These US series are bigger in France

19/08/2020

French TV is loaded with series that come straight from the United States, and some are met with much greater enthusiasm than in their homeland. Here are 6 examples.

John Doe
John Doe

The broadcast of the series starring Dominic Purcell on French broadcaster M6 was a real trauma for French viewers, with its final cliff-hanger and cancellation after just one season. John Doe did not prove successful in the United States but left its mark on the beginning of the 2000s in France. While there were fewer viewers, the phenomenon was greater in that country.

Forever (2014)
Forever

While the first episode of the series starring Ioan Gruffudd gathered more than 8 million viewers in the United States, the rest of the one and only season quickly fell to 4 million onlookers. On French broadcaster TF1, Forever gathered an average of 5.7 million viewers, versus 4.9 million in the United States.

Unforgettable
Unforgettable

Poppy Montgomery is an American actress who is well loved in France, and her shows are always met with some nice success. This was particularly the case with Unforgettable, canceled in the United States after a single season, then saved several times, to finally get 4 seasons to offer. But audiences have never been significant, whereas in France, it has enabled TF1 to lead the audiences on many occasions. A great performance.

Reef Break
Reef Break

Speaking of Poppy Montgomery, she has been back in France for summer 2020. While the series struggled to exceed 2 million viewers in the US, with an average of 1.9 million viewers for its 13 episodes, in France Reef Break greatly exceeds them. The launch in early July even attracted no less than 3.4 million viewers.


Lethal Weapon
Lethal Weapon

In 2017, Lethal Weapon was the most watched foreign series in France, with an average of 5.8 million viewers when it was broadcast as a primetime show on TF1. In the United States, it was also quite successful, with 6.54 million on average, but the big difference is that it did not appear in the top 10 of the most watched shows of the same year.

Riverdale
Riverdale

Lastly, the teen series of which season 5 is due to be released in January 2021 is a great success in France, on Netflix. While its audiences are low on CW in the United States, with for instance an average of 733,000 fans for season 4, it is widely watched on the French Netflix platform. In 2018, it gathered 18 million views according to the NPA Harris Interactive study and got into the top 5 of the most watched tv series on SVOD.

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