The Best TV Shows on ORTF Télévision

Every ORTF Télévision Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Explore our list of the top rated shows up to date from September 2025 that includes over 20 unique series. Reflets de Cannes and Georges Brassens - Elle est à toi cette chanson 1954 à 1979 represent the pinnacle of ORTF Télévision’s programming, launching in 1954 and 1954. ORTF Télévision has delivered an expansive roster of over 20 shows, dating from 1954 all the way to 1976.

  • Les Dossiers de l'Agence O
    Les Dossiers de l'Agence O (1968)10.0

    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.

  • Georges Brassens - Elle est à toi cette chanson 1954 à 1979
    Georges Brassens - Elle est à toi cette chanson 1954 à 1979 (1954)9.0

  • The Investigations of Commissioner Maigret
    The Investigations of Commissioner Maigret (1967)8.6

  • The Life of Leonardo da Vinci
    The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1971)8.4

    La vita di Leonardo da Vinci — in English, The Life of Leonardo da Vinci — is a 1971 Italian television miniseries dramatizing the life of the Italian Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci. The Golden Globe-winning miniseries was directed by Renato Castellani, and produced by RAI and distributed in the United States by CBS, which aired it from August 13, 1972 to September 10, 1972. Castellani wrote the screenplay. It was filmed entirely on location in Italy and France. The total runtime of the five episodes is nearly five hours.

  • Cinépanorama
    Cinépanorama (1956)8.0

  • À bout portant
    À bout portant (1968)8.0

  • Schulmeister, l'espion de l'Empereur
    Schulmeister, l'espion de l'Empereur (1971)8.0

    Schulmeister, l’espion de l’empereur (Schulmeister, the Emperor's Spy) is a French historical adventure television series consisting of 13 episodes (1971–1974), inspired by the real life of Charles Louis Schulmeister, a famous spy in the service of Napoleon I. It alternates between historical facts and fiction, offering a fictionalized portrait of a cunning spy, loyal to Napoleon, and always ready to turn a situation to his advantage.

  • Le Grand Échiquier
    Le Grand Échiquier (1972)8.0

  • Arsène Lupin
    Arsène Lupin (1971)7.7

    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".

  • Barbapapa
    Barbapapa (1974)7.1

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

  • Les Shadoks
    Les Shadoks (1968)7.0

    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."

  • Sandokan
    Sandokan (1976)7.0

    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.

  • Belphegor, or The Phantom of the Louvre
    Belphegor, or The Phantom of the Louvre (1965)6.9

    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 Theatre Tonight
    At Theatre Tonight (1966)6.7

    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.

  • Poly
    Poly (1961)6.5

  • Les Aventures de Tintin, d'après Hergé
    Les Aventures de Tintin, d'après Hergé (1959)6.4

  • Bonne nuit les petits
    Bonne nuit les petits (1962)6.3

  • Midi trente
    Midi trente (1972)6.0

  • Reflets de Cannes
    Reflets de Cannes (1954)2.0

  • Les Cinq Dernières Minutes
    Les Cinq Dernières Minutes (1958)N/A

    Les Cinq Dernieres Minutes is a crime based French television series