Series / Temps de chien (2023)

Temps de chien ^note "Bad Weather", but can also be literally translated as "Dog Weather" is a French Canadian comedy created by comedian François Bellefeuille, who also plays its main character Antoine Meilleur. The latter is a high-profile veterinarian who also owns a pet product company named after him. However, controversy arises when Antoine is invited to a morning show, only to attack in self-defense a dog named Biscuit that ended up biting his arm. With this event being shown live on TV, his reputation is ruined. After consistently being criticized for what he did to that dog, Antoine has enough and decides to listen to his business partner Manon (Nathalie Breuer) by taking a break and spending some time in her house that is at Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine. After a series of events, he decides to buy the house and to spend the summer season there with his wife Kim (Émilie Bibeau) and their son Félix (Tom Gohier), only for more problems to happen to him during that season.

It premiered in November 2023 on the streaming service ICI TOU.TV before airing on ICI Radio-Canada Télé two months later.

Has nothing to do with other works with the same name, such as the 1996 French film directed by Jean Marbœuf or the 2019 French made-for-TV film directed by Édouard Deluc.

Tropes:

• Animated Credits Opening: The intro is animated and shows Antoine on a beach alongside his family. However, it eventually starts raining, causing Antoine to open his umbrella only to be stricken by a lightning.
• Binocular Shot: Such a shot is used in the third episode when Antoine decides to use a pair of binoculars while looking outside the window at Manon's house, only to spot a neighbor doing the same thing before coming over and introducing himself as Stéphane to Antoine.
• Blunt "No": While working as Antoine's secretary, Kim uses a paper cutter and is so impressed by how effective it is that she asks him if she could use it to cut raw vegetables. Antoine sharply replies with "No."
• The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Kim reveals to Antoine that, two years prior, she almost broke up with him because he was spending too much time at work. She then tells him to not worry about it given that she fixed everything with her psychotherapist:
  Antoine: Come on, that makes no sense. How you come you never talked to me about it? Kim, you're a psychotherapist for couples!
  Kim: Yeah, well, that's not how it works. I'm good for giving advice to others, but not to me.
• Compliment Backfire: Danielle tells Antoine that she can't believe there are people who thinks he's capable of hurting a dog on purpose. However, she then adds that she can see him hurting a human more so than an animal, causing Antoine to thank her in an uneasy way.
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: While replacing Armand as a vet, Antoine has a huge workload to deal with. Eventually, he has enough when one customer keeps pestering him regarding her dog during his lunch break (even when he tries to eat while in the clinic's restroom) and he decides to leave the clinic. However, Antoine changes his mind when he listens to his car's radio and hears the radio hosts talking about all the praise he got since he started replacing Armand.
• Didn't Think This Through: At the end of the second episode, Antoine receives a call on his cellphone for an interview. He hangs up and then decides to throw the phone to the water in frustration. Immediately after that, he exclaims "Shit!" three times in a row over what he just did and tries to retrieve the phone as he needs it to contact any of his loved ones if the need arises.
• Distracted by the Sexy: When Kim and Félix go to the beach, the former is distracted by a pretty guy named Gabriel. As a result, it takes her a moment before she finally responds to Félix.
• Expecting Someone Taller: In the third episode, Antoine mentions to the fishermen the neighbor who comes to Manon's house to defecate instead of using his own toilet. In the next episode, when Stéphane meets the fishermen for the first time and Antoine says he's the neighbor in question, one of the fishermen comments "I thought he was bigger."
• Failed a Spot Check: At the vet hospital, Antoine brings Dr. Gauthier (who's a drug addict) to a room to talk to him in private. It's only after removing at once a fentanyl patch from Gauthier's body and firing him that Antoine notices a customer waiting in the room with her cat. She then tells him she hopes he'll be sweeter with her cat, causing Antoine to smile nervously.
• Faint in Shock: While helping Antoine heal a cow, Kim ends up fainting when he's using a sewing needle on the animal. By doing so, she lands her head on a big cowpat
• Five Stages of Grief: Subverted. Through a phone conversation, Kim tells Antoine he's currently feeling grief over his career and mentions the stages of grief. He then goes through denial and bargaining before being stuck in anger.
• Flat Joy: Kim sarcastically says "Yay." when Antoine tries to convince her and Félix how great it'll be to spend two months at Les Îles-de-la-Madeleines.
• Freudian Slip: On their way to heal a cow, Kim tells Antoine she'll check tutorials on YouTube to help him with the cow. He's dismissive of the idea of checking videos on YouTube, leading to this conversation:
  Kim: You know it features other stuff besides little kitten videos.
  Antoine: Watching those videos help me relax.
  Kim: You always watch the same one.
  Antoine: Can we focus on the cow I'm gonna kill?
  Kim: Heal.
  Antoine: What did I say?
  Kim: Kill.
  Antoine: [looking horrified] Fuck! Go check on YouTube.
• From Bad to Worse: Things get bad when Antoine punches a dog live on TV (even though it was done in self-defense) during the first episode. At the end of that same episode, his reputation gets worse when a news channel reveals that the dog food Antoine's company is selling contains xylitol, which is poisonous for dogs.
• How We Got Here: The first episode begins with Antoine on some beach and receiving a call from his cellphone before throwing it to the water. The rest of that episode and the second episode then shows what happened that led to this first scene.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: In the second episode, Antoine says that he saved plenty of animals and that he will save plenty more today. He then stands up from his couch, only to accidentally step on one of his dog's paws. This causes the dog to run away while feeling pain, Antoine's son calling his mother, and Antoine himself exclaiming "I didn't notice him!"
• The Internet Is for Porn: Manon hires two PR guys to help improve Antoine's reputation after the dog incident. The PR guys suggest various reasons that would excuse Antoine's behavior, such as being a drug addict. One of the PR guys suggests the idea of having spent too much time checking out online porn and says that he's speaking from experience. After Antoine leaves, that same PR guy asks if the Wi-Fi works well at the company, only for his colleague to encourage him to not give up on fighting his porn addiction by telling him "You're stronger than that."
• Jump Cut: In the third episode, Antoine is about to eat some fried food on a table outside. At the same time as when he's taking his first bite, it immediately cuts to him inside Manon's house, wearing a different outfit, and taking a bite out of a toast.
• "Just Joking" Justification: At Antoine's house, his brother-in-law Jean-Philippe opens a bottle of champagne to celebrate a deal he's making at his job. When Kim arrives and asks what they're celebrating, Jean-Philippe jokingly replies that they're celebrating Antoine's retirement:
  Kim: [to Jean-Philippe] You're not funny. [to Antoine] I don't understand why you're asking my brother for advice every time things are bad. He's the worst person to call!
  Jean-Philippe: Come on, it's just a joke! You're so at face value!
• Kindly Vet: Antoine is a vet who is really kind to animals. Admittedly, he did hurt a dog while being live on TV, but this was a case of self-defense given that the dog was biting his arm and wouldn't let it go.
• Mama Bear: When Antoine and Stéphane brings a dog named Maggie to a hospital (even though it's against the law) in order to use an echograph on her, they meet a pregnant woman, who agrees to help them after Stéphane lies by claiming the dog is also pregnant. When one of the doctors working at the hospital sees them and is about to call a security agent, the pregnant woman threatens to smash the doctor's head against the doorframe. The doctor in question agrees to give them five minutes instead of calling an agent.
• Moment Killer: While inside Stéphane's caravan, Antoine and Kim are making out. However, they're interrupted by Stéphane arriving and brushing his teeth, doing so in a disgusting way.
• Mooning: In the seventh episode, realizing that he's in charge full-time of the clinic after learning that Armand retired, Antoine is upset and says:
  Antoine: I can't leave the islands without any vet. Everyone would be mad at me.
  Stéphane: It's certain that there'll be a couple [of people] that'll come to moon you through your windows.
  • Later in that same episode, Antoine mentions to Kim the idea of the local inhabitants mooning them through their windows as one of the things that would happen if he quits, thus preventing them from admiring the nearby cliffs or the sunset over the sea.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Pierre-François Legendre plays the role of Hugo Rivard, the host of a morning show titled Soleil Matin ("Sun Morning"). His name sounds like Gino Chouinard, the then-host of the Quebec morning show Salut Bonjour ("Hi Hello").
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: What kickstarts the plot is when Antoine punches a dog that was biting his arm live on TV. Afterwards, most people he comes across keep criticizing him for doing such a thing to that dog, even though he did so purely as self-defense.
• Papa Wolf: Antoine brings his brother-in-law Jean-Philippe with him to a negotiation meeting with Manon and Dr. Jolicoeur regarding selling the hospital. After Jean-Philippe accuses the latter two of harassing Antoine, Manon taunts the latter by saying:
  Manon: Just go bankrupt, Antoine. I hope you'll enjoy announcing to your son that he doesn't have a house anymore.
  Jean-Philippe: [looking more serious and banging his hand against the table] Don't touch Félix. You're forgetting that I'm that kid's godfather. I won't let them lose their house, OK? I have lawyers working fulltime that I'm paying a very high price and who currently don't have anything to do. It'll be a pleasure for me to keep them busy.
• The Precious, Precious Car: Danielle decides to key Manon's car after being fired by her. However, when Manon walks past the keyed car and goes to her actual car, Danielle realizes much to her shock that she keyed someone else's vehicle.
• Pun: In the fourth episode, Danielle tries to convince Manon to not fire her by showing her latest idea: small boots that dogs can wear to cool their paws during summer. What's the name she gave to those boots? "Ice pattes" (the word "pattes" being French for "paws"), which sounds like "ice packs".
• Punch-Clock Villain: In the fifth episode, Antoine has to deal with a vandal who turns out to have been hired by Manon to make him just depressed enough to sell the hospital. At the end of the episode, one vandal is about to throw paint at him, only for Antoine to tell the man that he sold the hospital. The vandal reveals he wasn't aware of it because his cellphone isn't working anymore and thus Manon didn't warn him. He then apologizes to Antoine and wishes him an excellent day before leaving.
• Road Apples:
  • When Kim tries to help Antoine heal a cow, she faints, resulting in her landing her head on a big cowpat.
  • In the following episode, at the clinic, Antoine accidentally steps on some poop made by a customer's dog. One scene later, the same customer tells him that her dog once again pooped on the floor, causing Antoine to sarcastically shout "Good! Good!"
• Sarcasm-Blind: Antoine and Kim try to heal a cow belonging to a farmer. After Antoine says he will have to ask for help regarding the cow:
  Farmer: That's not a cow that can take a flight to be operated in Quebec City.
  Kim: [confused] She's afraid of flying?
  Antoine: I think he's being sarcastic.
  [The farmer nods.]
  Kim: [embarrassed] Ah. Sorry. It's my first day in this field.
  Farmer: [to Antoine] So, are you able [to heal my cow] or...? Otherwise, I'll have to shoot her in the head.
  [Kim starts laughing, causing Antoine to look at her in disbelief]
  Kim: [realizing her mistake] Ah, that... that wasn't sarcastic.
• The Scapegoat: When Manon fires Danielle, the former lies by claiming that Antoine agreed with her to fire Danielle. Naturally, the latter is not happy about it and leaves several angry messages on Antoine's cellphone.
  • Speaking of Danielle, the reason why she's being fired is because Manon needs a scapegoat for the poisoned dog food. Antoine calls Manon out on this, saying that the poisoned food wasn't Danielle's fault.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: In order to save Maggie (one of the fishermen's dog), Antoine needs an echograph, with the nearest one being at a hospital. He calls the hospital and is told that he can't use their echograph on the dog because it's a matter of salubrity. Not willing to give up, Antoine decides to discreetly bring Maggie to that hospital even if it's against the law:
  Antoine: I don't care about the fucking salubrity. We're gonna do the echo. Nobody's gonna decide for us!
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • After the live incident with the dog, Manon orders Antoine to immediately leave the studio with her. Antoine is reluctant as he wants to see the dog and help heal its wounds. However, Hugo immediately and angrily yells at Antoine from afar that the latter will pay for what happened to Biscuit, causing Antoine to change his mind and comment that he'll simply send a card to the dog instead.
  • Later on in that same episode, Antoine decides to run away when a news reporter and her cameraman arrive to interview him in regards to the incident.
  • Noticing how stressed Antoine is, Stéphane invites him to a meeting with a "healing group" as he calls it. Said meeting is pretty much a collective therapy where everyone expresses how they feel. However, Antoine is quite uncomfortable when the meeting turns into an orgy. Seeing his reaction, Stéphane tells him he doesn't have to partake in the orgy if he doesn't want to and can either watch it or leave. Antoine naturally chooses the last option. At the end of that same episode, he once again declines to partake in an orgy with the healing group and decides to leave.
  • When he starts replacing Armand as the vet, Antoine ends up having too much work to deal with, with the final straw being when one customer keeps pestering him over her dog even during his lunch break. He decides to quit the clinic, only to change his mind about one minute later upon hearing some radio hosts talking about all the praise he got since he's been replacing Armand.
  • During one night where he has to sleep in Stéphane's caravan, Antoine is awakened by the arrival of a woman named Louise, who then proceeds to have sex with Stéphane. It doesn't take long before Antoine decides to leave and instead sleep on the top of the caravan. However, it doesn't get better given that Stéphane and Louise having sex with each other results in the caravan shaking a lot.
• Serious Business: After Antoine steals a lobster from two fishermen who refused to sell him any of the ones they caught, said fishermen confront him at the house where he's residing and angrily threaten him. However, they get even angrier when they realize that Antoine was about to dip the lobster into garlic butter.
• Shout-Out:
  • In the second episode, one scene has Jean-Philippe talking to his plane pilot named Maverick.
  • After Antoine manages to save Maggie (one of the fishermen's dog), Stéphane tells him "I don't know any veterinarian who would have done what you did today for a dog." before adding "Except Doctor Dolittle. But, for that matter, he doesn't even need an echography. Animals talk to him."
  • After realizing that Manon betrayed Antoine just for the sake of a business deal regarding the hospital the two of them own, Jean-Philippe calls her "Lady Macbeth".
• Skewed Priorities: In the third episode, Kim is worried for Antoine and asks Jean-Philippe to go check up on him upon returning from Miami. When Jean-Philippe arrives at the house where Antoine is residing, he does so while carrying a lobster roll and explains why he's there:
  Jean-Philippe: Kim told me you weren't feeling well. She absolutely wanted that I would come to cheer you up while coming back from Miami. Honestly, from the way she was talking, I was under the impression I had a fifty-fifty chance to find you naked and hanged.
  Antoine: [annoyed while Jean-Philippe is taking a bite out of his lobster roll] You were thinking that and you still took the time to buy yourself a lobster roll!?
  Jean-Philippe: Oh my God, they're so good! I asked myself "Is it better if I eat my lobster roll before finding him like that or after?" So... Well! Are things getting better for you?
• That Came Out Wrong:
  • In the fifth episode, after returning to his hospital, Antoine has an argument with Dr. Jolicoeur, who wants to buy the hospital. At one point, Antoine sees one of his own employees wearing the "I am Biscuit" eyepatch and asks her in disbelief what is she wearing:
    Employee: I am Biscuit.
    Antoine: Oh yeah? You're Biscuit? What, are you a one-eyed bitch?!
    Manon: Antoine! You can't call the employees "bitches"!
    Antoine: [realizing what he just said and looking at the hurt employee who's leaving] That's not what I meant to say! I didn't call her a bitch! It's just that Biscuit is a bitch, and this whole thing is ridiculous.
  • After learning from Stéphane that Antoine will be working every day instead of only during the weekends, Kim has an argument with her husband about it (doing so by shouting at each other given they're far apart from each other):
    Antoine: I'M SORRY! I ONLY LEARNED ABOUT IT LAST NIGHT! I WANTED TO TELL YOU, BUT YOU KNOW HOW FRIGHTENING YOU CAN BE WHEN YOU LEARN ABOUT THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT!
    Kim: FRIGHTENING?!
    Antoine: AH THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT TO SAY! THAT CAME OUT WRONG!
• Throw the Dog a Bone: In the third episode, Antoine decides to steal a lobster from the two fishermen who refused to sell him any of the ones they caught. Said fishermen go to the house where he's residing to threaten him for what he did. However, Antoine has a breakdown and rants over all the bad stuff that happened to him during that episode (including the annoying neighbor he just met). Feeling bad for him, the fishermen decide to bring him to a beach, let him eat the lobster, and help him cook it in a way that he declares it to be the best lobster he's ever eaten. Antoine asks them why they're doing that for him, only for one of the fishermen to say they had a cousin who also had a rough time and, in retrospect, they would have liked to bring him to the beach. A few seconds later, the other fisherman offers to beat up the annoying neighbor, but Antoine politely declines. However, they also tell him they have to hurt him at least a little bit in order to keep their reputation intact. Antoine asks them to not hurt him in the face and they kindly agree to do so.
• Umbrellas Are Lightning Rods: The Animated Credits Opening has Antoine and his family on a beach. When it starts raining, Antoine opens his umbrella, only for a lightning to strike him.
• "We're Live" Realization: After Antoine has attacked a dog live during a morning show, Hugo Rivard (the show's host) tells the viewers that they'll take a commercial break, causing Antoine to ask in disbelief if he's serious that they're still live.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Stéphane seems to be this given that, while having a meeting with his healing group where everyone has to scream how they feel, he ends up screaming "LOVE ME, DAD!"
• Woken Up at an Ungodly Hour:
  • In the first episode, Antoine is awoken at five in the morning by his cellphone because of an emergency at the vet hospital he's working at. He then apologizes to Kim, who is also awake because of the phone call.
  • A few episodes later, Antoine and Kim are awakened at three in the morning by some vandal screaming in front of their house.
• Writing Around Trademarks: One of the channels that report on the incident is called "TDV". The logo's font is similar if not identical to the one for the real-life channel TVA.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • When Danielle showcases various products for dogs to Antoine, one of them is a coat with hook-and-loop fasteners on it. She explains that the dog can use the coat to carry not only tennis balls, but also stuff like frisbees, remote controls, and tools among other things. Antoine is baffled by it and asks her "Is that a joke?"
  • Antoine agrees to replace Armand as the vet at Les Îles-de-la-Madeleines. However, Armand then calls Antoine and asks him to come that afternoon rather than one week later:
    Antoine: [in disbelief] Is that a joke?
    Armand: No, it's not a joke. This is a joke: What's the difference between an 18 wheeler and my mother-in-law?

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