The tumble is soon over. This Thursday, July 24, viewers will be able to say goodbye to Topa La Vachette and follow live the grand finale ofIntervilles. A 4th and last show that ends a month of free fall audiences for the game presented by Nagui, Bruno Guillon or Magali Ripoll and Camille Cerf.
It is indeed not at all the cardboard on which France 2 was betting, undoubtedly tabling too much on the “nostalgia” effect of the return of this cult program. But the audiences do not lie. The very first episode broadcast on July 3 and which saw Beauvais and Coulanges-lès-Nevers competed in 3.35 million viewers, or 22.0% audience share. An impressive score that the chain could congratulate itself, 12 years after the last broadcast ofIntervilles, And which seemed to validate the choice however criticized by some (like Cyril Hanouna), to revive the game.
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But the following week, it was the cold shower, not only for some candidates. The episode of July 10 where Gap and Bourgoin-Jallieu opposed, only attracted 2.41 million people. A brutal fall which was confirmed during the broadcast of the 3rd game on July 17: only 2 million French people followed the Wallers-Arenberg meeting versus Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.
The return ofIntervilles had however been announced with very much pomp during the return conference of France Télévisions in September 2024. It was the novelty (or facsimile of) on which the group probably bet the most in the entertainment department. The proof, France Télé has teased this comeback for months, by broadcasting for example the very first teaser during the France-Scotland match of the Six Nations Tournament in March. Then, over the weeks, France 2 tried to maintain the impatience with Instagram posts revealing behind the scenes of the return of the show, the identity of all the presenters, or the “birth” of the one and only cow, the Topa mascot. But nothing has done it.
The vagaries of the nostalgia effect
How to explain the failure of a program that put almost everything on the nostalgia effect? It is a choice that many channels have made in recent months, having met with some great success for some. We think for example of the return of Bigdil With Vincent Lagaf on RMC Story in January which attracted 1.80 million people for its first issue, a new score for the channel. M6 has chosen to relaunch The wheel of fortune et The right price with Eric-Antoine at animation, then The weak link For a special evening with Vincent Dedienne, boxes. But the recipe does not work every time, the proof with the flop of the return of That the best winsalways on M6.
As an explanation of this crash ofIntervilles 2025we can advance a hypothesis: the resurrected games that worked have changed their original formula very little. However, on social networks, the criticisms of a part of the viewers are acerbic to the “new features” of the France 2 show. They point the finger at the absence of the cows, which were according to them essential to the dynamics of the game. Others highlight the very small size of the structures and the sets they consider similar to a ” game area ». Finally, some evoke ” a lack of rhythm “And a team of animators” not funny ». Many regret ” The original intervilles».
And Intervilles No doubt suffered from the dangerous comparison ” It was better before Fortunately, the channel had not advanced in a season 2.. It is a safe bet that the topa costume wisely returns to sleep in a closet at France Télé after this Thursday, July 24 in the evening.
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