1996 in Italian television


This is a list of Italian television related events from 1996.

Events

RAI

January 10: RAI president Letizia Moratti refuses to air Beppe Grillo's ecologist show Energia e informazione, produced by TSI and WDR. The official reason is an unhappy joke comparing Holocaust and gas pollution: "Eichmann gassed three million people for a distorted ideal, Romiti gasses millions people for a bank account". January 22: debut of the political talk show Porta a porta, hosted by Bruno Vespa; his first guests are Romano Prodi and the show-girl Milly Carlucci. Already at the third airing, the show gets a huge public success with the confrontation between Silvio Berlusconi and Massimo D'Alema, followed by five million viewers. February 24: Ron and Tosca win the Sanremo Festival, hosted by Pippo Baudo and Sabrina Ferilli, with "Vorrei incontrarti fra cent'anni"; "La terra dei cachi" by Elio e le storie tese, a provocative song of political satire, is runner up and wins the Critics prize. April 19: at the eve of the political elections, Letizia Moratti resigns as RAI president, after having consolidated the balance sheet of the estate. Giuseppe Morello takes her places ad interim.May 13: Camera dei Deutati begins broadcasting on the Hot Bird stellite, airing the opening session of the 13. Legislature.June 19: the match Italy-Germany for UEFA Euro 1996 gets the highest ratings of the year, with 22 millions viewiers. July 10: after the victory of The olive tree at the elections, the RAI management is fully renewed. The writer Enzo Siciliano becomes president, Franco Iseppi general director, Liliana Cavani enters in the board of directors. The directors of the three RAI channels and of the news programs are changed too.September 9: all the RAI TV and radio channels are broadcast satellite by Hotbird.

Fininvest-Mediaset

April 4: Massimo D'Alema, PDS secretary, in full election campaign, visits the Fininvest studios and calls the Berlusconi's estate "a national resource to be saved"; so, he breaks up with the traditional hostility of the Italian left towards the private television. April 19: at the eve of the elections, on Canale 5 debate between the leaders of the two opposite coalitions, Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi; the match, moderated by Enrico Mentana, ends in a draw.July 16: Fininvest channels enter in the new society Mediaset, which is listed in the stock exchange with an 8.200 billion liras capital. With the operation, the Berlusconi’s firm reduces its debt level and its dependence by the creditors.August 28: the decree 444 by the Prodi cabinet prorogues the airing of Rete 4 till to the January 1997. The channel would have to go on satellite, according to a sentence of the Constitutional court.December 5: Michele Santoro debuts on Italia 1 with the talk show Moby Dick; the first episode arouses many quarrels for a "virtual interview" with Antonio Di Pietro. In the year, other two RAI stars pass to Mediaset, but the experience is successful only for Bonolis.

Other channels

January 3: Italian television enter in the satellite era. debut of DSTV, the first Italian satellite pay-tv. The initial bouquet includes the three Telepiù channels and MTV Europe. In the summer, the offer grows, including also TMC and TMC2, the Italian versions of Cartoon Network and Discovery Channel, BBC News, CNN, ten radio channels and the service +Calcio, allowing to see every match of Serie A. February 28: the Cecchi Gori group buys the TV right for the Serie A; after complex negotiations, however, in December it resells most of them to RAI.June 1: Videomusic changes name in TMC2 and gradually turns from music to generalist channel.
  • The toys entrepreneur Enrico Preziosi gets the direction of Junior TV; the syndication has a restyling and changes name in JTV.

Judiciary enquiries

Four years after Tangentopoli, a wave of judiciary enquiries invest also the Italian television.March 4: Il maresciallo Rocca is inquired by the antitrust office, because the accuses of hidden product placement made by Striscia la notizia and by a consumer's association; the popular serial is absolved. May 9: Pippo Baudo is inquired by the Milan tribunal, with the charge to have received payments off-the-book by the sponsors of his shows; in October, the enquiry involves also Mara Venier and Rosanna Lambertucci, host of a fitness program. In 1998, the three presenters are sentenced for concussion, but the condemnation doesn't harm their careers. June 18: Gigi Sabani, the most popular Italian impersonator, is arrested for sexual harassment. The enquiry, nicknamed "Vallettopoli", involves also the showman Valerio Merola and the TV author Gianni Boncompagni. Also if all the defendants are absolved before the trial, the Sabani's career never recovers by the reputational damage. November 13: Pippo Baudo is inquired by the Milan tribunal as artistic director of the Sanremo festival; he's accused to have manipulated the contest, favouring the victory of Ron. The charge is not proved.

Awards

13. Telegatto award, for the season 1995–1996.

Debuts

RAI

Serials

Variety

Ci vediamo in TV – show about vintage music, hosted by Paolo Limiti; 7 seasons.

News and educational

Elisir – magazine about medicine, hosted by Michele Mirabella; again on air. Porta a porta – talk show hosted by Bruno Vespa; again on air. It's the most followed and influential political program of Italian television; Giulio Andreotti called it "the third House of Italian parliament". However, it had been also hardly criticized, for its tones, often too sensationalistic or parlor, and for the evident Vespa's partiality in favor of Silvio Berlucsconi.

Fininvest-Mediaset

Serials

Caro maestro – by Rossella Izzo, with Marco Columbro as a bus driver become teacher in an elementary school and Elena Sofia Ricci; 2 seasons. Dio vede e provvede by Enrico Oldoini, spin-off of the two homonym comic TV-movies; 2 seasons. Angela Finocchiaro plays the double role of a prostituted turned in nun and of her scheming twin sister.

Variety

Uomini e donne – reality show hosted by Maria De Filippi; again on air. It begins as a talk-show, with couples talking about their troubles; since 2001, becomes a dating show with a boy or a girl sitting on a throne who chooses a partner among a crowd of pretenders; there is also a version with aged protagonists. The show, considered by critics a typical example of "trash television", gets the same a durable public success; the format has been exported in Spain and Albany. Zelig – comic show aired from the homonymous cabaret in Milan; again on air. In the years, it has changed more times the title and the hosts Paperissima sprint – summer version of Paperissima, hosted by Gabibbo; again on air.Tira e molla – quiz of the early evening; 4 seasons. Thanks to the histrionics of the host Paolo Bonolis, the show gets a great public success, but has a noticeable drop in ratings when the conduction passes to Giampiero Ingrassia.Chi mi ha visto? - celebrative show for the 15 years of the Fininvest televisions, hosted by Emanuela Foliero; 2 seasons.Galà della pubblicita – award for the best television advertisement; 6 editions.Il grande bluff – candid camera, hosted by Luca Barbareschi and later by Marco Columbro, from a French format; 3 seasons. Barbareschi and, later, other TV stars, intervene disguised to disturb the Mediaset shows.Sotto a chi tocca – talent show among teams representing the Italian regions, hosted by Pippo Franco and Pamela Prati; 2 seasons. Campioni di ballo – talent show about social dance; 4 seasons.Vinca il migliore – quiz hosted by Gerry Scotti, italian version of Everybody's 'equal; 2 seasons.

News and educational

La domenica del villaggio – travel show about the italian villages and the traditional cuisine, hosted by Davide Mengacci and various female partners; 9 seasons. Moby Dick – political talk show, hosted by Michele Santoro; 3 seasons. Only program realized by Santoro for Mediaset, it doesn’t repeat the success of the ones for RAI, also if the journalist serves his independence and his populist formula.
However, in this year the Mediaset information bets moreover on the gossip magazinesVerissimo – hosted by Cristina Parodi, Silvia Toffanin and many others, again on air. Born as a chronicle magazine, with the years it has focused more and more on gossip.Chi c'è... c'è – gossip and fashion magazine, hosted by Silvana Giacobini; 4 seasons. Papi quotidiani – column of gossip, hosted by Enrico Papi; 2 seasons.

For children

Game boat – block programming of cartoons and anime, hosted by Pietro Ubaldi; 3 seasons.

Other channels

Zap-Zap – block programming of cartoons and anime, with various hosts; 5 seasons. Cartoon network – block programming of cartoons, hosted by Emanuela Panatta; 2 seasons. Musica insieme – dance music show, hosted by Carlo Crocco; again on air in the Piedmonts channel Telecity. Telegaribaldi and Seven show ; cabaret shows. They launch some comic actors who later have a career on national scope, as Alessandro Siani, Enrico Bertolino and I Fichi d'India.

Shows of the year

RAI

Drama

Miniseries

Nostromo – by Alastair Reid, international coproduction from the Joseph Conrad’s novel, with Claudio Amendola, Colin Firth, Albert Finney and Claudia Cardinale; 3 episodes.Positano – by Vittorio Sindoni, with Amanda Sandrelli, in 4 episodes; coming of age story of a band of teenagers improvised hoteliers.Donna – by Gianfranco Giagni, from the radio soap Matilde, with Ottavia Piccolo and Edwige Fenech; 6 episodes. An upper class woman must face the failure of his marriage and the troubles of her sons.

Serial

Occhio di falco – by Vittorio De Sisti, with Gene Gnocchi, parodic detective serial vaguely inspired to Giorgio Scerbanenco and suspended for low ratings; 7 episodes. Uno di noi – by Fabrizio Costa, with Gioele Dix and Lucrezia Lante della Rovere; 12 episodes. A successful architect leaves his work to take care of the orphanage where is grown.

Variety

40 minuti con Raffaella – spin-off of Carramba che sorpresa, aired daily.Holywood party – by Marcello Cesena, hosted by Maurizio Crozza, with the comic group Broncoviz; variety in 12 episodes, focused on the parody of the cinematographic genres. Mille lire al mese – hosted by Pippo Baudo and Giancarlo Magalli, variety retracing the story of Italian music and way of life in the Twentieth century.Su le mani – summer variety, with the couple Carlo Conti and Giorgio Panariello.

News and educational

Atlantam tam – sporting talk show, hosted by Fabio Fazio, aired for the Atlanta Olimpic Games.Ventesimo secolo – program of popular history, hosted by Gianni Bisiach.

Mediaset

Drama

Favola – romantic comedy by Fabrizio De Angelis, inspired to Roman Holyday, with Ambra Angiolini. It gets a good public success despite Angiolini herself, the day of the airing, had called it "a bad movie" and invited the spectators to avoid it.Fantaghirò 5, last, and least successful, episode of the Fantaghirò franchise, with Alessandra Martines, Remo Girone and Brigitte Nielsen and Sorellina e il principe del sogno with Veronica Logan, Raz Degan and Christopher Lee – fantasy stories directed by Lamberto Bava, both in 2 episodes.
Mediaset airs even 3 TV movies about an innocent escaping from mafia.Una donna in fuga – by Roberto Rocco, with Maria Michela Mari and Gina Lollobrigida; 2 episodes. A young woman, to avoid the mafia's revenge, assumes the identity of a dead girl.La signora della citta – by Beppe Cino, from the Silvana Giacobini’s novel, with Barbara Blanc; 2 episodes. Another young woman in the same situation, instead, becomes top model in New York.Padre papà – by Sergio Martino, with Antonio Sabato and Maria Grazia Cucinotta; 2 episodes. Here, the casual witness of a mafia crime is a child, natural son of a priest.

Miniseries

The return of Sandokan – by Enzo G. Castellari, with Kabir Bedi, Mandala Taye and Fabio Testi; 6 episodes. Ideated as a sequel to Sergio Sollima's Sandokan, it doesn't repeat its popular success.

Serials

Cascina Vianello – spin-off of Casa Vianello; the couple Vianello-Mondaini goes to live in the country.Quei due sopra il varano – sitcom written by Antonio Ricci, with Enzo Iachetti and Lello Arena, about the misadventures of an actor and his agent, both not too successful. The title hints to an animals shop under the actor’s apartment.

Variety

Il boom – tribute to the years of the Italian boom, hosted by Teo Teocoli and Gene Gnocchi. The show is a flop, also because productions problems.La febbre del sabato sera – one-man show by Fiorello, sided by Maurizio Costanzo.I guastafeste – mix of variety and candid-camera, hosted by Luca Barbareschi and later by Massimo Lopez. Barbareschi, notorious right-wing sympathizer, is dismissed at the fourth episode, for having invited the audience to not pay the "tax for Europe", wanted by the Prodi cabinet.Rose rosse – variety with the Bagaglino troupe.Telemania – quiz about the story of television, hosted by Mike Bongiorno.Tutti in piazza – variety show from the squares of Italian provincial towns, with Gerry Scotti, Alba Parietti and a debuting Enrico Papi.

Other channels

Drama

Il ragazzo dal kimono d'oro 6 – by Fabrizio De Angelis, last sequel to Karate Warrior, produced directly for television.

Variety

Retromarsh!!! – cabaret show, set in a barrack, and hosted by Gianfranco D'Angelo, that strictly traces the Drive-in formula.Strettamente personale – dating show, hosted by Marco Balestri, the first in Italy to show a gay looking for a male mate.

Ending this year

Agenzia matrimoniale Cinema insieme Cinico TV Pazza famiglia Perdonami I ragazzi del muretto Re per una notte
  • ''Tempo reale''

Deaths

12 February: Andrea Barbato, journalist, 61. 18 June: Gino Bramieri, comic actor, 67 19 December: Marcello Mastroianni, actor, 72