Arts
TFO show about wacky news station wrapping up final season after four years.
French TV series wrapping up production
Winter 2009 |
Météo+, the made-in-Sudbury French television series, is preparing to celebrate the wrap of its fourth and final season. Produced by Les Productions R. Charbonneau inc. and Carte Blanche Films Inc., the series is the first Franco-Ontarian sitcom of its kind. Having begun production in the fall of 2007 with a budget of $17 million, a total of 58 half-hour episodes have been produced over the span of two years. Filming took place in 14 northern cities and 31 locations throughout Sudbury. During its four seasons, the northern series has contributed to the community by locally hiring a total of 77 crew members, 544 extras and 10 actors. Each season, 27 local businesses were also contracted. Some of the show's major investors include the Canadian Television Fund, Telefilm Canada and the Ontario Media Development Corporation. The first episode of Météo+ aired in February 2008 on TFO, TV Ontario's French language network. Season three is currently broadcast every Thursday night, at 8 pm on TFO, Channel 7. Robert Marinier, a graduate of École Secondaire Macdonald-Cartier, co-writes the series with Luc Thériault. Météo+ tells the story of a man from Sherbrooke, Que., who, after an ugly divorce, exiles himself to Sudbury. He begins a new life by accepting a position as the head of a local news station. However, this reasonable man's wits are soon put to the test when he discovers he has been hired to run a local weather station with a band of oddball characters. "We do not want to look at the completion of this project as the end, but rather as the beginning of what is yet to come," says executive producer Tracy Legault, in a news release. "This series is truly something the Francophone communities of Northern Ontario can feel proud of. It is rare for a regional production to acquire funding to produce a series of this caliber. Météo+ is a success story based on the community that contributed to making it."
