The Telethon of Stars (left to right): Tania Krywiak, Lori Graham, Jed Kahane, Michel Lanteigne (foundation chair), Claudia Marques, Paul Karwatsky, Randy Tieman (photo: Telethon of Stars)

Aww, don’t they look adorable?

The Telethon of Stars, which aired last weekend on CFCF but didn’t air on V (formerly TQS), raised just under $4 million for research into children’s diseases. That’s a noticeable drop from last year’s $4.2 million, and well off the record of over $5 million, but considering how hurt the campaign could have been from the loss of a French audience (the CTV telethon was “bilingual”, though as you can see it was still a CTV event), it’s not bad.

Donations are still being accepted until Dec. 31. Be sure to kick in a few extra bucks as you raise your middle finger toward the Rémillard brothers.

It’s one of the few special programs produced locally, and a key part of that whole “local TV matters” thing: every year in December, CFCF runs a 24-hour telethon to raise money for the Foundation for Research into Children’s Diseases called the Telethon of Stars. It’s been an annual tradition since 1977.

While originally in both languages on CFCF, the telethon was eventually split up with the French version airing on what was at the time CFCF’s sister station TQS. The two telethons would pool their money together, last year raising $4.5 million.

But with its rebirth as V, CFJP has apparently decided the telethon isn’t worth the expense anymore, according to Richard Therrien. Instead, some francophone flavour, including Chantal Lacroix, will be included in CFCF’s broadcast on Dec. 5.

As a commenter on Therrien’s blog alludes to, it seems an odd decision since the network had no problem a few months ago trying to get viewers to call them and give them money just to get them to stop their endless encouragement.

UPDATE: Some context: The network (which you’ll recall doesn’t have the burden of a news department) is seeking to cut more staff.