Working from home can be a monotonous task. Unless the project is amazingly compelling, I find it hard to keep motivated on any design task. There is however one method that usually keeps me going and that is having some kitsch TV show running in the background. A lot of people work to music; I use bad television to do the trick. This technique allows me to zone-out during most of the program and stay focused on my work, while at the same time being distracted periodically with some tasteless entertainment (thus breaking the monotony previously mentioned). CSI Miami is pretty good; Walker, Texas Ranger is even better; I foolishly tried Law & Order: Special Victims Unit but could never get any work done; but for the last couple of months I've been totally fixated on a French program called Intervilles.

Intervilles is a jovial TV game show based on the friendly encounter between two French towns or cities. During the course of the almost 3-hour-long event, the two sides must battle it out in a series of physical challenges featuring moving props, physically encumbering suits, suspension cables and the show's icon - young cows with blunted horns. It's like the French version of It's A Knockout or Takeshi's Castle. There is however more of an emphasis on all things French. For example, some of the challenges have themes such as crepe making, delivering preserved sausage, and wearing oversized costumes from Brittany. Strangely enough, the show does feature pom-pom girls.

Besides the usual shenanigans of people getting blind-sided by massive foam objects, stumbling over obstacles and falling into water, Intervilles offers two unique elements. The first is the iconic cows, Intervilles wouldn't be Intervilles without it's famous "vachettes". These young cows provide quite a spectacle especially when they get the odd occasion to propel 10-year-olds into the air with the full momentum of their charging bodies (it actually looks quite dangerous at times). The second feature promotes tourism where each side has a 2-3 minute slot to publicise it's own town or city. This is usually in the form of a prepared video reel and some light commentary. As a tourist, I find this segment quite interesting. Also worthy of mention is the seemingly immortal Julien Lepers (he is one of the Intervilles co-hosts) - the guy has been around forever, I remember watching him host Questions pour un champion in Mauritius when I was 11!

Intervilles is no doubt a family oriented program. The competition is usually good-humoured with the one exception being an encounter I saw between traditional big-city French rivals Paris and Marseille. I can't remember exactly who won that contest but there was definitely some bad blood towards the end.

During the past few years Intervilles has suffered a gradual decline in ratings. I had initially thought that it was a relatively new show, but then my friends told me that it has been around forever (on and off since 1962 to be precise). They of course no longer watch the show and mock me to no end about my interest in the program. French snobs.