Season 16 • Episode 25
LatestApostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.
Direction
Pivot's surgical interviewing—sharp, warm, relentless.
Production
Live TV tension: unscripted literary drama, real-time.
Creator
Bernard Pivot
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Pivot's famous 'Proust Questionnaire'—later adopted by Vanity Fair—was born here, becoming a global celebrity interview staple.
The legendary 1990 finale had Pivot asking himself his own questionnaire, ending 15 years without ever revealing his own answers before.
FR
