Zappe! Zappeur (partially found French children's puppet show block; 1987)

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Zappe zappeur.jpg

Zappeur, in front of the record art.

Status: Lost


Zappe! Zappeur was a kid show block, featuring puppets, that aired on French channel TF1, on Sundays, from 9:00 am to 10:00 am, from January 11th to August 30th of the year 1987.

It was created by Christophe Izard, who was also the author of many popular puppet kid show blocks on French TV in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Premise

Zappeur and Gridby

The main character of the show was an anthropomorphic dog called Zappeur (his name comes from the French verb/term "zapper", which means to quickly flick through TV channels; it was a trendy term in 1980s France when TV remotes became more common). He wears green pajamas, slippers and is constantly lazily sitting at his armchair, flicking through channels.

Annoyed Zappeur (possibly at Gridby)

Every time he stops at a channel, it cuts either to a cartoon episode or a short skit with live actors, parodying mainstream TV.

Each part hardly lasts more than ten minutes, as Zappeur has a short attention span with his remote control and so he "zaps".

Zappeur lives in his home with an anthropomorphic rat called Gridby, who usually annoys him by eating his food from the fridge or forcing him to change to another channel. Zappeur is however too lazy/addicted to his TV to get more pro-active.

Each Zappe! Zappeur show would usually end with Zappeur's television set exploding in smoke, due to him changing channels too much, too fast.

Legacy

A few image stills of the show (courtesy of planete-jeunesse.com).

While Zappe! Zappeur had its fans who still have good memories of it, it is one of the most forgotten French nostalgic kid show blocks from the 1980s.

And for a good reason: absolutely no footage has ever resurfaced on the Internet.

Some "nostalgia" websites have image stills from the show, but it is unknown if the people who uploaded them actually have - or still have - a copy of the footage. Some forum users alluded to them having VHS recordings, but they have yet to make them public.

Zappe! Zappeur was soon followed on TF1 by Club Dorothée, which has become one of the most popular French kid show blocks ever, further overshadowing its predecessor.

The only media that has resurfaced online is the opening theme song that was sold on a record.

Cartoons aired

  • Antivol
  • Buzuck (also a rare show)
  • Calimero (1972 Italian animated series)
  • Coloquinte et Potiron (also a rare show)
  • Dodu Dodo (also a rare show)
  • Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines (as Satanas et Diabolo)
  • James Hound
  • La Maison de Toutou (aka Hector's House)
  • La Noiraude
  • Simon le Petit Démon (also a rare show)
  • Wally Gator
  • Wonder Wheels (as Super Bécane)

Theme song

Theme song of the show, from a record.

External links