TV ratings: "Zorro" cuts the competition at the tip of his sword

 

Monday, December 23, the new France 2 series with Jean Dujardin was widely won.

Le Parisien

By Stéphanie Guerrin

December 24, 2024

A character who still has a lot under his feet. France 2 launched its series "Zorro" on Monday, December 23, with the title role played by Jean Dujardin. The first episode attracted 3.88 million viewers, or 19.8% of the audience watching television, according to Médiamétrie. The second was watched by 3.23 million people (17.8% audience share).

However, this good start is still less powerful than the fiction "Hors limites" starring Laurent Gerra, scheduled a week earlier (4.22 million for 21.6% of the audience share). It should be noted that "Zorro" was first released on the Paramount+ platform, where it was available since September 6.

Zorro on France 2: what is the series with Jean Dujardin worth? [review]

Premier

by Jonathan Blanchet

12/23/2024

The masked horseman is reinvented in the guise of Jean Dujardin, in a comic and epic version modelled on the spirit of Michel Hazanavicius' OSS 117 with the same Dujardin. The guarantee of getting a Zorro voucher?

Jean Dujardin under the mask of Zorro, the idea has been in people's minds for a while. The fault, or thanks to season 2 of Platane, which saw the arrival of the actor with the famous black moustache. Éric Judor's prophecy almost becomes reality with this new serial version of the adventures of the masked vigilante.

Benjamin Charbit (Gagarin) and Noé Debré (Parliament) have chosen to remove all the pulp paraphernalia at the risk of making purists howl. Their Zorro seems to be an epigone of Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, but in a corded hat, helped by the personality and ironic acting of its headliner.

Like what Michel Hazanavicius and Jean-François Halin did with the spy of OSS 117, this Zorro is a pure recreation, a clever reinvention. The duo of authors makes him a weary vigilante who has put away the mask for twenty years, but who has been filled with pride and self-importance by the nocturnal cavalcades. His accession to the seat of mayor of Los Angeles and the irruption of a crooked notable in the city will force him to return to service.

Summoning Halin as well as Monty Python, Dujardin's version of Zorro assumes the references, shows the same absurd humor as in the OSS 117 saga, sometimes even verges on vaudeville...

The whole thing doesn't always keep up with the pace: the fiction lets itself be overwhelmed by the gauloiries and the mechanics sometimes go round in circles in a story dominated by the love triangle that unites Don Diego, his wife and the masked vigilante. But, once the reading grid is accepted, this new serialized iteration shows all the sense of epic that one could expect from it. It even enriches the commonly accepted vision of the cunning fox, especially in his fight against his double, not necessarily without fear or reproach.

The same goes for other iconic characters, led by Sergeant Garcia, who is eternally obsessed with his opponent. Here he turns into a washed-out profiler who has been depressed by the hunt for the enemy. Embodied by Grégory Gadebois above the fray, he almost eclipses the figure of the hero.

After its release on Paramount+, Zorro is broadcast on France 2 from this Monday, December 23. The 8 episodes are already available on the France Television’s website.