The actors of the series "Hélène et les frères ", in 1993. - SUREAU / TF1 / SIPA

  • This Wednesday, TMC broadcasts at 9:15 p.m., "Dorothée, Hélène and the boys: Generation AB Productions", a documentary that returns to the television phenomenon of the 1990s.
  • These sitcoms, broadcast on TF1, stood out for their light intrigue and colorful decor.
  • Nostalgic thirties created the site Sitcomologie ten years ago which "analyzes these sitcoms from a social angle".

Love cricri, Monsieur Girard, Madame Eugénie… If you grew up near a television set in France in the 1990s, these names are familiar to you. These characters evolved in Hélène and the boys , First kisses or Honey and bees , among other AB sitcoms that made the heyday and beautiful audiences of TF1 more than twenty years ago. This Wednesday, a documentary broadcast at 9:15 p.m. on TMC, Dorothée, Hélène and the boys: Génération AB productions , retraces the phenomenal success of these light fictions in sweet settings. Marie, 36 years old from Toulouse, co-creator of the Sitcomologie site, gives 20 Minutes her light on these cult series.

Does “Generation AB” really exist?

Yes, there are quite a few 30s to be nostalgic. Generation AB is the one who grew up with Le club Dorothée , who followed the sitcoms, who has a little bit of resentment towards Ségolène Royale [wrongly judged responsible for stopping Club Dorothée ], who watches Dragon Ball Z with dubbing of the time…

This is the generation you are talking to. How would you define "sitcomology"?

It is the analysis of sitcoms from a social angle. I created the site with my companion. We met on the forum of an ex-actor AB. I was a filmology student and we realized by watching sitcoms that we were doing a little bit of analysis. We decided to create sitcomology and rally other members of the forum around us.

"Hélène and the boys", "The girls next door", "First Kisses", etc. do they say something about France in the 1990s?

They do not really reflect the 1990s but a colorful universe used in the 1990s to feel better. It was sort of a bubble. Jean-Luc Azoulay [the producer and screenwriter] did not want to bore the public at all with the sad reality of the time. These were very dark years, AB fictions brought a touch of color. This is still the case today. There is the ecological crisis, the economic situation… and I think that if AB sitcoms are still watched [on the AB1 channel, in particular], that's also why.

"AB and class struggle", "Psychedelia according to AB" ... You have different degrees of reading.

Yes, there is the basic degree - we comment on the action -, the second degree where we will see the innuendo, essentially sexual, and the third where we begin to analyze. For example, consumption of drinks. In the AB universe, going back up, it is mint with water, which replaces whiskey. These are the kinds of things we try to scrutinize.

What is the most surprising finding?

Foot fetishism. It sounds surprising but once we realize it, we realize that it is recurrent in the AB series: bare feet, foot massages, men who varnish feet, who are a bit submissive to women. At the time we didn't realize it.

There is an episode of "Helene and the boys" with a cult aura, the one in which Helene takes drugs ...

Azoulay had been widely criticized for not addressing issues such as AIDS, drugs. So he told himself that he was going to do everything at the same time and that he was going to drug Hélène. But it was really terrible. It is an episode in which she is completely smashed because a music producer - otherwise HIV positive - drugged her and made her eat a space cake without her knowledge. It was censored at the time, because it was too much.

AB sitcoms sometimes tackled serious subjects, such as rape, with a lightness that seems unimaginable today ...

Yes, it would be an uproar. Especially since when there is a rape in the AB series, generally, there is an episode to say that the girl had looked for it well, that she should not have walked alone with boys like that or have such behavior. We had made an assembly on it which had been striked by AB.

How is your work perceived on the AB side?

Reactions are very varied among comedians. There are some that amuse a lot, like Fabien Remblier [Jérôme in Premiers Baisers ], others who were a little upset. It seems that Bernard Minet [one of the Musclés] was exasperated because we had commented on one of his concerts and that it was not to his advantage. Azoulay loves him very much. He finds that we are his biggest fans and that we have analyzed his sexuality very well. We are reassured about this.

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