Towards an end of More beautiful life ? According to Figaro, the flagship series of France 3 should stop at the end of the season after more than seventeen years of existence and 4,500 episodes. Contacted by The crossthe France Télévisions group did not confirm the information and did not wish to make further comments.
The series, broadcast Monday to Friday at 8:20 p.m., depicts the daily life of the inhabitants of Mistral, a fictional district of Marseille strongly inspired by the Panier. At launch on August 30, 2004, France 3’s aim was to attract younger audiences while continuing to appeal to older ones.
→ REPORT. Occitania, stronghold of television series
The bet is successful. The series seduces by sticking to the news with the first gay marriage on French television or, more recently, with the subject of transidentity for which it had a transgender actor play. Many social issues (alcoholism, racism, homophobia) are thus integrated into the plots, even the most burning ones. In July 2019, a feminist collective had notably seized the CSA following an episode in which a character called on a surrogate mother in the United Kingdom.
Competition from new daily soap operas
Very quickly, the hearings follow. The series averaged 5 million daily viewers between 2006 and 2014, reaching a peak of 6.8 million. But since 2017, the series has recorded a sharp decline. Today, less than 2.5 million viewers watch the 25-minute episodes.
This drop in audience is correlated with the arrival of new competition. In 2017, the TF1 and France 2 channels each have their own daily soap opera. tomorrow belongs to usbroadcast at 7:10 p.m. on TF1, recounts the intrigues of the inhabitants of the city of Sète (Hérault) and quickly passes More beautiful life by bringing together 3.9 million viewers.
On France 2, the first episode ofsuch a big sun, broadcast at 8:45 p.m., released in the summer of 2018. The series is filmed in Montpellier. Finally, in 2020, TF1 delighted with its success with tomorrow belongs to us repeat the experiment by throwing Here it all starts at 6.30 p.m. The story takes place in Aigues-Mortes (Gard) in a prestigious gastronomy institute.
” My heart is broken “
Strong competition is not the only reason for the discontinuation of More beautiful life by France Televisions. With a budget of 30 million euros per year, or €115,000 per episode, the series is one of the most expensive programs on the air. Without the necessary hearings, the management obviously felt that such a cost was no longer justified.
If the judgment has not been officially confirmed, the announcement caused a lot of reaction on Twitter and social networks: “My heart is broken”, “tell me it’s a joke”, “it’s worse than a breakup”, “my childhood is broken”…