Zenith | Ferro Colosseum

Twenty years after Celine Dion acquired a custom-made theater in Las Vegas, it’s Véronique Cloutier’s turn to get such a royal treatment: A new studio was created expressly for Zenithhis new show on Radio Canada.

Posted at 7:00 am

Of course, a studio Zenith It cannot be compared with the Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace, which is a 4,000-seat hall with 100 million seats where the singer of Charlemagne gave 1,100 concerts. But still. During our visit to the building, Monday morning at the Grandé, in the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal, the place was a hit.

A battlefield-like setting, a giant video screen on the floor, 12-meter-high ceilings, 11,200 square feet of space, bleachers equipped with 100 computerized voting stations… As Véronique points out to Cloutier, Radio Canada has put “the package”.

The result is even more impressive when we learn that in October, the space was allocated to the Metropolitan Express Network (REM) framework.

There was nothing here. Fortunately, the Deputy Minister of Transport was very kind to us and agreed to release it a month early, otherwise there would be no studio.

Louis Morissette, producer

Radio Canada does not want to disclose a budget Zenith. In an interview, TV director Dany Melloul spoke of an “ambitious project”. “We are public broadcasters. We are responsible. It’s not twice as much as we put into other productions, but it’s much more than we actually put in.”

Adds Dany Melloul: “We said to ourselves: As long as we do this, when it comes to revamping our platforms, we want to renew them so that they have greater potential for international dissemination. We know what other public broadcasters around the world can do, such as the BBC [en Angleterre]. »

According to Dany Malloul, Zenith It “excites” advertisers, a fact confirmed by Kossette Media. According to Isabelle Fournier, Director of Animation at the agency that specializes in media placement, this is a “very good production, animating and standardizing” that should be part of Top 20 Most viewed Nomores shows. “All brands can be associated with it without fear, and Véronique Cloutier in the controls gives them confidence.”

Bringing generations together

Original Quebec format direct from the KOTV offices (1^Precision OnceAnd plan b), Zenith It will land on the air Thursday night after a full two years in development. In this live broadcast competition, seasoned artists will perform in front of a panel of 100 audience jurors. The singers, given carte blanche, will have to deliver numbers likely to excite a wide range of people, as the judges in the studio will be divided by generations. The rating they’ll get will come in equal parts from Boomers, Xs, Ys and Zs, whose spokespeople will be Normand Brathwaite, Elise Marquis, Felix-Antoine Tremblay and Claudia Buffet respectively.

Viewers will also be able to vote.

The artists breaking the ice this week are Lunou Zucchini, Jason Roy Léveillée, Jean-François Breau and Johanne Blouin.

Over the following weeks, other brave people would try the experiment, including Guylaine Tanguay, Patsy Gallant, Véronique Claveau, Jonas, Eléonore Lagacé, Matt Lang, Laurence Jalbert, Damien Robitaille, Annie Villeneuve, Ludovick Bourgeois, Kim Richardson, Benoit McGinnis, and Joel legend.

“After, after 1^Precision Once“I felt like doing a variety show again,” explains Véronique Cloutier. It’s well known, I love locations with the audience, the atmosphere, the band, the dancers, the pyrotechnic effects, someone coming down from the roof… these are things that excite me a lot. […] I wanted to see the talent, to move and to impress. »

number

Radio Canada published the machine not only for fabrication Zenith, but also to promote it. If you’ve watched ICI Télé in the past few days, you’ve no doubt seen this pop-up icon on the screen, which displays the number of days before the show goes on the air, a strategy that Radio Canada really reserves for special events, such as the Olympics.

Véronique Cloutier says she cried when she noticed the poster in the process Live from the universe Saturday. “I feel a lot of support. Radio Canada has given us all the means to succeed. It’s a huge gift for me after 25 years.” [à Radio-Canada]. I appreciate it very much. I am lucky. »

With ZenithVéronique Cloutier believes she has “something working” on her hands. So hectic as D-Day approaches, the host thinks she’s “about as ready[elle] It could be”, because it is a new concept.

Veronique Cloutier, affectionately called “Queen Mother” by her co-workers, experienced moments of strong emotions while preparing for the new meeting. One of them occurred last December, a few days before the pilot was recorded, when she received a video of her rehearsals for the Lono Zucchini number, which Daniel Vignault, the show’s director and coordinator, had taken with his mobile phone. “When I was weighed down to play, I burst into tears! I found her so beautiful, so wonderful. ‘She is more beautiful than in my dreams,’ I answered to the team.” »

international targets

Although she has yet to prove herself to Quebec viewers, Zenith It is already arousing a lot of interest in the international arena. French audiovisual group Mediawan (Red bracelets, ten percent) just got formatting.

For Louis Morissette, this is a transaction that demonstrates the importance of supporting concept creation Made in Quebec. “We have to give ourselves the means. Because when you go to fight with three toothpicks and two pipe cleaners internationally, it’s hard. Our competitors are on a grand scale. To compete with what the United States offers us, it has to be big. And Zenith, She’s big. »

Premiere of a movie Zenith It will be broadcast on ICI Télé on Thursdays at 8 pm. Due to music rights, the show will not be presented as a catch-up on ICI Tou.tv or any other digital platform.