The Best TV Shows on ORTF Télévision

L’Agence O is a famous Parisian private detective firm. Its premises are located in the Passage Choiseul. In front, Torrence leads the shop. In fact, the agency's team is complemented by Émilie le Roux, Mademoiselle Berthe and Barbet, who scrutinize clients through a one-way mirror located behind the desk. Getting hold of a man disguised as an old lady, solving the mystery of the Prisoner of Lagny or discovering who is blackmailing the painter Tigrane Alban does not worry the experts at the O Agency. Les Dossiers de l’Agence O is a French-Canadian television series in thirteen episodes of approximately 55 minutes created by Marc Simenon and broadcast first in Quebec from December 14, 1967 to March 13, 1968 on Télévision de Radio-Canada, then in France from March 11 to June 3, 1968 on the first channel of the ORTF.

Shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, Robinson Crusoe fills his time in either building a shelter for himself, or by reminiscing about the years he spent at sea and the adventures that led him to where he is. The months roll by and the hardships become easier, especially with his herd of wild goats, the ship's dog and a friendly parrot to keep him company. But one day he comes across a strange footprint - friend or foe?

Le Grand Échiquier is a French variety television program created and presented by Jacques Chancel. It aired at 8:30 pm on the first channel of the ORTF from January 12, 1972 to July 12, 1972, then on the second color channel of the ORTF from September 1972 to December 1974, and finally on Antenne 2 from January 1975 to December 21, 1989. The program returned to France 2 on December 20, 2018 and is hosted by Anne-Sophie Lapix.

Based on the memoirs of Eugène-François Vidocq, this series follows the adventures of this former convict turned policeman in the early 19th century. In these new adventures, Vidocq comes up against a ravishing “baronne”, a formidable gang leader. The cases entrusted to Vidocq are not only police affairs, but also delicate, political and even diplomatic affairs.

Arsène Lupin is a French TV show which was co-produced with German, Canadian, Belgian, Dutch, Swiss, Italian and Austrian TV stations. It was only loosely based on Maurice Leblancs novels. Georges Descrières' portrayal of Arsène Lupin showed more similarity to Graf Yoster than to Maurice Leblanc's original. He behaved in the first place as a perfect gentleman who never got angry. He was always relaxed, because whatever could possibly had bothered him in daily life was taken care of by his butler. It wasn't questioned how he had come to his financial independence although the series sometimes discreetly implied that he was a professional criminal. Besides rescuing damsels in distress Lupin took on criminals, competing with their wit and intelligence. Either he stole paintings from rich people who had to be considered white-collar criminals or he acted as a detective who derailed criminal schemes. However, when he was attacked, he could defend himself effortlessly by using elegant jujutsu methods. Among the guest stars were German actors such as Günter Strack and Sky du Mont. Jean-Paul Salomé said in his commentary on the DVD version of his film Arsène Lupin he had like this series as a child. German TV, one the investors, would broadcast the show eventually between 18:00-20:00 o'clock because it was only allowed to show commercials within that very timeslot. For them to get a financial return on investment the show had to be appropriate for families and also for children who would watch it alone. Subsequently it was nearby to ask to defuse and flatten some of Leblanc's plots in order to avoid possible complaints that could force the station to broadcast the show beyond the "Vorabendprogramm".

In this mini-series in six parts from 1976 the Indian actor Kabir Bedi plays the lead role. Carol Andre plays Lady Marianna Guillonk and as Sandokans best friend Yanez de Gomera we see Phillipe Leroy. The noble prince Sandokan is a fighter of the first rank who are cruel to their enemies, but always loyal to his friends.

Les Shadoks is an animated television series created by French cartoonist Jacques Rouxel which caused a sensation in France when it was first broadcast in 1968-1974. The Shadoks were bird-like in appearance, were characterised by ruthlessness and stupidity and inhabited a two dimensional planet. Another set of creatures in the Shadok canon are the Gibis, who are the opposite to the Shadoks in that they are intelligent but vulnerable and also inhabit a two-dimensional planet. Rouxel claims that the term Shadok obtains some derivation from Captain Haddock of Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin and the Gibis are essentially GBs. The Shadoks were a significant literary, cultural and philosophical phenomenon in France. Even today, the French occasionally use satirical comparisons with the Shadoks for policies and attitudes that they consider absurd. The Shadoks were noted for mottos such as: ⁕"Why do it the easy way when you can do it the hard way?" ⁕"When one tries continuously, one ends up succeeding. Thus, the more one fails, the greater the chance that it will work."

The adventures of Barbapapa and Barbama and their seven children, where they search for their place in the world, while helping humans and animals.

Four episodes chronicle a mysterious phantom who appears in the Musée du Louvre in Paris at night. Neither guards nor police are able to make an arrest. But a curious young man tries to break the ice and discover what drives the creature and its activities.

At Theater tonight is a TV show broadcasted from 25th August 1966 to 21st September 1985. The show is broadcast plays recorded in two or three days, during public performances at the Théâtre Marigny on the Champs-Élysées, or sometimes Edouard VII theater.

During the American Civil War, five prisoners of war manage to escape in a balloon. They are driven far across the sea to an unknown island, far from civilization. The legendary captain Nemo (world star Omar Sharif), who is trapped in a huge underground cave with his submarine Nautilus, watches the group. When the stranded people are discovered by pirates, Nemo helps them with a host of his super technology...

From Bonaparte to Casanova, history is cast in the light of famous escapes from various European countries.

Les Cinq Dernieres Minutes is a crime based French television series

Les Cent Livres des Hommes (ORTF, 1969-1973) was a series of literary programs created by Claude Santelli and Françoise Verny, and produced notably by Santelli, Jean Archimbaud, and Serge Moati. Planned for one hundred episodes but completed at thirty-nine, the series aimed to introduce great literary works, 'chefs-d’œuvre', to a younger audience through a mix of dramatization, reading, and documentary techniques. It marked a transfer of cultural legitimacy from writers and critics to a generation of television producers, offering a new model of educational and creative literary broadcasting - 'télévision d’auteur'.