Normally when a someone in the world of gameshows die we’ve often mentioned it and put a tribute video up. We’ve never met these people, we try not to be too mawkish.
Fuck that. Tonight I’m crying proper tears.
Jacques Antoine represented everything that is brilliant about the genre and was absolutely the number one influence for me in terms of the sorts of shows I want to see made. Why be so limiting to a studio when you can have a massive castle, or you can be chased by a shrieking man, or you could go anywhere in the world. Antoine was responsible for shows that people didn’t just like but really loved and left an impression.
I can’t find a full upload (I do have it, I will try and put it up over the weekend somewhere) of the first episode of Les Cles de Fort Boyard so right now this will have to do, it’s an episode from the very first series with a Polish voiceover:
There is also this interesting video here made in 2009:
I will try and put together a slightly fuller career retrospective over the weekend, including lots of his old studio shows he created from the 70s and 80s.
Cardiac arrest by the sounds of it: http://www.leparisien.fr/tv/mort-de-jacques-antoine-le-createur-du-schmilblick-et-de-fort-boyard-14-09-2012-2165095.php
In the meantime, we have already written quite a lot on shows from the Antoine stable on the Specials Board: https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=5 – here are some of the highlights:
Fort Boyard retrospective, written almost ten years ago: https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=590
La Piste du Xapatan: https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=978
Drole de Couple (you may read more about this over the weekend, as it’s effectively a reworking of a very popular 70s show called Les Tete et Les Jambes (The Head and The Legs) as it turns out): https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=748
And shows that have from Adventure Line that he’d have influenced even if he didn’t create:
Les Forges du Desert: https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=1249
La Carte aux Tresors, a sequel of sorts to Chasse aux Tresors: https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=744
Mission: Pirattak https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=756
Les Mondes Fantastiques – just as Crystal Maze was a reworking of Fort Boyard, Mondes Fantastiques is a clear reworking of The Crystal Maze https://www.bothersbar.co.uk/?page_id=752
He was a prolific format creator especially from the 60s to the 90s, I hope to be able to share some of his more famous shows with you in some capacity over the weekend.
A great loss to our industry and to the world, while he may be remembered in name by only a few, he will be remembered by deed by millions.
To him I owe my love of the genre and of game shows in general. I certainly owe my minor success in formats to him and the programmes he created. Essentially he not only fostered in me the dream to create epic adventures, he also proved it was possible.
A great loss. Created some of my favourite shows.
Absolutely agree with everything said above (didn’t realise I did until I read it) and it’s surprising considering his influence here that there doesn’t seem to be a single English language news article reporting his death.
If Jacques Antoine was really eighty-eight years old at the time of his death, that gives all of us who are looking forward with trepidation to our upcoming “golden years” some hope.
M. Antoine would have been around sixty when “Treasure Hunt” premiered over there. He’d have been sixty-four when “Interceptor” entered the scene. And he’d have been approaching his sixty=sixth birthday when both “(Les Cles de) Fort Boyard” and “The Crystal Maze” screened for the first time.
I don’t know what he did as a younger man, but his accomplishments as a man approaching “la tercere edad” (as it is said by some around these parts) speak for themselves.
Just goes to show you: there’s many a good tune left in an old violin!
A bit vulgar I know but it’ll be interesting to see how much he was worth in the end – I’d like to think he became a very wealthy man over the years thanks to the television he made.