Plus belle la vie

Plus belle la vie (also known as PBLV) is a French soap opera created from an original idea by Hubert Besson and characters imagined by Georges Desmouceaux, Bénédicte Achard, Magaly Richard-Serrano and Olivier Szulzynger. It was broadcast from Monday to Friday on France 3 on August 30, 2004, it depicts the daily life of the inhabitants of a fictional district of Marseille, the Mistral.

On July 11, 2008, Plus belle la vie reached the thousandth episode mark, which is a first in the history of French television, then the two thousandths on June 8, 2012, the three thousandth on April 22, 2016, and the four thousandths on February 21, 2020.

On May 5, 2022, France Télévisions announced in a press release the end of the series, which will take place on November 18, 2022, following “a change in viewer expectations” and “program consumption” for 18 years.

Plot
Plus belle la vie depicts the daily life of the inhabitants of a fictional district of Marseille, the Mistral.

The soap opera organized around two main types of plots: The daily life of the inhabitants of the Mistral, with their joys and worries, the evolution of loves and friendships; Police intrigues (sometimes tinged with fantasy) in which the inhabitants of the Mistral are involved.

Pourquoi la vie n'est PAS  belle (Why life is NOT beautiful)

 * 1) Quantity over Quality: Similar to La Rosa del Guadeloupe (actually no, WORSE than La Rosa del Guadeloupe), this show has had EXTREME airtime because since its launch in 2004 it airs every day except weekends and totals over 4600 episodes over 18 seasons, which shows how critically blind France Televisions is.
 * 2) * Worse still because of this extreme lifespan the show lacking in ideas and inspiration and tends to jump the shark.
 * 3) The acting on this show is terrible because they only have one day to finish an episode.
 * 4) While at the beginning, the plot of the series is correct as the series progresses the plot becomes absurd and strange as if the show is out of ideas.
 * 5) Generic and boring theme song that screams "shitty soap opera" on all floors.
 * 6) The plot is terrible and generic (in fact, there is none because the series just lined with subplots)
 * 7) Each episode represents a day, and it's a big problem because often, because of this stupid rule with some episodes end with a cliffhanger, and the next episode is a new day.
 * 8) The characters are bland, flat, and generic and are often not very likable.
 * 9) The show only cares about the audience and not its quality. That why they decided to stop it; it also means that if the audience was high, they would have continued the show despite everyone hating the series.
 * 10) Overall, this series is terrible, and it just goes to show how flat and non-marking soap operas are.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The show is considered a guilty pleasure (so bad it's good).
 * 2) The 2 video games on Nintendo DS are surprisingly correct.

Reception
Plus Belle La Vie received an extremely negative reception from critics for its poor plot, broadcasting, and poor acting; the show holds a 2.5/10 on IMDb, including a 2.2/10 on Senscritique.

Trivia

 * SYM, manufacturer of scooters, launched in the spring of 2008 a limited series MIO with the effigy of Plus belle la vie, with lines and colors (pink and white) oriented towards a female audience.
 * Since February 16, 2012, Plus belle la vie also been available on smartphones with an iPhone application, an Android application, and a mobile website adapted to Blackberry. These mobile solutions have all developed by Myapphone, which announces the forthcoming release of an iPad and tablet version.
 * Since July 11, 2008, on the occasion of the broadcast of the 1000th episode, the producer Telfrance has been offering a new aspect of the series on its official website: a virtual world called Plus belle la vie ("life" means "life" in English ). Telfrance called on Taatu, a Belgian company, to develop this site similar to Habbo Hotel. Each fan can thus create his avatar and his apartment, walk 24 hours a day in the places of the Mistral and discuss with other fans. Events also organized, such as a treasure hunt or parties on the Place du Mistral every Saturday from 6 p.m. There are a total of 300,500 registrants.
 * This virtual world has not been updated since 2010. Still open to everyone, it however abandoned before closing its doors for good in 2013.
 * The show is available to stream on Pluto TV.
 * The show released along with the children's programming block called France Truc, which it replaced by Toowam (now Okoo) because of fewer ratings.