1981 in Italian television
This is a list of Italian television related events from 1981.
Events
Rai
February 7: Alice wins the Sanremo festival, hosted by Claudio Cecchetto and Eleonora Vallone, with the song Per Elisa; for the first time in ten years, RAI broadcasts integrally the show. With this edition the festival, after a decline in the Seventies, knows a renewed success both for the record sales and as TV event; the final evening is the most seen show of the year, with 22,7 million spectators.March 12: RAI cancels last minute the airing of the documentary AAA offresi; the film, realized by a feminist collective, describes crudely the daily life of a prostitute. The censorious measure, wanted by Mauro Bubbico, president of the Parliamentary Commission of Vigilance on television, is stigmatized by the public opinion. AAA offresi is by now again inedited.March 18: the existence of the clandestine masonic lodge Propaganda 2 is revealed; among its objiectives, enounced in the Democratic rebirth plan, there are the privatization of RAI and the liberalization of the private TV channels. Several RAI journalists and functionaries result to be members of the lodge, as the vice president Gianfranco Orsello, the TG1 director Franco Colombo, the radio news director Gustavo Selva and the correspondent from Paris Gino Nebiolo.May 13: attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. A long extraordinary edition of TG2 gives the first and contradictories news about the pontifex's conditions and the attacker's identity, but without showing images of the event, because the RAI cameras have left St. Peter's square few moments before the shooting.June 12: Vermicino accident; the little Alfredo Rampi, 6 years old, dies at the bottom of a well, where he had failed three days before. RAI 1 and 2 follow the unsuccessful recovery operation, till its tragic epilogue, with a 36 hours live broadcast, hosted by Piero Badaloni and followed by around 20 million viewers. The event arouses both emotion and controversies; RAI is charged to have made a spectacle out of the suffering.July 29: RAI 1 broadcasts live the wedding of Prince Charles and lady Diana Spencer.Private channels
In 1981, the private networks become a serious thread for RAI, with an average of 5 million viewers against the 7,8 million ones of the state television. Particularly active is Silvio Berlusconi’s Canale 5, that tries even to snatch the rights to Serie A from RAI, while Angelo Rizzoli’s Primarete indipendente, is overwhelmed by the general crisis of the Rizzoli group.March 2: Canale 5 inaugurates Pomeriggio con sentimento, a daily space aimed to the housewives, with classic romantic movies and soap-operas.March 18: the P2 scandal involves the private television too. The two main editors in the field, Angelo Rizzoli and Silvio Berlusconi, and the journalist Maurizio Costanzo, director of the Primarete news program, Contatto, are registered to the lodge.June 2: Canale 5 begins airing Dallas; some episodes were already broadcast by RAI 1, with moderate success. The change of channel benefits the serial, that gets very high ratings; in the following years, it becomes the Canale 5’ flagship and a custom phenomenon. June 16: Canale 5 broadcasts the first Mundialito des clubs, a friendly tournament among the most illustrious football teams of the world, organized by the network itself. July 21: a sentence of the Constitutional Court confirms the RAI monopoly on the national information; the Primarete news program, Contatto, stop broadcasting.October 5: the circuit GPE – Telemond, controlled by Mondadori, ceases activity; the local televisions who are part of it enter in the two new national network, Italia Uno and Rete Quattro.Debuts
RAI
Variety
Blitz – 3 seasons. Interstitial program of the Sunday afternoon, hosted by Gianni Minà and focused on sport and entertainment. In 1984, the show is at the center of a scandal, because of a blasphemy said live by the actor Leopoldo Mastelloni in an interview.- Mister Fantasy – Musica da vedere, variety hosted by Carlo Massarini and Mario Luzzato Fegis, that reveals the music videos to the Italian public; four seasons.
- Lo scatolone, antologia di nuovissimi, nuovi e seminuovi – hosted by Claudia Poggiani and Lando Buzzanca; 2 seasons.
- Il sistemone – quiz about football history, hosted by Gianni Minà and others: 3 seasons.
- Sotto le stelle – summer show by Gianni Boncompagni, with various hosts, 6 seasons.
- Zim zum zam – show of music and magic, almost devoid of talking, hosted by the illusionist Alexander, 2 seasons.
News and educationale
- Appuntamento al cinema – review of trailer, for upcoming films; again on air.
- Linea verde - magazine about Italian agriculture and natural beauties, hosted by Federico Fazzuoli and later by many other journalists or entertainment personalities; again on air, it has generated various spin-offs.
- Più sani e più belli - well-being magazine, hosted by Rosanna Lambertucci; 7 editions.
- Quark, viaggi nel mondo della scienza and Quark speciale - the most successful Italian shows of popular science, both hosted by Piero Angela.
For children
Direttissima con la tua antenna – show for children, containing inside cartoon and telefilms, hosted by Marta Flavi and Gianfranco ScancarelloPrivate channels
- Bim Bum Bam – lasted till 2002, hosted for all the 1980s by Paolo Bonolis, sided by the puppet Uan. The program, started in the Rusconi's Antenna Nord as a simple container of animated films, becomes, after the passage to Fininvest, the most popular show for children of the time. The show includes, besides the cartoons, comical sketches and parody fiction.
- Aboccaperta, gli italiani che hanno qualcosa da dire – talk show presented by Gianfranco Funari, moved on RAI 2 since 1984; 8 seasons. The show is characterized, beyond the presence of ordinary people as guests, by heavy tones and verbal brawls incited by the conductor; for this reason, it is considered the first Italian example of trash TV.
Canale 5
Bis – Italian version of the game show Concentration, hosted by Mike Bongiorno; 9 seasons and 2600 episodes.Buongiorno Italia – Italian version of Good morning, America, hosted by Marco Columbro, Aba Cercvato and Fiorella Pierobon; 6 editions.Domenica con Five, Five time and Pomeriggio con Five – shows for children, with the puppet Five, mascot of Canale 5, Augusto Martelli and Fabrizia Carminati; 4 seasons.International
Television shows
RAI
Drama
I giochi del diavolo – cycle of TV-movies, based on six fantastic tales of the Nineteenth Century, chosen by Italo Calvino; the most significant is La Vénus d'Ille, by Mario and Lamberto Bava, from Prosper Mérimée’s tale.- La giacca verde – by Franco Giraldi, with Jean-Pierre Cassel, Renzo Montagnani and Senta Berger; from a Mario Soldati’s story. In the second world war, a famous conductor and a modest timpanist exchange their social roles and almost their identities.
- Il padre – by Giorgio Pressburger, from the Strindberg’s play, with Giorgio Albertazzi.
- Fosca – by Enzo Muzil, from the Igino Ugo Tarchetti's novel, with Claudio Cassinelli and Patrizia Terreno.
- Maria Zef – by Vittorio Cottafavi, from the novel of Paola Drigo, with Renata Chiappino and Siro Angeli; 2 episodes. It's the story of a country girl, victim of the misery and of her uncle's abuses.
- Il caso Graziosi – by Michele Massa, with Jean-Pierre Cassel; the true story of the pianist Arnaldo Graziosi, presumed uxoricidal.
- Accadde a Zurigo by Gianni Vettorazzi, with Gianni Garko and Carlo Hintermann; true story of a spy battle in Zurich between Italian and Austrian secret services during the First World War.
- Venezia, carnevale, un amore – by Mario Lanfranchi, ballet film with Carla Fracci and Rudolf Nureyev.
- Chiave di lettura – cycle of six classic plays, shown first in a traditional version (taken from the RAI archives) and then in an experimental one.
Miniseries
- Illa: punto d’osservazione – by Daniele D’Anza with Stefania Casini and Antonio Casagrande; an airheaded girl, casual witness of a murder, is involved in a spy game bigger than her; 3 episodes.
- Turno di note by Paolo Poeti, with Rino Cassano and Barbara De Rossi; 3 episodes. Another occasional witness investigates a crime.
- Un paio di scarpe per tanti chilometri - by Alfredo Giannetti, with Fabio Boccanera and Michele Esposito; 3 episodes. The ordeals of two boys escaped from a re-education institute.
- Storia di Anna – by Salvatore Nocita, with Laura Lattuada; 4 episodes. First RAI fiction about drug dependence, it has a realistic mood and a tragic ending by then courageous.
Historical dramas
Quell’antico amore – by Anton Giulio Majano, from the Carlo Laurenzi's novel, with Giuseppe Pambieri, Isabella Goldman and Alida Valli; 5 episodes. The love story between Charles III, Duke of Parma, and Argia Vernaldi.Adua – by Dante Guardamagna, from the Manlio Cancogni's novel, with Carlo Simoni and Ugo Maria Morosi; 5 episodes. The story of two cousins with the First Italo-Ethiopian War as the background.Dei miei bollenti spiriti by Sandro Bolchi, from the Gino Pugnetti's novel, with Gianni Vettorazzo and Marina Vlady; a Venetian waiter goes through the war years thinking more about women than historical events.I ragazzi di celuloide – by Sergio Sollima, with Massimo Ranieri and Anna Maria Rizzoli, in 3 episodes; the story of some students of the Experimental Center of Cinematography during the war years. It has a sequel in 1984.Bipoics
- Don Luigi Sturzo - by Giovanni Fago, biopic with Flavio Bucci in the title role; 3 episodes.
- Vita di Antonio Gramsci – by Raffaele Maiello, script by Suso Cecchi D’Amico and Giuseppe Fiori, with Mattia Sbragia in the title role; 4 episodes.
- George Sand – by Giorgio Albertazzi, with Anna Proclemer in the title role; 4 episodes.
- Fregoli - biopic by Paolo Cavara, with Gigi Prioietti in the title role; 4 episodes.
Serials
Tutti insieme tempestosamente – sticom about an enlarged family, with Rossana Podestà and Nino Castelnuovo.Variety
- Tutto compreso – by Giancarlo Nicotra, with Ezio Greggio and Enrico Beruschi; variety set in a resort, considered a forerunner of the Drive In’s formula.
- Stasera niente di nuovo – by Romolo Siena; last show in RAI of Raimondo Vianello and Sandra Mondaini, sided by the young soubrette Heather Parisi.
- Telepatria international ovvero niente paura siamo italiani variety with Renzo Arbore and Luciano De Crescenzo, dealing ironically with the Italian patriotism theme: 3 episodes.
- Tagli, ritagli e frattaglie - anthology of comic sketches from the RAI archive, hosted by Renzo Arbore. Luciano De Crescenzo and the debuting Lory Del Santo in the role of a sexy secretary.
- Mille milioni – musical show with Raffaella Carrà, coproduced by RAI and 4 foreign televisions and shot in 5 world metropolis.
- Happy circus – music show set in a circus, hosted by Samy Barbot and Liana Orfei.
- Foto finish – variety with the young learners of Vittorio Gassman's Bottega del teatro
- Grand canal, hosted by Corrado Maltoni; the program combines a game with only non-Italian contestants and a parodic soap-opera made following the directions of the audience from home.
- Patatrac – by Gianni Boncompagni, hosted by Franco and Ciccio
- Signori si parte – show of the summer, hosted by Gianfranco D’Angelo.
- Signorina grandi firme – with Carmen Russo, debuting as presenter.
- Te la do io l’America – humorous reportage from the United States by Beppe Grillo.
News and educational
È una domenica sera di novembre – documentary by Lina Wertmuller about the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, with an interview to Martin Scorsese.Droga, che fare? – care of Piero Badaloni.Vent’anni al 2000 – interviews to the main Italian intellectuals by the journalist Alberto Sinigalia.Movie movie – program about history of Italian cinema, hosted by Lugi Magni and Ugo Tognazzi.Tutto Govi – tribute to Gilberto Govi, fifteen years after his death, care of Vito Molinari.Controluce - theatre magazine, hosted by Ottavia Piccolo.A grande richiesta'' – imaginary interviews to five great philosophers, from Socrates to Nietzche, with text of renowned writers as Umberto Eco.Private channels
Hello Goggi – with Loretta Goggi, first variety produced by Canale 5.Ending this year
3,2,1... contattoA come agricolturaIl buggzzumPolvere di stelleIl pomofioreI sogni nel cassettoSuperGulp!- ''Il trenino''