"They invented TV": the "audacity" of the ORTF told in a documentary

INTERVIEW

"Today we try less on TV than in the 1960s."

For producer Philippe Thuillier, the ORTF invented everything.

Far from remembering an old-fashioned black and white television, he defends his "audacity" and sees in it a "wind of freedom".

On an idea of ​​the host Thierry Ardisson, he wrote the documentary

, broadcast Friday evening on France 3, which he presented at the microphone of

. 

"It was the ORTF pioneers who made Thierry Ardisson want to do television."

He draws a parallel between the

by ORTF host Philippe Bouvard, who received his guests at the very chic Maxim's in the 1960s, and Thierry Ardisson who, at the end of the 1980s, conducted his interviews in nightclub.

Philippe Thuillier defends the "creative freedom" of the ORTF which, from its foundation in 1964 to its death ten years later, has shaped all of French television. 

"De Gaulle is a TV beast"

It notably marked the time when politicians were just learning to use the television image.

General De Gaulle, founder of the ORTF, would have won the 1965 election in part thanks to an interview in which he appeared "very relaxed", recalls Philippe Thuillier.

"De Gaulle is a TV beast, he invented the little phrase. When television arrives in his world, he discovers that it is a formidable means of communication and makes it his own."

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Under the ORTF are also born a number of broadcasts, whose presenters become the stars of the small screen.

It is the case of Guy Lux, "magnificent inventor", who animates from 1965 to 1968 

, program during which the televiewers could vote for successful songs, interpreted live by young artists unknown to the general public .

A format that is still popular today. 

ORTF, they invented TV