What were the top shows in France in 2011 ?

Yesterday, Seba Canel created a thread to discuss the top shows in Germany, so I thought I should look for the top shows in the Hexagon, just for personal knowledge. I know that's hardly news and that pretty much no one cares about that on an international website like SpoilerTV, even I don't really care (especially now that I know the results) but I was intrigued to see if one of my favorite shows had made the list. Well, first, none of them did, and secondly, I did not find such a list. Sure, the big channels did their own end of the year communiqués, twisting the numbers by choosing a convenient angle to brag about the ratings of their shows, but I didn't find an article summing up the figures, and it makes sense since the datas appearing in the communiqués are not on the same basis (e.g : TF1 will brag about the total amount ot viewers of Criminal Minds while France 2 will point out that Castle is very popular among the 33-49 demo). Perhaps it exists, but I didn't find it. What I did find, however, is the top 100 of the biggest ratings of the year. As you will realize, it leaves out many US TV shows.

From what I've gathered in the various communiqués I came across, M6's top american US series is Bones, followed by NCIS, then comes NCIS LA, then it's Lie to Me, and finally The Good Wife and Hawaii Five-O. Over the past few years, France 2 lost many of its american TV shows (ER, Without a Trace, Cold Case), now all they got left is Castle (which is a big success), Private Practice and The Closer. TF1, France 2 & M6 : that's the big three here.

Big three... I'm not sure that's an accurate term. As you can see below, there's TF1, and the others (well, the others are not in the list, actually). For the list, when I'm not indicating the hour when the program aired, it means it starts around 8:50pm (and when you see the same date for two episodes, it means the next one aired at 9:35pm).

1 — Rugby (World Cup Final), New Zealand/France, 8-7 (Sunday, October 23 at 10am) : 15.4 million viewers (82.3% of the market share watching TV at that moment).

2 — Les Enfoirés, the annual caritative concert (Friday, March 11) : 12.5 million viewers (49.7% of the market share).
3 — The TF1 News with guest DSK (Sunday, September 18 at 8pm) : 12.5 million viewers (49.4%).
4 — Rugby (World Cup Final), New Zealand/France - Trophy time (Sun, Oct 23 at 12pm) : 12 million viewers (67.9%).


5 — The Mentalist, episode 3.01 (Wednesday, August 31) : 10.4 million viewers (40.2% of the market share).
6 — The Mentalist, episode 3.13 (Wednesday, October 12) : 10.1 million viewers (35.9%).
7 — The Mentalist, episode 3.11 (Wednesday, October 5) : 10.1 million viewers (36.4%).
8 — The Mentalist, episode 3.24 (Wednesday, December 21) : 10 million viewers (34.5%).
9 — The Mentalist, episode 3.02 (Wednesday, August 31) : 9.9 million viewers (40%).

10 — The Mentalist, episode 3.21 (Wednesday, November 30) : 9.9 million viewers (33%).
11 — The Mentalist, episode 3.03 (Wednesday, September 7) : 9.9 million viewers (37.6%).
12 — The Mentalist, episode 3.05 (Wednesday, September 14) : 9.7 million viewers (36.6%).
13 — The Mentalist, episode 3.16 (Wednesday, November 9) : 9.6 million viewers (33.7%).
14 — The Mentalist, episode 3.14 (Wednesday, October 26) : 9.6 million viewers (33.6%).
15 — The Mentalist, episode 3.09 (Wednesday, September 28) : 9.6 million viewers (34.9%).
16 — The Mentalist, episode 3.22 (Wednesday, December 14) : 9.5 million viewers (32.8%).
17 — House, episode 6.15 (Tuesday, June 14) : 9.5 million viewers (36.8%).
18 — House, episode 6.16 (Tuesday, June 14) : 9.5 million viewers (34.8%).
19 — Rugby (World Cup Semi-final), Wales/France, 8-9 (Saturday, October 15 at 10am) : 9.5 millions viewers (73.1%).


20 — Criminal Minds, episode 5.23 (Wednesday, March 30) : 9.4 million viewers (33%).
21 — De l'autre côté du lit (Sunday, February 6) : 9.4 million viewers (35.3%).
22 — Après le 20h, c'est Canteloup (Wednesday, November 30) : 9.4 million viewers (32.4%).
23 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.14 (Wednesday, June 8) : 9.4 million viewers (35%).
24 — Criminal Minds, episode 5.20 (Wednesday, March 23) : 9.3 million viewers (33.8%).
25 — The Mentalist, episode 3.07 (Wednesday, September 21) : 9.3 million viewers (35.8%).
26 — House, episode 6.07 (Tuesday, May 17) : 9.3 million viewers (33.6%).
27 — The Mentalist, episode 3.18 (Wednesday, November 16) : 9.3 million viewers (31.7%).
28 — House, episode 6.11 (Tuesday, May 31) : 9.3 million viewers (35.1%).
29 — House, episode 6.12 (Tuesday, May 31) : 9.3 million viewers (33.5%).


30 — The Mentalist, episode 3.12 (Wednesday, October 5) : 9.2 million viewers (35.8%).
31 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.16 (Wednesday, June 15) : 9,2 million viewers (35.6%).
32 — The Mentalist, episode 3.15 (Wednesday, October 26) : 9.2 million viewers (33.9%).
33 — The Mentalist, episode 3.10 (Wednesday, September 28) : 9.2 million viewers (35.8%).
34 — Doc Martin, episode 1.01 (Monday, January 10) : 9.1 million viewers (32.9%).
35 — The Mentalist, episode 3.04 (on Wednesday, September 7) : 9.1 million viewers (37.9%).
36 — The Mentalist, episode 3.17 (on Wednesday, November 9) : 9.1 million viewers (34.7%).
37 — House, episode 6.13 (Tuesday, June 7) : 9.1 million viewers (35.7%).
38 — The Mentalist, episode 3.06 (on Wednesday, September 14) : 9.1 million viewers (36.3%).
39 — CSI Miami, episode 8.07 (Sunday, March 13 at 8:55pm) : 9.1 million viewers (32.7%).


40 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.15 (Wednesday, June 8) : 9.1 million viewers (35.5%).
41 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.20 (Wednesday, July 6) : 9.0 million viewers (35.5%).
42 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.01 (Wednesday, March 30) : 9.0 million viewers (34.0%).
43 — Die Hard 4.0 (Sunday, May 22) : 9.0 million viewers (37.7%).
44 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.17 (Wednesday, June 22) : 9.0 million viewers (34.9%).
45 — House, episode 6.08 (Tuesday, May 17) : 9.0 million viewers (35.1%).
46 — The Mentalist, episode 3.08 (Wednesday, September 21) : 9.0 million viewers (33.7%).
47 — House, episode 6.05 (Tuesday, May 10) : 8.9 million viewers (34.6%).
48 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.10 (Wednesday, May 18) : 8.9 million viewers (34.5%).
49 — House, episode 6.03 (Tuesday, April 26) : 8.9 million viewers (33.8%).

50 — House, episode 6.01 (Tuesday, April 19) : 8.9 million viewers (33.4%).
51 — Les Edelweiss (January 3) : 8,9 million viewers (32.5%).
52 — House, episode 6.02 (Tuesday, April 19) : 8.8 million viewers (33.6%).
53 — The Mentalist, episode 3.19 (Wednesday, November 16) : 16 novembre : 8.8 million viewers (33.5%).
54 — House, episode 6.06 (Tuesday, May 10) : 8.8 million viewers (33.1%).
55 — House, episode 6.14 (Tuesday, June 7) : 8.8 million viewers (31.7%).
56 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.18 (Wednesday, June 22) : 8.8 million viewers (33.3%).
57 — CSI NY, episode 6.07 (Sunday, March 13 at 9:40pm) : 8.7 million viewers (34.3%).
58 — The Mentalist, episode 3.20 (Wednesday, November 23) : 8.7 million viewers (28.9%).
59 — The Mentalist, episode 3.23 (Wednesday, December 14) : 8.7 million viewers (35.6%).

60 — House, episode 6.19 (Tuesday, June 28) : 8.7 million viewers (34.7%).
61 — House, episode 6.22 (Tuesday, July 12) : 8.6 million viewers (35.4%).
62 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.19 (Wednesday, June 29) : 8.6 million viewers (32.5%).
63 — Joséphine (Monday, February 21) : 8.5 million viewers (31.8%).
64 — President Sarkozy speech (Sunday, February 27 at 8pm) : 8.5 million viewers (33.8%).
65 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.11 (Wednesday, May 25) : 8.5 million viewers (33.5%).
66 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.13 (Wednesday, May 25) : 8.5 million viewers (35.6%).
67 — The TF1 News (Saturday, March 12 at 1pm) : 8.5 million viewers (46.8%).
68 — House, episode 6.20 (Tuesday, June 28) : 8.4 million viewers (32.9%).
69 — Doc Martin, episode 1.02 (Monday, January 10) : 8.4 million viewers (33.6%).


70 — Weather Forecast (Wednesday, December 21) : 8.3 million viewers (30.8%).
71 — LOL (Sunday, November 27) : 8.3 million viewers (28.7%).
72 — House, episode 6.21 (Tuesday, July 5) : 8.3 million viewers (33.0%).
73 — President Sarkozy Q&A with a panel (Thursday, February 10) : 8.3 million viewers (33.5%).
74 — House, episode 6.09 (Tuesday, May 24) : 8.2 million viewers (31.4%).
75 — Football (Euro 2012 qualifying game), France/Bosnia, 1-1 (Tuesday, October 11) : 8.2 million viewers (31.4%).
76 — CSI, episode 10.07 (Sunday, March 13 at 10:25pm) : 8.2 million viewers (42.2%).
77 — The Mentalist, a rerun (Wednesday, October 12) : 8.2 million viewers (33.0%).
78 — House, episode 6.04 (Tuesday, April 26) : 8,2 million viewers (30.6%).
79 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.12 (Wednesday, June 1) : 8.2 million viewers (32.2%).


80 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.08 (Wednesday, May 11) : 8.2 million viewers (30.6%).
81 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.09 (Wednesday, May 18) : 8.1 million viewers (34.1%).
82 — Le Code a Changé (Sunday, September 4) : 8.1 million viewers (32.2%).
83 — House, episode 6.10 (Tuesday, May 24) : 8.1 million viewers (31.9%).
84 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.21 (Wednesday, July 6) : 8.1 million viewers (33.2%).
85 — Prête-moi ta main (Sunday, January 23) : 8.1 million viewers (29.3%).
86 — Rugby (World Cup Quarter-final), England/France, 12-19 (Sat, Oct 8 at 10am) : 8.1 million viewers (68.2%).
87 — Rendez-vous en Terre Inconnue (Tuesday, November 1) : 8.0 million viewers (27.4%).
88 — Criminal Minds, episode 6.02 (Wednesday, April 13) : 8.0 million viewers (29.1%).
89 — Criminal Minds, episode 5.21 (Wednesday, March 23) : 8.0 million viewers (33.3%).


90 — Football (friendly game), France/Brazil, 1-0 (Wednesday, February 9) : 8.0 million viewers (32.6%).
91 — RTT (Sunday, November 20) : 8.0 million viewers (29.5%).
92 — House, episode 6.17 (Tuesday, June 21) : 7.9 million viewers (33.3%).
93 — The Mentalist, a rerun (Wednesday, November 30) : 7.9 million viewers (30.1%).
94 — Koh Lanta (Friday, December 16) : 7.9 million viewers (35.2%).
95 — Rugby (World Cup Pool A), New Zealand/France, 37-17 (Sat, Sept 24 at 10am) : 7.9 million viewers (64.9%).
96 — Criminal Minds, episode 5.22 (Wednesday, March 23) : 7.9 million viewers (28.7%).
97 — Grey's Anatomy, episode 6.01 (Wednesday, January 5) : 7.9 million viewers (28.7%).
98 — Les Bronzés 3 : 7.9 million viewers (30.0%).
99 — CSI NY, episode 6.21 (Tuesday, March 22) : 7.8 million viewers (28.3%).
100 — Koh Lanta (Friday, December 9) : 7.8 million viewers (29.5%).

Source : Mediametrie.fr.


I may be mistaken, I'm not an expert at all but I think the market share in parenthesis represents almost always the percentage of women between 33 and 49 watching TV at that moment, this market share is sometimes refered to as "housewives". For sport events, for instance, that's a different demographic taken into account. If there's 34.5% for an episode of The Mentalist, it means more than 1 woman out of 3 aged between 33 and 49 who is watching TV that night is watching The Mentalist.

Among the good news (or bad news, depending on where you stand) :

1 - There's no reality TV among the 100 best ratings of the year, unless you consider Koh Lanta (the french Survivor) as a real TV program. Koh Lanta ended its 11th season on a bang with 7.8 and 7.9 million viewers for the last two episodes. While I didn't watch it this season, I admit Koh Lanta is entertaining once you watch a few shows, plus the landscapes are great, the presenter is cool and the music is also often pretty good.

2 - The CSI franchise is fading away : TF1 owns the rights for the three shows, they all air from 9pm to 10:30pm during a few months of the year on different days (Sundays for CSI, Tuesdays for CSI Miami and Wednesdays for CSI NY) and yet there are only 4 episodes that made the top 100 list : the three-parter in which Miami, New York and Las Vegas shared 1 investigation, and also the CSI NY episode airing 10 days after that 3-parter. That's it.

3 - TF1 is losing ground to France 2 and M6, which both have big US TV shows in their lineup as well : Castle is a big success on France 2 ; Bones is doing quite well on M6, Lie to Me, NCIS and NCIS LA too, but it was sometimes M6's original programming that put TF1 in a 2nd spot with France's Got Talent, X Factor, Farmer Wants a Wife, cooking or homemaking shows... classy stuff, I know, but M6 also has Pekin Express (our Amazing Race) which entered its sixth season last year, this time from Egypt to South Africa (Pekin was the destination of the first season, the name sticked around), it's not a bad show and it's a moderate success each season.

Nonetheless, TF1 had 99 out of the 100 best ratings of the year, that's the wet dream of every major TV executive. TF1 remains once again untouchable. If NCIS had been on TF1, it would be here on that list, there's no doubt about that (which is kind of sad). When Castle and Bones beat TF1's programs and win the night, it's not with 8 million viewers but more like 5-6 millions, and thus they don't make the list. It's very impressive to have 99% of the top 100 ratings but TF1 did not win every night of the year, maybe 70% of them, but they usually air 2-3 episodes of their shows in a row and there's never a big drop between the first and second episode, and thus we have 67 episodes of either House, Criminal Minds or The Mentalist in the top 100, leaving many France 2, France 3 or M6 programs out of the top.

A few observations :


1 - There are 7 movies in the list, including 6 french comedy : De l'autre côté du lit (2009), LOL (2008), Le Code a changé (2009), Prête moi ta main (2006), RTT (2009) and Les Bronzés 3 (2006). Not the best ones, clearly, and definitely not the most original/ambitious movies ever done, but they're all the equivalent of PG/PG-13 (cursing and nudity are allowed with such a ranking but in tasteful proportions), they're not romantic comedies but they do talk about love, family and/or friendship in some capacity, they last 1h30 to 1h45 and won't offend anyone : a perfect fit for TF1.

Sophie Marceau and Dany Boon manage to be in two of those movies, LOL for Sophie Marceau (which will get remaked in the US in 2012 with Demi Moore), Le Code a changé for Dany Boon (that movie features 10 main actors, however) and they both star in the most watched movie of the year on TV, De l'autre côté du lit (= on the other side of the bed). That's a dull comedy about a couple swaping their activities, but that's what the housewives like to watch and the housewife is TF1's target. There's some quality among those movies though : LOL is a decent comedy, Les Bronzés 3 is nowhere near as funny as the first two movies (which are both absolute classics) but it's nice to see those characters reunite 27 years after the last movie, and Prête moi ta main, starring Alain Chabat and Charlotte Gainsbourg, is a good movie. And finally, there's only one exception, a grain of sand disrupting the machine : Die Hard 4.0 (2007), which had the 43rd best ratings of the year. How does John MacLane fit among all those comedies, I don't have a clue.

2 - There are 13 live events in the list, 4 of them in the top 4 spots. Among them, there are 2 news reports (one featuring Dominique Strauss-Kahn's first televised appearance since his trial had been dismissed, the other one covering the Fukushima nuclear meltdown). There are 2 soccer games, one against Brazil and the other one against Bosnia. There are 4 rugby games, all of them broadcasted in the morning (10am) for us since the World Cup took place in New Zealand - all of them had a huge market share, from 64.9% to 82.3% (for the final). There are also 2 political talkshows involving Sarkozy, also known as POFR (I'm coining that, it will stick around, you'll see).

3 - There's one documentary in the list : Rendez-vous en Terre Inconnue (= Rendezvous in unfamiliar land), which is also coincidentally the only program in the list not broadcasted by TF1. Rendez-vous en Terre Inconnue airs on France 2, and this new installment airing on November 1st featured rugby player Frédéric Michalak living within the Lô Lô tribe in Lào Cai, Viêt Nam.

Such an outraging domination will not make TF1 rethink its programming, so this year, once again I will be spending very little time watching that channel. On a regular basis, I will watch the news, the Champions League & international football/soccer games, and perhaps Koh Lanta when it'll return next fall, and that's about it. TF1 is a family channel, they don't have original or interesting series of their own (and I don't care much about the US TV shows they broadcast). The only edgy show they're producing is Flics, it's a good drama but you can't become a fan given how little TF1 cares about it or the fans : season 1 (4 episodes) aired three years ago, season 2 (another 4 episodes) only aired last November, that's not the best way to have a faithful audience (besides, Flics is quite serialized). Canal+ has compelling series, France 2 also produced a few great original miniseries or series, but not TF1 (and like TF1, France 2 is a free access channel ; given the content of the France 2 original miniseries or series compared to TF1's original programming, it's an euphemism to say that I have much more esteem for France 2).


TF1 does air great shows and/or shows that are not procedurals, but they air before 7pm or after 11pm : last year, Fringe aired after 3 episodes of The Mentalist (2 new ones + 1 rerun), V aired after 3 episodes of Criminal Minds (2 new ones + 1 rerun), and starting tonight Nikita aired after 3 episodes of Grey's Anatomy (3 new episodes). How can you have great ratings if you start a show around 11:10pm (especially if there was a rerun just before) with 2 new episodes (Fringe & co usually end around 12:40am) ?

The same thing happened to Life, Eli Stone or FlashForward, all of them starting around 11pm for 2 new episodes each Wednesday. A long time ago, serialized shows like Lost and Heroes did air at 9pm but they eventually were scheduled to start at 11pm-12am (as soon as season 2 for Heroes and starting at season 4 for Lost). Parenthood and Brothers & Sisters ? TF1 would never air them in primetime, they're not procedurals (TF1 does air family dramedy series in primetime but only their own productions, which are frankly awful from what I've seen), thus both can't have any better than the 5pm timeslot.

What about 24 and Dexter, you ask ? Well, those two are particular because they air on TF1 and yet they both first have to have been previously broadcasted in primetime on Canal+ (a great pay-cable channel), which has the exclusive rights for the first airing of those shows (and reruns for weeks after, obviously). TF1 wanted 24 and Dexter nonetheless, so they paid to get the second airing, months later. But, as always, serialized shows are a big success on cable and they struggle on a wider channel, apparently leaving no choice to TF1 but to schedule both of them from 12:30am to 2:05am (TF1 started by putting 24 and Dexter at 11pm but even at that timeslot TF1 has expectations ratings-wise, so they ended up scheduling them even further into the night).


And don't get me started on the main sport commentator working on TF1. Football/soccer games is the only thing I watch assiduously on TF1, but this guy commenting the Champions League games and the international games is just friggin awful. Maybe that's why not many people watched the 6 Champions League games programed from September to December. Although it may also be because TF1 has always picked the 'wrong game', and that would almost be funny if it weren't for the fact that games airing on TF1 are only football games I can watch if I stay at home. TF1 has the first pick to choose 1 game on each matchday and Canal+ gets all the other ones (spread over the multiples channels part of the Canal+ group). Well, TF1 screwed up every time by picking boring games whereas there was a lot more going on in the other games they left to Canal+. To epitomize that, there's the last matchday of the group stage, a month ago. For 3 months, TF1 didn't pick games featuring Lille (a team which has a reputation for playing an attractive, very fluid soccer) probably because they didn't think there were enough fans out there compared to Marseille or Lyon, the other two french teams in Champions League. Well, for once on the last matchday, during which all 3 french clubs could qualify to the round of 16, TF1 chose Lille. Thus Marseille and Lyon's games aired on Canal+, and they were epic : Marseille turned things around at Dortmund at the end of the game, winning 3-2 despite Dortmund leading 2-0 after 45 minutes, and they qualified. Lyon needed a miracle, and they pulled it off by winning 7-1 at Zaghreb (it was not a very good team which had nothing to gain from this last game), helped by Real Madrid winning 3-0 at Amsterdam — I couldn't see the Lyon game live, but I heared the last 20 minutes on the radio... why did I turn on the radio ? Because I was slightly frustrated by the second half of Lille-Trapzonspor, that game ended on a draw, 0-0, eliminating Lille (the first half was very enjoyable but Lille not scoring a single goal after dominating the game like they did was exasperating... a single goal was enough to qualiity). Bottom line, Lille was eliminated while Lyon and Marseille go on in the competition.

I don't know why I'm telling you this, it's not Facebook or my blog. Nah, I guess no one is reading those lines, de toute façon c'est pas comme si je racontais quelque chose d'intéressant (I can switch to french, who'll notice ?). My point is, TF1 sucks. What a bunch of greedy assholes. I know they're not running a charity but still, they should try and please viewers who don't want to have US TV shows 4 days a week in primetime, especially if it's procedurals. And they suck even more because due to the weak Champions League ratings, they passed on the Champions League rights from September 2012 to May 2016 (Canal+ has the first pick now, and the rest is left to an upcoming french Al-Jazeera channel). I may hate the main commentator and they may find a way to pick the worst games every time (for the group stage at least) but I like watching some football live for free at home, and in 9 months, except for international games (13 to 17 games a year) and several national Cups (Coupe de la Ligue and Coupe de France, airing on France 2 or France 3), it won't be the case (Canal+ remains the owner of the rights for Ligue 1 games, and also a few Premiere League and Liga games every weekend).

PS : The picture of Ian Somerhalder shirtless in the middle of my rant against the biggest french channel is in no way a sarcastic representation of what I think gets some attention from many people lurking around here just to keep people with me as I complain about TF1.