''Samantha oups!'' is a French

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

series that was broadcast on

France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

from 2004 to 2007. The series deals with the life of a blonde young woman, Samantha Lo, and her brunette friend, Chantal Matieu. As part of the comedic nature of the series, the roles are played by men, with Jean du Jardins (credited as "Doudi") playing Samantha, and Guillaume Carcaud ("Pepess") starring as Chantal; Carcaud also plays various minor male and female roles in the show.

Format

The series is presented in a "shortcom" (short

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

) format, with each episode generally running for approximately 5 minutes each. Early episodes in the series featured Samantha and Chantal attempting various activities or careers, with varying, comedic results; these most-often feature Samantha in many aspects of a given subject or career—for example, in an episode focused on a supermarket, Samantha is portrayed as a shopper, a stockperson and a cashier; another example, which featured Samantha in court, portrayed her as a judge, a stenographer, an attorney, a plaintiff, a defendant and a spectator. Many of these episodes were taped in and around

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, with some episodes shot on location in other parts of France. The series also featured a 12-part episode, which featured Samantha and Chantal on vacation in

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech (; , ) is the fourth-largest city in Morocco. It is one of the four imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakesh–Safi Regions of Morocco, region. The city lies west of the foothills of the Atlas Mounta ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

over

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

and Réveillon. Samantha also has a

crush Crush may refer to: * Infatuation or limerence, the romantic attraction to another person * Puppy love, feelings of love, romance, or infatuation felt by young people Crush may also refer to: Film * Crush (1972 film), ''Crush'' (1972 film), a H ...

on notable television host Jean-Luc Delarue; in one episode, Samantha and Chantal break into a TV studio in an attempt to meet Delarue face-to-face. The show's final season (2006-2007) take place in Samantha's cottage ("gîte"), which her aunt, "Grande Tata Lo", has owned. Following the introduction of the gîte format, recurring characters were added, which bend towards the absurd—featured characters, all played by other actors, include Simon, the troubled writer; Annabelle, the awkward businesswoman; Baul, the postman who reads other people's mail; hunters Gontrand and Ademar; and Daniel, a professor. The gîte episodes also included special guests, either playing themselves or other characters—notable guests included Stéphane Bern, Olivier Minne and Jean-Marc Morandini.

Production

The series was in production from 2004 to 2007; production ended when Strajmayster announced that a film based on the series is being produced. However, since the close of production of the series, no film was made, and Strajmayster and Carcaud have since moved on to other series. The series was produced with funding from the CNC.

Broadcast

The series was first broadcast on France 2 from 2004 to 2007 in two-episode blocks weekdays at 7:50PM, before France 2's evening 8PM newscast, ''Journal de 20 heures''; the series is still broadcast in repeats on France 4, Game One and Canal J, often seen in three-episode blocks. The series also was seen in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

on Club RTL, and in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Vrak.TV Vrak (stylized as VRΔK) was a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcast live-action programming aimed at 13-to-35 age group audiences. Launched in 1988 as Le Canal Fa ...

(where it is broadcast as ''Samantha''). Franco-Belgian broadcaster

RTBF The ("Belgian Radio-television of the French Community"), shortened to RTBF (branded as rtbf.be), is a public broadcasting, public service broadcaster for the French Community of Belgium, French-speaking Community of Belgium. Its counterpart i ...

holds Region 2 DVD distribution rights in Belgium. In Canada (Region 1), DVD releases are distributed through DEP Distribution.

Cast

* David Strajmayster ("Doudi"): Samantha Lo * Guillaume Carcaud ("Pepess"): Chantal Matieu; miscellaneous characters

Supporting cast

''Added after the introduction of the "gîte" format'' * Vincent Jaspard: Le Maire (The Mayor) * Julien Cafaro: Baul * Marie-Laure Descoureaux: Annabelle Delarinatonière * Philippe Spiteri: Simon Quewa * Philippe Vieux: Gontrand * Eric Bougnon: Adémar * Pierre-Yves le Louarn: Daniel * Solange Milhaud: Consuella * Lee Delong: Aniesca

Accolades

References

External links

* (via archive.org)
Site officiel sur ''Hypnoweb''

Site officiel sur ''France 2''

Site officiel sur ''France 4''

Site officiel sur ''Vrak.tv''
* {{Authority control 2004 French television series debuts 2007 French television series endings France Télévisions television comedy French television sketch shows Cross-dressing in television