The Club Dorothée was a hugely popular French morning and afternoon kids show that, for many people of the generation that watched it, came to be fondly associated with The '90s, and remains a heavy hitter in many a French nostalgia-driven work or event about the era. It aired on the TF1 channel from 1987 to 1997.
It was essentially a variety show that combined games for children, edutainment, concerts, music videos, comedic skits and broadcasting of animated and live-action series, and was hosted by the eponymous Dorothée (stage name of Frédérique Hoschedé, born July 14, 1953), who built up a gigantic network of ancillary co-stars, music bands, gags, sets etc. She previously hosted some kids shows on Antenne 2 in The '80s with much success, but none was as big as this one would become. The show also launched the careers of quite a few French acting and show business personalities.
For better or worse, this show introduced France to a number of anime and tokusatsu series — French audiences got their first taste of Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Super Sentai and countless others there. Anime were already broadcast on French TV in The '80s, but not on such a massive scale. It did not go without some infamous Animation Age Ghetto controversies that involved a fair share of Cultural Posturing on the detractors' part, and the dubs and French songs left a lot to be desired, but undeniably contributed to shape France's modern appetite for anime and manga.
The show was a product of impresario Jean-Luc Azoulay's AB Productions. Azoulay (under the pseudonym "Jean-François Porry") was also the showrunner of AB Productions' numerous sitcoms/soap operas, a significant number of which were broadcast in the Club Dorothée, forming a Shared Universe of its own. He also contributed to the writing of the French opening songs of many of the Anime and Toku series in it.
The Club Dorothée ended when TF1 severed its association with Azoulay and AB Productions in some still unexplained circumstances in 1997, and also because its audience ratings started to dwindle due to increasingly competitive shows such as Les Minikeums on France 3. Nowadays, the show's legacy lives on in the IDF1 channel, co-founded and co-owned by Azoulay and available on the Télévision Numérique Terrestre broadcasting system.
An official YouTube channel, Génération Club Do
, has uploaded hours of restored footage of the show, music clips, homages from people of that generation as well as some animes that have fallen into Public Domain.
Series that were broadcast in the original show (with their French titles):
- The Adventures of Christopher Columbus (premiered there on Christmas Day 1992)
- Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari (as Les Quatre Filles du docteur March, the 1981 version as well)
- Ai Shite Night (as Lucile, amour et rock'nroll)
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (JP) (as Alice au Pays des Merveilles)
- Astro Boy (as Astro le petit robot)
- Attack No. 1 (as Les Attaquantes)
- Attacker You! (as Jeanne et Serge)
- Candy♡Candy (as Candy)
- Captain Future (as Capitain Flam)
- Captain Tsubasa (as Olive et Tom)
- City Hunter (as Nicky Larson)
- Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel (as Creamy, merveilleuse Creamy)
- Cutie Honey (1973-74 TV series, as Cherry Miel)
- Dear Brother (as Très cher frère)
- Dragon Ball
- Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai (1991-1992 series, as Fly)
- Doctor Slump
- Esper Mami (as Malicieuse Kiki)
- Fist of the North Star (as Ken le Survivant)
- Galaxy Express 999
- Georgie!
- Hai Step Jun (as Vas-y Julie!)
- High School Kimengumi (as Le collège fou, fou, fou)
- Kimagure Orange Road (as Max et Compagnie)
- Kinnikuman (as Muscleman)
- Magical Princess Minky Momo (as Gigi)
- Mahou no Mako-chan (as Makko)
- Maison Ikkoku (as Juliette je t'aime)
- Majokko Meg-chan (as Meg)
- Majokko Tickle (as Magique Tickle)
- Mashin Hero Wataru (as Adrien le sauveur du monde)
- Mister Ajikko (as Le Petit Chef)
- Miyuki (as Tommy et Magalie)
- Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (as Nadia, le secret de l'eau bleue)
- Onegai Samiadon (as Sablotin)
- Patlabor
- Ranma ½
- Robotech
- Ronin Warriors (as Les Samouraïs de l'éternel)
- Sailor Moon
- Saint Seiya (as Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque)
- Sally the Witch (1989-91 series, as Sally la petite Sorcière; the original '60s series aired in Quebec, but not France)
- Sherlock Hound (as Sherlock Holmes)
- UFO Robo Grendizer (as Goldorak)
- Urusei Yatsura (as Lamu)
- World Masterpiece Theater:
- My Daddy Long Legs (as Papa Longues Jambes)
- Princess Sarah
- The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island (as Flo et les Robinson suisses)
- Around the World in Eighty Dreams (Les Aventures de Carlos)
- Beverly Hills Teens (as Bécébégé)
- Biker Mice from Mars (as Les Motards de l'Espace)
- Bionic Six (as Les Bioniques)
- Calimero
- Care Bears (1980s) (as Les Bisounours)
- Dennis the Menace (as Denis la Malice)
- Dino-Riders
- Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (as Les Trois Mousquetaires)
- The Fruitties (as Les Fruittis)
- The Get Along Gang (as Les Amichaines)
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (as G.I. Joe)
- Inspector Gadget (as Inspecteur Gadget)
- Jem (as Jem et les Hologrammes)
- The Legend of White Fang (as La Légende de Croc-Blanc)
- The Littles (as Les Minipouss)
- M.A.S.K.
- Les Misérables (1992)
- My Little Pony 'n Friends (as Mon petit Poney)
- Pole Position
- Popples
- Rainbow Brite (as Blondine au pays de l'arc-en-ciel)
- RoboCop: The Animated Series (as RoboCop)
- Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea (as Les Mondes engloutis)
- ThunderCats (1985) (as Cosmocats)
- The Twins of Destiny (as Les Jumeaux du Bout du Monde)
AB Productions sitcoms/soap operas:
American sitcoms:
- Charles in Charge (as Charles s'en charge)
- Diff'rent Strokes (as Arnold et Willy)
- The Facts of Life (as Drôle de vie)
- Family Matters (as La Vie De Famille)
- Family Ties (as Sacrée Famille)
- Harry and the Hendersons (1991-1993 TV series, as Harry et les Henderson)
- I Dream of Jeannie (as Jinny de mes rêves)
- My Two Dads (as Mes Deux Papas)
- Silver Spoons (as Ricky ou la Belle Vie)
- Parker Lewis Can't Lose (as Parker Lewis ne perd jamais)
- Punky Brewster
Tokusatsu:
- Metal Heroes:
- Sekai Ninja Sen Jiraiya (as Giraya)
- Tokkei Winspector (as Winspector)
- Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (as Power Rangers)
- Super Sentai:
- Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman (as Fiveman)
- Choudenshi Bioman (as Bioman)
- Choujin Sentai Jetman (as Jetman)
- Choujuu Sentai Liveman (as Bioman 3: Liveman - Dorothée herself made a cameo in episode 30, in honor of Club Dorothée's broadcasting of the franchise)
- Choushinsei Flashman (as Flashman)
- Hikari Sentai Maskman (as Bioman 2: Maskman)
- Kousoku Sentai Turboranger (as Turboranger)
- Ultraman
- VR Troopers
Others:
- Baywatch (as Alerte à Malibu)
- Doctor Who (as Docteur Who; only six Tom Baker serials were broadcastnote )
- Eight is Enough (as Huit ça suffit)
- MacGyver (1985)
Tropes:
- Celebrity Star: The late famous hawaiian shirts-wearing singer and Big Fun celebrity Yvan-Chrysostome Dolto a.k.a. Carlos was a sponsor of the show and regularly showed up in it over its ten years of existence. He even had his own animated series, titled Around the World in Eighty Dreams in English, which was broadcast in the show.
- Excited Kids' Show Host: Ariane Carletti, who was possibly also the Manic Pixie Dream Girl for many.
- Gag Nose: Dorothée was famously drawn in cartoon form with a huge long pointy nose all the way back to her show on Antenne 2 in the 1980s, by the late cartoonist Cabu. It became a trademark of her, featured in many of her album artwork, animated segments, etc. While there were jokes about her nose, she was always treated positively and as attractive in those cartoons.
- Genki Girl: Ariane Carletti was a living, Excited Kids' Show Host version.
- Saturday Morning Kids’ Show: It did air on Saturday mornings... as well as every morning in the week bar Sunday, and every afternoon bar Saturday and Sunday.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: Happened all the time to Japanese and American cartoons that got broadcast in the show. The opening songs for them were sung by people from the show, most (in)famously Bernard Minet and Ariane Carletti a.k.a. Ariane, one of Dorothée's five regular co-hosts. Although, for some of the anime series listed above (such as Captain Tsubasa, Attacker You, or Creamy Mami), the alternative openings were not made by this show, because these anime originally aired on La Cinq, a now defunct channel which also had its own alternative theme songs for anime series.
- Bowdlerise: Violence (including verbal) was heavily censored in the series displaying it. Especially after many parents complained about the likes of Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball Z. Some of the bowdlerising was done at the request of the dubbing actors themselves, who refused to work if a number of dialogues were not heavily changed.
- Dub Name Change: A number of anime series broadcast in the show had their characters' Japanese names turned into French names, specially those that took place in fairly normal urban settings, for fear of the Japanese names being too confusing for young French viewers. Which ran directly into Thinly-Veiled Dub Country Change territory.
- Inconsistent Dub: Notorious victims of this, sometimes giving the impression that the dubbing actors only had a vague idea of what was going on, let alone having adequate translation work done for them. Or just plain bowdlerising due to aversion to violence in some cases.
- Magical Girl: All the classic/older ones were to be found there, Sailor Moon being of course the most popular.
- Thinly-Veiled Dub Country Change: Along with the name changes, the dialogue was also rewritten to imply those anime were set in France, despite the very Japanese look of the environment. An infamous example is Ai Shite Night, which namedrops many parts of Paris (such as the Bercy concert complex) in a painfully obvious Tokyoite landscape.
