Variable level, commercial breaks every 20 minutes, original performances… What to remember from the premiere of “Star Academy” 2023

Saturday night, “Star Academy” made his return to TF1. Due to the risk of an attack, the telehook was not live. However, the evening had been settled like clockwork. Thus, David Guetta did the opening show with the four finalists from the previous edition, Anisha, Louis, Enola and Léa. Nikos Aliagas then welcomed the teachers of this 11th season. Finally, the thirteen students performed on stage for the first time. Axel, Lénie, Candice, Marie-Maud and Julien solo, Pierre and Héléna, Djebril and Clara, Louis and Margot, Victorien and Lola as a duo.

Variable level

Like all promotions, the level of candidates varies greatly. No matter, they are all here to learn. “For a first performance, it’s of a very high level”commented Michael Goldman in particular after Axel’s interpretation of World is stone by Fabienne Thibeault or: “There is obviously still work to do”about Candice who had taken over Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys.

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Original services

For this premiere, the production opted for a rather original scenography. For example, Marie-Maud found herself singing Last Dance of Indila… hair in her face because of huge fans placed all around her and the d dancers who accompanied her. Victorien and Lola then performed Girls today by Vianney and Joyce Jonathan on a round and rotating structure. Throughout the song, they seemed to be looking at each other and knowing which camera to look at. “It’s not that simple because you need a great sense of balancecommented Malika Benjelloun, dance teacher. Managing this technical prowess and managing the singing, I say bravo.”

Giant screen broken

Also new this year, a giant screen now overlooks the stage. Except that it had a breakdown last night. She appeared during the page of Lola and Victorien where half of the digital setting became black. Forcing the management to change the camera shots so that the incident goes unnoticed. The incident repeated a few minutes later when Nikos Aliagas welcomed Karima Charni.

Advertising page every twenty minutes

Like last year, the evening was punctuated by numerous advertising breaks. Five in total, approximately every twenty minutes. What particularly annoys viewers who did not hesitate to express their dissatisfaction with X from the start of the show. And for good reason, the first page of advertising came twelve minutes after the start of the program. Obviously, Nikos Aliagas was aware of this because he declared: “It’s less than a minute, it’s really less than a minute”.

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Audiences down

It is certainly for this reason that audiences suffer. In fact, 3.8 million viewers, or 18.7% audience share, were watching “Star Academy” on Saturday evening. A score far from disappointing or even very satisfactory although TF1 comes behind France 2. But in comparison, the previous editionlaunched on October 15, 2022, brought together 4.8 million curious people, or 24.9% of the public.