The concept of Un gars, une fille began in the 1990s as a series of short segments featured on Besoin d'amour, a TQS network daily talk-show, hosted by Guy A. Lepage that ran from 1995 to 1996.
Lepage, a veteran of the renowned comedy troupe Rock et Belles Oreilles (RBO), played one half of the couple along with Sylvie Léonard.
The duo reprised their roles in what became Un gars une fille in 1997, a successful weekly 26-minute programme which spawned many adaptations.
After the series concluded in 2003, Lepage went on to produce and host the hugely successful Tout le monde en parle, adapted from the eponymous French hit talk-show.
Flashy pastel blue and pink graphics with squiggly lines follow punchlines and mark transitions, coupled with an upbeat percussive tune, and often a spoken Voice-over phrase summing up the previous segment.
A curious running gag from the show involves Guy surprising Sylvie by grabbing her breasts from behind while shouting "Road Runner!
An Albanian version named Tenxherja-Kapakun (The Pot, the Lid) is produced by Top Channel with Urbanus Group, with half-hour episodes revolving around the main characters Bela (Elvana Gjata) and Romi (Romeo Veshaj).
[citation needed] An English Canadian adaptation was created by the producer of the original show, Luc Wiseman of Avanti Ciné-Vidéo television production company.
[8] Εγώ κι εσύ (Me and You) began airing in October 2010 on CyBC1, the Cyprus' public broadcaster's main television channel, and on the CyBC Video on Demand platform, in the format of one 35-minute episode each week.
[citation needed] The first Italian version of the programme was called Love Bugs, which is the international marketing name of Un gars, une fille.
It ran on Italia 1 from 2004 to 2005 with the couple played by comedian Fabio De Luigi (already well known for his collaboration with Gialappa's Band) and Michelle Hunziker, a veteran of Zelig Circus.
In the third season in 2007, Love Bugs 3, the couple was played by Emilio Solfrizzi and Giorgia Surina (MTV's Veejay).
[citation needed] The Macedonian version of "Un gars, une fille" is known under the name of Сашо и Сашка (Sasho & Sashka).
[citation needed] In Russia a version of the showed aired on TNT channel starting 2003 under the title Sasha + Masha (Russian: "Саша + Маша").
Spain's version of the programme is called El y Ella ("He and She"), with a format similar to France with 7-minute shows each day.
In Serbia and Montenegro, Andrija i Anđelka began broadcasting on October 5, 2015, on the Prva network and in Croatia on the RTL on January 15, 2016 .
The format is similar to the Canadian with a 26-minutes show weekly In Turkey the series is called 1 Kadın 1 Erkek ("One Woman One Man") featuring Demet Evgar and Emre Karayel.
Despite the series airing on a specialty channel, on a satellite network - Digiturk - that requires a subscription, its popularity among young viewers is increasing steadily thanks to viral marketing and the sharing of clips on YouTube and Facebook.
The Ukrainian version of Un gars, une fille called Lesya + Roma (Леся + Рома) began broadcasting in 2005 on ICTV.
[14] Entitled Lovebites, the American version began broadcasting on September 13, 2006, with comedian Paul Reiser as executive producer and writer.
[15] It was co-produced by Stuart McLean (founder of Content & Company) at JWT, the world's fourth largest advertising agency.
[17] Lovebites stars David Julian Hirsh (a native of Montreal, Quebec, seen in CSI: NY and Naked Josh) and Lauren Bittner (seen in Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Third Watch).
Another notable difference with the original version is that the couple in Lovebites breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the camera.
Reiser is said to have been captivated by the series when it was presented to him by Michel Rodrigue, president of Distraction Formats, the Montreal-based international distribution company for Un gars, une fille.
In his opinion, the problem did not lie with the acting, but with the length of the show (two and a half minutes long, as mentioned above), the sponsor, the broadcasting and the assembling.
[20] The concept of Un gars, une fille was also sold to producers in: Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Bosnia, Cuba, Denmark, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Latvia, Lebanon (Patricia Nammour - Issam Breidy), Mexico, the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and many others, totaling more than thirty countries.