also have liked to see how those who won the competition handled the aftermath. –star Academy and fewer and fewer phone calls over the years. In the same style, we would also have liked the emphasis to be a little more focused on the last seasons of the show, almost completely ignored in the documentary, just like the end of the show. How did the teams experience the end of the program? How do they explain the show’s breathlessness? Don’t expect the answers to these questions.
Where is the live?
In general, who says birthday says cake, candles and party favors. However, none of this appears in the documentary. We would have liked very much that this evening was much more festive and modern than a simple succession of archive images and testimonies, but the health reality complicates the organization of such a barnum. Guest of the show A flash of Guény this week, Lucie Bernardoni, finalist against Grégory Lemarchal, hinted that another program, more musical this time, was in preparation. A double birthday isn’t bad either.