Or you could just watch the stream of whatever French TV channel this has now become in the 21st century; it would have the same effect.
I was more impressed that this older chap would do this (its not an easy project even for a brainy old guy, it involves heavy work as well as brains) and managed not to get a strong shock from any of the French equipment; often notorious for creating more risks of this than other European setups.
Even in the 1980s the French family I was staying with would only watch whatever was on the 819 lines channel for about 20 minutes (some “cowboy” film but it looked like the cowboys were all in Normandy (about 10 km from where we all were) and then decided to go to bed.
I think what happened was (predictably) the broadcasters and PTT only belatedly realsed you need double the resources to transmit content with this resolution.
French public broadcasting is a bit hit and miss – I still listen to their radio (to keep up with my French) and sometimes its interesting but it sounds like all your schoolteachers are running the radio station. Last time I tuned in they had a special programme about summer and one segment was about the planning rules you must comply with to put a swimming pool (la piscine) in your garden. It was on Band II FM analogue so the atmospherics faded out before the end of the programme; I never got a chance to learn if one of the requirements was to put up a sign “ATTENTION: NE PAS PISSER DANS LA PISCINE”.
