TF! Jeunesse TF! Jeunesse first appeared on Monday, September 1, 1997 on
TF1, replacing Club Dorothée after 10 years, with the first episode of
Beetleborgs. TF! Jeunesse was created by Dominique Poussier, the director of children's television for
TF1. It was wanted that this new show would distance itself from its predecessor, whose shows had often been accused by parents and the
Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel of being too violent, thus
animes disappeared, replaced by a majority of French productions. Poussier had previously created the morning program
Salut les Toons, which was presented by two
CGI-generated mice, in 1996, and aired until 2000. It was given the difficult task of revitalizing children's programming on TF1, whose ratings had been in decline thanks to the popularity of
Les Minikeums on
France 3. At the time of
La Planète de Donkey Kong on
France 2, Poussier suggested a program without animation and presenters using the same model in the UK from
ITV's
CITV. Childish voices chant the show's title: “T. F. Ouais !”, and an adult voice was the voice-over of the show (
Bruno Choël, the French dub voice for
Johnny Depp in
Pirates of the Caribbean and
Ewan McGregor in
Star Wars). Unlike its predecessor, TF! and TFOU are produced internally under its
Protécréa unit.
The Pokémon Phenomenon In addition to new European programs, TF1 can rely on agreements with
Nickelodeon (broadcasting
Hey Arnold!) or the new Power Rangers series, known in France since 1993. But it is with the arrival of Pokémon in 2000, that the channel could find audiences equal to those of
Club Dorothée. Surfing on this wave, Digimon quickly appears. Suppose several series follow one another without making an impression. In that case, a few programs with audiences also appear (
Franklin,
Jimmy Neutron,
Totally Spies!,
Sonic Underground) and allow the channel to bounce back and resist
Yu-Gi-Oh! and
Sakura which aired on
M6. While
Pokémon was acquired by
Gulli in 2006, TF1 stayed a DVD distributor of the series. Pokémon had rebroadcasts on TF1 from 2009 to 2011, and nowadays, TFOU MAX has seasons of the series.
TFOU: Expansion on the Internet and as a TV channel After creating tfou.fr, TF1's first children's website, in 2000, a TFOU TV channel was launched to strengthen the youth offering of
TPS satellite package, of which Groupe TF1 was the main shareholder. TFOU targeted a more aged audience. TFOU was launched on 23 April 2003 without a license from the
CSA, so it stopped broadcasting before resuming on May 28, 2003 after being approved. The TF! programming block was rebranded as TFOU on 1 January 2007. On 28 August 2007, TFOU got a rebrand with a new logo, and the channel got renamed TFOU TV. TFOU TV was shut down on 28 February 2008, while a web TV was launched at the time. Its spot was replaced by
Foot School TV.
Changes in scheduling and channels in 2024 From January 8, 2024, TFOU was cut from TF1 on weekdays to be replaced by the new morning show
Bonjour ! hosted by
Bruce Toussaint. During the week, TFOU is broadcast on TF1 from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. then switch to
TFX from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m, and Wednesdays until 9:30 a.m., the move allowing to give TFOU longer broadcasts, like in some
public holidays until noon. On the weekend, TF1 still air cartoons in the same schedule on Saturday from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. == Visual identity ==