Line #2 Series/LesMinikeums


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minikeums1998.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:The original ''Minikeums'' lineup, 1993-2000.[[note]]from left to right, top to bottom (with the caricatured stars in brackets): Josie (Creator/JosianeBalasko), Zaza (singer Elsa Lunghini), Gégé (Creator/GerardDepardieu), Zidou (soccer player Zinédine Zidane), Bernard (TV host Bernard Pivot), Diva (TV executive Ève Baron), Jojo (Creator/JohnnyHallyday), Vaness (Creator/VanessaParadis), Coco (TV host Antoine De Caunes), Nag (TV host Nagui), M’Cé (rapper MC Solaar)[[/note]]]]
3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minikeums2017_2.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:The revival lineup, 2017-2021.[[note]]from left to right (with the caricatured stars in brackets): Normy (youtuber Norman Thavaud), Riha (Music/{{Rihanna}}), Kéva (comedian/actor Kev Adams), Loulou (singer Louane), Pog (soccer player Paul Pogba)[[/note]]]]
5
6	''Les Minikeums'' was a French [[SaturdayMorningKidsShow morning and afternoon kids show]] with {{puppet\|shows}}s, the first iteration of which started airing in 1993 on the public channel France 3. Some of the puppeteers and the workshop of Alain Duverne (which made the puppets) also worked on [=TF1=]'s ''Series/LeBebeteShow'' and Canal+'s ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo''.
7
8	Its hosts were a cast of wacky characters the likeness and names of which were based on French show business and sport celebrities. They provide comedic skits, parodies of pop culture franchises and full-fledged adventures in short films, as well as songs and music videos, with WorkCom sketches at its core.
9
10	While its rival show from 1993 to 1997, the ''Series/ClubDorothee'', was credited for massively bringing {{anime}}s and {{toku}}satsu in France, this one used to broadcast of some of the finest WesternAnimation series of TheEighties and TheNineties with the likes of some ''Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}'', the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' and more. It also used to broadcast a lot of French and Canadian coproduction animated series (such as ''WesternAnimation/{{The Adventures of Tintin\|1991}}''), as well as a number of animes (basically the most prominent ones that the ''Club Dorothée'' didn't own the rights to, most notably from ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater'', and with a tighter control on violent content than the ''Club Dorothée'').
11
12	The show's first iteration ran from 1993 to 2000. France 3 youth programs head manager Eve Baron then decided, despite great audience ratings, to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork "modernize" the show]] at the TurnOfTheMillennium, renaming it ''MNK'', reducing the lineup to 6 puppets, suppressing the comedic skits and replacing the colorful and {{practical\|effects}} sets with a grey futuristic city background in CGI. Audience ratings predictably plummeted and the show was cancelled in 2002.
13
14	The first iteration of the show is still looked at fondly by many French adults who are nostalgic of their childhood in TheNineties. So much so that special event reruns of it, titled ''Génération Minikeums'', had much success, which led to a {{revival}} of the show in December 2017 on France 4, with a new lineup based on celebrities of TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties. The revival show was {{quietly cancelled}} in 2021 amidst the restructuring of France 4 and the sketches that were uploaded on the official Website/YouTube channel [[BuryYourArt were all removed]].
15	----
16	[[foldercontrol]]
17
18	!!Series that were broadcast in the original show (with their French titles):
19
20	[[folder:Western Animation]]
21	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Action Man\|1995}}''
22	* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Adventures of Tintin\|1991}}''
23	* ''WesternAnimation/AlbertTheFifthMusketeer'' (''Albert le cinquième Mousquetaire'')
24	* ''WesternAnimation/AngelaAnaconda''
25	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAnimalsOfFarthingWood'' (as ''Les Animaux du Bois de Quat'sous'')
26	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''
27	** ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' (as ''Minus et Cortex'')
28	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}''
29	* ''Literature/{{Babar}}''
30	* ''WesternAnimation/BackToTheFuture'' (as ''Retour vers le Futur'')
31	* ''WesternAnimation/BlakeAndMortimer''
32	* ''WesternAnimation/BobMorane''
33	* ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse''
34	** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
35	** ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' (as ''Superman: l'Ange de Metropolis'')
36	** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' (as ''Batman, la Relève'')
37	* ''WesternAnimation/DenverTheLastDinosaur'' (as ''Denver le dernier dinosaure'')
38	* ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters''
39	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Flash Gordon\|1996}}''
40	* ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'' (as ''Les Entrechats'')
41	* ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois''
42	** ''Il était une fois... l'Homme''
43	** ''Il était une fois... la Vie''
44	** ''Il était une fois... les Explorateurs''
45	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Insektors}}''
46	* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' (as ''Jackie Chan'')
47	* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
48	** ''WesternAnimation/TazMania''
49	** ''WesternAnimation/TheSylvesterAndTweetyMysteries'' (as ''Titi et Grosminet mènent l'enquête'')
50	** ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' (as ''Les Tiny Toons'')
51	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Lucky Luke\|1983}}''
52	* ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus'' (as ''Le Bus magique'')
53	* ''WesternAnimation/MoiRenart''
54	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Molierissimo}}''
55	* ''Franchise/{{Nicktoons}}'':
56	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}''
57	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' (as ''Les Razmoket'')
58	** ''WesternAnimation/CatDog'' (as ''Michat-Michien'')
59	* ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' (''Oggy et les Cafards'')
60	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pelswick}}'' (on MNK)
61	* ''WesternAnimation/Phantom2040''
62	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffgirls'' (as ''Les Super Nanas'')
63	* ''WesternAnimation/PrincessGwenevereAndTheJewelRiders'' (as ''Princesse Starla et les Joyaux magiques'')
64	* ''WesternAnimation/PrincessSissi''
65	* ''WesternAnimation/ProblemChild'' (as ''Junior le Terrible'')
66	* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}''
67	* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGoofs'' (''Les Zinzins de l'Espace'')
68	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\|1987}}'' (as ''Les Tortues Ninja'')
69	* ''ComicBook/{{Titeuf}}''
70	* ''Literature/WheresWally'' (as ''Où est Charlie?'')
71	* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Anime]]
75	* ''Anime/CaptainHarlock'' (as ''Albator'')
76	* ''Manga/CatsEye'' (as ''Signé Cat's Eyes'')
77	* ''Huckleberry no Bōken'' (as ''Huckleberry Finn'')
78	* ''Anime/IeNakiKoRemi'' (as ''Rémi sans famille'')
79	* ''Anime/TheLegendOfSnowWhite'' (as ''La Légende de Blanche-Neige'')
80	* ''[[Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater Little Lord Fauntleroy]]'' (as ''Le petit Lord'')
81	* ''Manga/PrincessKnight'' (as ''Princesse Saphir'')
82	* ''Anime/PrincessSarah''
83	* ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles'' (as ''Lady Oscar'')
84	* ''[[Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater Tom Sawyer no Bōken]]'' (as ''Tom Sawyer'')
85	* ''Anime/Ulysses31'' (''Ulysse 31'')
86	* ''Anime/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' (as ''Le Magicien d'Oz'')
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Live-Action]]
90	* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' (as ''Fais-moi peur!'')
91	* ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}''
92	* ''Fantômette''
93	* ''Series/LifeGoesOn'' (as ''Corky, un adolescent pas comme les autres'')
94	* ''Mission Pirattak'' (a {{Pirate}}-themed GameShow)
95	* ''Series/NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation'' (as ''Tortues Ninja : La Nouvelle Génération'')
96	* ''Series/TwoOfAKind'' (as ''Les Jumelles s'en mêlent'')
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	!!Series that were broadcast in the revival show (with their French titles):
100
101	[[folder:Western Animation]]
102	* ''Anatole Latuile''
103	* ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' (as ''Tempête de boulettes géantes'')
104	* ''Westernanimation/{{Ducktales\|2017}}'' (as ''La Bande à Picsou'')
105	* ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'' (as ''Garfield et Compagnie'')
106	* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBunch'' (''Les As de la Jungle à la Rescousse'')
107	* ''Franchise/{{LEGO}}'':
108	** ''WesternAnimation/LEGOStarWarsTheFreemakerAdventures'' (as ''Star Wars : Les Aventures des Freemaker'')
109	** ''WesternAnimation/LEGOStarWarsTheYodaChronicles'' (as ''LEGO Star Wars: Les Chroniques de Yoda'')
110	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}''
111	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Unikitty}}''
112	* ''WesternAnimation/RabbidsInvasion'' (as ''Les Lapins Crétins: Invasion'')
113	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo''
114	* ''WesternAnimation/ToonMarty''
115	* ''WesternAnimation/ZipZip''
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	!!Tropes for the show:
119
120	[[folder:General tropes:]]
121	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Every human puppet was/is based on a celebrity or TV personality (previously French only, but there are exceptions since the revival) in appearance, way of talking and character quirks.
122	** For the 1993-2000 lineup: Coco (director/actor/TV host Antoine de Caunes), Diva (Eve Baron, then-head manager of France 3's youth programs), Jojo (singer/actor Creator/JohnnyHallyday), Nag (TV host Nagui), M'sé (rapper MC Solaar), Vaness (singer-actress Creator/VanessaParadis), Zaza (singer Elsa Lunghini), Bernard (French literature/grammar-loving TV host Bernard Pivot), Josy (actress Creator/JosianeBalasko), Gégé (actor Creator/GerardDepardieu), Mamikette (CookingShow host Maïté) and Zidou ([[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball soccer player]] Zinedine Zidane).
123	** For the 2010s revival lineup: Keva (actor/comedian Kev Adams), Riha (Music/{{Rihanna}}), Pog (soccer player Paul Pogba), Loulou (singer/actress Louane), Normy ([[WebVideoCreators web video creator]] Norman Thavaud) and Nomar (soccer player Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior).
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Original iteration:]]
127	* ButtMonkey: Coco is the most prone to AmusingInjuries, PieInTheFace and backfiring of his ideas.
128	* TheDiva: Diva, [[MeaningfulName aptly so]]. She is bossy and takes much pride in her beauty.
129	* DaEditor: Diva heads the TV channel and bosses everyone around, especially Coco.
130	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first episodes had the Minikeums work for a sinister-looking "boss" sitting in a chair who communicated through them by voice only, and who seemed to have strange plans for them. This plot point was soon forgotten.
131	* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Whenever Coco is planning something or scheming, it's doomed to fail. Though the show occasionally [[ThrowTheDogABone throws him a bone]].
132	* FakeBand: The Bogoss Five ([[NonindicativeName who are actually a trio]] formed by Nag, Coco and Jojo). Didn't prevent RealLife records of their single "Ma Melissa" from being sold, to great success.
133	* FieryRedhead: Redhead Josy is loud and can throw some epic tantrums.
134	* GranolaGirl: Josy is the show's resident nature-loving and ecologist militant character.
135	* TheHyena: La Souris (the Mouse) laughs a lot.
136	* JiveTurkey: M'sé peppers his phrases with some rapper slang (the kid-friendly kind, naturally).
137	* LargeHam:
138	** Gégé often speaks loudly, befitting Creator/GerardDepardieu's sometimes larger-than-life acting.
139	** Josy is pretty loud as well, as she's a FieryRedhead.
140	* NerdGlasses: Bernard is the nerdiest character, being both knowledgeable on a lot of subjects and slightly socially awkward, and he has glasses.
141	* NonSerialMovie: The one-hour MadeForTVMovie ''Panikeum sur l'An 2000'', which was broadcast in December 1999 to celebrate the TurnOfTheMillennium, with the usual characters playing other roles than their normal office ones.
142	* OfficialCouple: Jojo and Vaness.
143	* ParentalBonus: The celebrities that were parodied by the puppets were often more well-known by the ''parents'' of the kids who watched the show than by the actual target audience itself, as many of those people ran shows that weren't really targeted at kids when the show was airing in the '90s. But since so many of them also had long careers even afterwards, most people in the target audience later ''did'' catch on anyway. However, this is sometimes brought up as the reason why the show was eventually cancelled, because some of those people became increasingly irrelevant by the late '90s-early 2000s when the show ended.
144	* {{Parody}}:
145	** The ''Cinékeum'' short film series parodied the likes of ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Film/JamesBond'', ''Film/{{Titanic\|1997}}'', ''Literature/{{Zorro}}'', ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'', ''WesternAnimation/KirikouAndTheSorceress'', and more.
146	** The skits "Les Mystères de l'étrange" ("Mysteries of the Strange") were a parody of ''Series/TheXFiles''.
147	** The Bogoss Five parodied 1990s {{Boy Band}}s.
148	** The band Les Concernés (formed of Josy, M'sé and Gégé) parodied French IndiePop bands.
149	** Mamikette's skits usually parodied {{Cooking Show}}s, her character being based on French cooking show host Marie-Thérèse Ordonez aka "Maïté".
150	* SassySecretary: Zaza is a busy secretary at the office, and cracks more the occasional wise. She tends to be {{plucky\|Office Girl}}, however.
151	* SixthRanger: Some characters became regulars of the show in its first iteration's last years, such as Gégé Mamikette in 1997 and Zidou in 1999.
152	* TheSlacker: Nag does everything he can not to work.
153	* SmugSnake: In his most mischievous moments, Coco tends to greatly overestimate himself.
154	* SoapBoxSadie: Josy has quite a firm militant stance on ecology.
155	* SongParody:
156	** The Bogoss Five's song "Ma Melissa", which parodied 1990s {{Boy Band}}s.
157	** Vaness and Zaza once made a music video parodying the "Twins" song from ''Film/TheYoungGirlsOfRochefort''.
158	* SpeechImpediment: Zaza has a lisp when talking.
159	* SpinningPaper: The 1994 opening of the show had newspapers and gossip magazines that feature the characters spinning on the screen.
160	* TeamPet: Josy's koala pet Léon, introduced in 1994.
161	* ThoseTwoGuys: Nag and M'sé tend to hang together for wacky hijinks or slack together.
162	* TokenMinority: Subverted: Until the arrival of Zidou (based on soccer player of Algerian descent Zinedine Zidane), M'sé seemed to be the only non-white in the cast, but while it was not really evident for the watching children then, Nag's model, Nagui, is of Egyptian descent on his father's side.
163	* UniversalAdaptorCast: The ''Cinékeum'' short films used the show's puppets as entirely different characters in parodies of existing films or shows.
164	* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Coco is pretentious, greedy, childish and grumpy, and he's also the show's premium ButtMonkey.
165	* YouNoTakeCandle: Josy tried teaching Léon the koala how to speak, and his best attempts to speak amounted to this.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Revival:]]
169	* ButtMonkey: When something backfires, it's usually Keva who's on the receiving end.
170	* CompositeCharacter: Keva is as overconfident and ButtMonkey as Coco, as air-headed as Jojo and as lazy as Nag.
171	* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: The new characters are teens who go to school instead of office workers, but carry some of the older cast's wacky traits.
172	** Keva is as jolly, mischievous and situationally dumb as Coco, but he's overall nicer.
173	** Loulou is the new singing blond girl, but she's smarter than Vaness was and doesn't seem to have a boyfriend, whereas Vaness had Jojo back then.
174	** Normy is the new laid back klutz, and he's a reasonably responsible teen instead of an office slacker like Nag was, and he's more science-oriented.
175	** Riha cares a lot about her appearance like Diva used to, but she's neither bossy nor TheDiva.
176	** Pog is based on a famous French soccer player of the national team and world champion (Paul Pogba) like Zidou was (Zinedine Zidane), but appears more frequently than the latter (who was a SixthRanger in the original show in 1999, after France won the [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup FIFA World Cup]] in 1998). Pog doesn't have a Marseille accent unlike Zidou, and was actually added before France won the World Cup for the second time in 2018.
177	** The team's mascot is a blue dog-like creature (Hirsute) instead of a brown koala (Léon).
178	* CranialEruption: Keva often ends up with these whenever he gets hurt, per his ButtMonkey status.
179	** In one skit, Keva ends up with one after a blindfolded Normy walked into a chalkboard and ended up unknowingly knocking Keva down with it.
180	** In another, he also received one after a box was thrown on his head by Normy's robot mailbox.
181	* GratuitousEnglish: Riha (being based on Music/{{Rihanna}}) peppers her (French) phrases with English words.
182	* LovableJock: Pog practices soccer, and he's far from being a jerk.
183	* MythologyGag:
184	** Some lyrics of the group's songs come from songs of the 1990s Minikeums.
185	** In one skit, Keva is seen reading ''[[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51V5VWX6DML._SX381_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg L'Almanakeum]]'', an almanac book that was part of [[invoked]]TheMerch of the 1990s show. The cover features the old show's logo, Coco, Nag, Josy and the Bogoss Five band.
186	* {{Parody}}: "Keums Lanta" parodies the [[{{Robinsonade}} island survival]] RealityTV show ''Koh Lanta''.
187	* {{Pun}}s: Keva loves his puns. A bit too much.
188	* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Hirsute is a cute dog-ish blue creature, although he can be a little mischievous.
189	* RogerRabbitEffect: Season 4 (2019-2020) introduced Tom the postman (played by Gaël Colin); who is the first character in the franchise to be played by a live actor rather than be portrayed as a puppet.
190	* SchoolIsForLosers: Keva doesn't like school and does everything he can to {{skip\|ping School}} it.
191	* SongParody: "[[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6jo9cg Pog Pog Style]]", the melody of Music/{{PSY}}'s ''Music/GangnamStyle'' with new lyrics.
192	* SpecialGuest: Occasionally featured from time to time, examples include Issa Doumbia and Willy Rovelli.
193	* SuddenNameChange: Normy was first introduced as "Noman" in previews before seeing his name changed when the revival started airing.
194	* TheSmartGuy: Normy is the scientist and GadgeteerGenius of the group.
195	* TeamPet: Hirsute, a blue dog-like creature with a lion-like mane.
196	* TwoGirlsToATeam: Riha and Loulou are the only female characters in this iteration.
197	* YoungerAndHipper: The [[TheNewTens 2010s]] celebrities the revival show's puppets are modelled after are younger than the [[TheNineties 1990s]] celebrities imitated by the original show's puppets were back in the day, and the target demographic audience of most of said 2010s celebrities is younger as well. Until they reached a certain age or were told by adults, kids who grew up in the 1990s couldn't guess who most of the original generation Minikeums were modelled after with maybe the exception of Creator/GerardDepardieu and Zinedine Zidane, while the likes of Kev Adams and Norman Thavaud are well known by late 2010s kids. Also, Keva and Normy being respectively based on the (currently) most popular comedic actor among children and teens and a web video creator who's also popular among the same demographic instead of old-school actors or TV hosts speaks volumes about the show wanting to appeal to nowadays' French youth.
198	[[/folder]]

Context Series / LesMinikeums