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Le Point (TV series)

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Le Point
Presented bySimon Durivage
Denise Bombardier
Pierre Nadeau
Madeleine Poulin
Anne-Marie Dussault
Jean-François Lepine
Stéphan Bureau
Dominique Poirier
Country of originCanada
Production
Running time35 minutes
Original release
NetworkRadio-Canada
Release1983 (1983) –
2006 (2006)

Le Point is a Canadian television newsmagazine series, which aired on Radio-Canada from 1983 to 2006. The program, which aired following Le Téléjournal weeknights, explored the news in depth with interviews and documentary reports.[1]

The program was introduced in 1983, one year after the network's English counterpart CBC Television introduced the similar series The Journal as a complement to its main newscast The National.[2] It premiered on September 12 that year, with hosts Denise Bombardier and Simon Durivage,[1] replacing the network's weekly news series Noir sur blanc.[2] The program also represented an attempt to expand Radio-Canada's coverage of international affairs; prior to the program's introduction, the network maintained news bureaux only in Canada, while relying on television networks from France and Switzerland for its international coverage.[2]

As with The Journal, however, the show struggled to establish itself at first; Bombardier, in particular, faced criticism for being seemingly unable to adapt her intense, probing interviewing style from Noir sur blanc to the demands of the new program's magazine format.[3] She left the show after the first season,[4] and was succeeded by Pierre Nadeau.[5] The following year, Madeleine Poulin joined the show as a third host.[citation needed] Journalist Marcel Desjardins directed the program until 1988.[6][7]

Nadeau left the show in 1988 to join TVA's news division,[8] and was succeeded by Anne-Marie Dussault. Durivage left in 1992, and was replaced by Jean-François Lepine.[9] Poulin left the program in 1996, with Lepine hosting the program solo thereafter.[10]

In 1998, the program was merged with Le Téléjournal into an extended hour-long program anchored by Stéphan Bureau.[11] The programs' titles were retained, however, with Le Téléjournal still referring to the program's early news headline segment and Le Point still referring to the later documentary and interview features.

When Bureau was succeeded by Gilles Gougeon in 2003, Le Point went back to separate hosting, with Dominique Poirier taking over the show until it was discontinued in 2006.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "The crew of Le Point is pleased with debut". The Globe and Mail, September 14, 1983.
  2. ^ a b c "The Journal en francais set for Radio-Canada". The Globe and Mail, May 28, 1983.
  3. ^ "Lots of talk, not much action". The Globe and Mail, September 26, 1983.
  4. ^ "Major shuffle planned for troubled LePoint". The Globe and Mail, April 13, 1984.
  5. ^ "Pierre Nadeau". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  6. ^ "Décès de Marcel Desjardins". Le Devoir (in French). 11 February 2003. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  7. ^ "Obsèques de Marcel Desjardins". Radio-Canada (in French). 16 February 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Rough week at Radio-Canada's Le Point". Montreal Gazette, April 14, 1988.
  9. ^ "Durivage to leave CBC's Le Point". The Globe and Mail, April 17, 1992.
  10. ^ "CBC employees stunned as 996 receive pink slips: 'They're cutting bone. They're cutting limbs. ... The Liberal government is sounding the death knell of this corporation.'". The Globe and Mail, December 12, 1996.
  11. ^ "Radio-Canada casts off news anchor: Quebec journalism icon Bernard Derome replaced in major shakeup of flagship show Le Téléjournal". The Globe and Mail, April 22, 1998.