Holiday season get-togethers

Broadcasters are vying to entertain you during this time of celebration and rest. Here are 10 (good) reasons to spend the next two weeks in front of the small screen.

1. Bursts

Several specialty channels take advantage of the holiday season to broadcast binge-watch programs. Because there's nothing like spending hours slumped in front of the TV to feel like you're taking full advantage of a vacation. Among the bursts that are worth the detour, let us point out that of Campus. On Tuesday December 28 from 1:30 p.m., VRAK broadcasts the 13 episodes of the drama for “young adults” by François Pagé (Après), which relates the daily life of a group of university students in residence. Until January 2, CanalD offers the fourth season of Madame Lebrun every evening at 8 p.m. Unscrambled until January 20, Zeste rebroadcasts its original fall productions such as Trois fois par jour&vous, Station Potluck and Coups de food, every evening from 7 p.m.

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2. Bells in the bungalow

After Madame has come a long way and Madame wants to be noticed, Chantal Lamarre and Sylvie Dumontier, alias Gayle and Gert Galipeau, join forces once again to present this variety-TV musical for the holidays, in which Pierre Brassard also participates, Sonia Vachon, David Savard, Pascale Montpetit and Isabelle Vincent. Unscrambled until January 17, the channel speaks of a hybrid between “a service program pastiche of the 1970s” and… a fantasy played and sung “like a Jacques Demy film”. Failing to know what all this means, we can declare our curiosity piqued. On ICIARTV, Monday December 20 at 8 p.m.

3. The Olympic dream

To set the stage for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, which will take place from February 4 to 20, Radio-Canada presents this series which recounts the journey of some of Quebec's medal hopefuls: short track speed skaters Charles Hamelin (December 21) and Kim Boutin (December 24), long track speed skater Laurent Dubreuil (December 28), snowboarders Maxence Parrot (December 22) and Éliot Grondin (December 23), hockey player Mélodie Daoust (December 27), skier Valérie Grenier (December 29) and finally, freestyle skier Mikaël Kingsbury (December 30). At ICI Télé, from Tuesday at 7 p.m.

4. News from local platforms

While in December, traditional channels are usually stingy with new content, on the platform side, it's the complete opposite. On Vrai, the documentary Taming your dragon (online from Tuesday) with Ève Salvail seems promising. Sober for five years, the ex-top model tells her story and interviews people who have also fought addiction, such as Éric Martel-Bahoeli, singer Eva Avila, influencer Lysandre Nadeau and actor Sylvain Marcel. On ICI Tou.TV Extra, we really liked Gazebo, a comedy written and performed by Marie-Soleil Dion and Louis-Olivier Mauffette which has fun blurring the line between fiction and reality. Finally, Club illico offers Maria, a dramatic comedy directed by Alec Pronovost (Club Soly, Complètement lycée) starring comedian Mariana Mazza.

5. Christmas Eve at Télé-Québec

Télé-Québec is taking care of Christmas Eve this year. Normand Brathwaite and Mélissa Lavergne will kick off the evening of December 24 at 8 p.m. by piloting a Belle et Bum des Fêtes featuring Lisa LeBlanc, Guylaine Tanguay, Marc Hervieux, Amay Laoni, QW4RTZ and Élizabeth Blouin-Brathwaite. Christian Bégin will take over at 10 p.m. with Y’a du monde à messe de Noël. For the occasion, he will be surrounded by Jean-Marc Parent, Karine Vanasse, Kevin Raphaël and Émilie Mandeville from the organization Dans la rue, which helps homeless young people. On the musical side, we will be served Damien Robitaille, Michel Rivard and Nathalie Simard.

6. Oscar-winning films

December requires, quality films are jostling at the gate to be released before 2021 ends, just to be eligible to win an Oscar. This year, several of them are relayed by Netflix, including Don't Look Up (in French version, Déni cosmique), a comedy by Adam McKay (The Big Short) with a five-star cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Timothée Chalamet. Online from Friday. Netflix also offers Tick, Tick… ​​Boom! by Lin-Manuel Miranda and The Power of the Dog by Jane Campion. On the side of Amazon Prime Video, Being the Ricardos enjoys a favorable rumor. Directed by Aaron Sorkin, this biographical feature chronicles the relationship between Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz while starring in I Love Lucy, an American hit series. With Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, it's hard to go wrong! Online tomorrow.

7. New Year's Eve at Radio-Canada

Why change a winning formula? This is probably what the management of the public broadcaster thought when building its programming for December 31. The evening starts at 7 p.m. with Live New Year's Day. The list of France Beaudoin's guests remains secret, but Radio-Canada promises a "mega party". See you next year occupies the 8:30 p.m. box with Philippe Laguë, Pierre Verville, Michèle Deslauriers, Dominic Paquet, Véronique Claveau and Benoit Paquette. At 10 p.m., MC Gilles, Chantal Lamarre and Jean-René Dufort deliver Infoman, and then, place at Bye bye with Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse, François Bellefeuille, Guylaine Tremblay and Mehdi Bousaidan. Many surprise guests should join the quartet to revisit 2021 in humor.

8. Harry Potter Festival

Following the Friends reunion earlier this year, another important reunion is in the works: that of the trio of actors at the heart of the Harry Potter films, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Alongside director Chris Colombus, these actors will mark the 20th anniversary of the first feature film, Harry Potter at the Sorcerer's Stone, released in theaters in November 2001. All this on the occasion of a special program entitled Return to Hogwarts, which Crave promises to offer in a version with French subtitles from January 1^st. Not quite in the mood? No problem, Crave has been offering all eight films since November, not including the Harry Potter series of specials Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. On Crave.

9. Combo Les Cowboys Fringants-Pirate Heart

Two big names in the Quebec music industry, two unique meetings. At 8 p.m., Télé-Québec broadcasts the recording of the Cowboys Fringants concert with the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, given in the spring. At 9:30 p.m., Cœur de pirate stars in a 90-minute special that adopts the formula of a (really) quirky 1970s talk show, including cane laughter and applause. Very pregnant, the artist answers Gab Bouchard's often left-field questions, revisits her repertoire of the last 10 years (Crier tout bas, Comme des enfants) and sings with Rita Baga (Ne m'appelle pas). Also on the program, a duet with Mitsou (Dis-moi, dis-moi), a lip-sync by Ariel Charest, and performances by Choses sauvage, La compagnie créole, Pierre Kwenders and Jacobus. On Télé-Québec on Sunday January 2.

10. It's starting the year well

In It's off to a good start, José Gaudet and Julie Bélanger host TVA's winter headliners, including Gregory Charles, Marc Dupré, Guylaine Tremblay and Jean-Philippe Dion for Star Académie, Fabien Cloutier for Léo, Michel Charette, François Avard and Sandrine Brisson for Le bonheur, Guy Jodoin for Le cheater, Yan England for Les bracelets rouges, Sophie Lorain and Rachel Graton for Portrait-robot, and Marilou for Trois fois par jour&vous. On TVA, Sunday January 2 at 7:30 p.m.