It's all in the game

Americans often complain about the deplorable state of television programming in the United States; in France, the paucity of interesting and informative shows is enough to make you want to swear off TV for good. For fans of Jeopardy, as well as lovers of crosswords, Scrabble, and Trivial Pursuit, though, there are a couple of television game shows that are, at least in my opinion, worthwhile: Des Chiffres et des lettres and Questions pour un champion. Shown back-to-back during the work week from “around” 5:30 to 6:30 (French time being approximate even on the small screen), both programs have been televised for quite awhile and have loyal followings. In fact, Chiffres et lettres (as we call it in our family) is the longest running show on TV here (37 years) and has clubs in towns and cities throughout the country. Questions pour un champion recently had an inter-campus competition between universities with a prime time multi-hour final Monday night.




As its name indicates, Des Chiffres et des lettres (or "Numbers and Letters") tests candidates’ abilities in both mathematical operations and word knowledge. In sections of le compte est bon (“the total is right”), 6 numbers are chosen at random and a total is given; for instance, 75 25 6 2 9 8 and 462. Using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, the candidates must manipulate the 6 numbers to arrive at the total. Not always so easy for us language people! And, in fact, sometimes arriving at the sum is impossible. Le mot le plus long (“the longest word”) segments are like playing Scrabble, only there are 9 letters, instead of 7. All in all, a very good workout for the brain.

Questions pour un champion (whose name needs no translation) is a twenty plus year old trivia-based show--along the lines of Jeopardy--which is on TV seven days a week. Four candidates start out dans la première manche (“in the first round”) and the three who reply correctly and more quickly than the others advance to round two. Now they must choose a category that they think they’re strong in and the two with the highest number of points go on to the final; in case of a tie at this stage, there is a jeu déciscif (“deciding game”) to determine who will compete in the ultimate face-à-face. Like in Jeopardy, the questions are based on a wide variety of subjects, but the real challenge is to decipher what Julien Lepers, the extremely fast-talking animateur (“game show host”), is saying.


For an outsider, probably the most surprising thing about these programs is how the hosts treat the candidates when they are not doing well. I know that Alex Trebek has been criticized in the past for being a kind of know-it-all, but these remarks seem much more personal. Like to an older woman Marie-Claude the other day on Chiffres et lettres, Bertrand, one of the hosts said: “It was right in front of you!” and “I have to scold you again….” On Questions, the host said to Pierre: “You have to fight!” and “You know this!” I suppose “tough love” is the name of the game here.