Network: Société Radio-Canada (SRC) TV Network
Broadcast Run: 1954 to 1957
Broadcast Medium: Television
The TV series “La famille Plouffe”, inspired by the novel “Les Plouffe” by Roger Lemelin, took over from the radio version and appeared on TV for the first time on the evening of November 4, 1953. This series described the daily lives of a working class family living in the Lower Town of Quebec City.
From 1953 to 1957, Radio-Canada broadcast 194 episodes of “La famille Plouffe”, propelling its actors, alongside the hockey stars and wrestlers of the day, to the status of Quebec’s premier TV celebrities. The general public identified with the joys and suffering, the successes and failures of this working class family, thereby giving rise to its huge infatuation for the program, which led Lemelin to follow up by writing two other series: “En haut de la pente douce” and “Le petit monde de père Gédéon”. In view of the popularity of “La famille Plouffe”, Radio-Canada launched a number of puzzles into the market. An English version, “The Plouffe Family”, was also broadcast. Amongst the principal actors appearing in this series, there was: Paul Guèvremont (Théophile Plouffe), Amanda Alarie (Joséphine Plouffe), Pierre Valcour (Guillaume Plouffe), Jean-Louis Roux (Ovide Plouffe), Émile Genest (Napoléon Plouffe) and Denise Pelletier (Cécile Plouffe).
Written by Yvon Chouinard – January, 2006