Today, 1981 in Italian television is a topic of great interest and relevance in our society. For years now, 1981 in Italian television has captured the attention of experts and professionals in different fields, as well as the general public. The importance of 1981 in Italian television has been increasing as we enter an era of change and advancement in various areas. Whether in the technological, scientific, social, or cultural field, 1981 in Italian television has proven to be a topic of constant discussion and debate. In this article, we will explore different aspects related to 1981 in Italian television, from its impact on daily life to its influence on the future of society.
Overview of the events of 1981 in Italian television
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.[1]
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.[2]
March 18: the existence of the clandestine masonic lodge Propaganda 2 is revealed; among its objiectives, enounced in the Democratic rebirth plan,[3] 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. [4]
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.[5]
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 (the longest in RAI history),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.[6]
Private channels
In 1981, the private networks become a serious thread for RAI, with an average of 5 million viewers (1,39 for Canale 5 alone) 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.[1]
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.[4]
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.[7]
July 21: a sentence of the Constitutional Court confirms the RAI monopoly on the national information; the Primarete news program, Contatto, stop broadcasting. [4]
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.[8]
Mister Fantasy – Musica da vedere (Music to see), variety hosted by Carlo Massarini and Mario Luzzato Fegis, that reveals the music videos (often realized on purpose for the show) to the Italian public; four seasons.[9]
Lo scatolone, antologia di nuovissimi, nuovi e seminuovi (The big box, anthology of very new, new and almost new ones) – hosted by Claudia Poggiani and Lando Buzzanca; 2 seasons.
Il sistemone (The big system) – quiz about football history, hosted by Gianni Minà and others: 3 seasons.
Sotto le stelle (Under the star) – 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 (Date at the cinema) – review of trailer, for upcoming films; again on air.[10]
Linea verde (Green line) - 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.[11]
Più sani e più belli (Healthier and nicer) - well-being magazine, hosted by Rosanna Lambertucci; 7 editions.
Quark, viaggi nel mondo della scienza (Travelling in the science world, 7 seasons) and Quark speciale (20 seasons) - the most successful Italian shows of popular science, both hosted by Piero Angela.
For children
Direttissima con la tua antenna (Very live from your antenna) – show for children, containing inside cartoon and telefilms, hosted by Marta Flavi and Gianfranco Scancarello
Private channels
Bim Bum Bam (Antenna Nord, later Italia Uno and Canale 5) – 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 (of which The Smurfs is the most successful), comical sketches and parody fiction.[12]
Aboccaperta, gli italiani che hanno qualcosa da dire (Open mouth, the Italians with something to say) (TMC) – 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 (record for an Italian TV quiz).
Domenica con Five, Five time and Pomeriggio con Five – shows for children, with the puppet Five (voiced by Marco Columbro), mascot of Canale 5, Augusto Martelli and Fabrizia Carminati; 4 seasons.
Maria Zef – by Vittorio Cottafavi, from the novel of Paola Drigo, with Renata Chiappino and Siro Angeli; 2 episodes. It’s the story (played in Friulian language with Italian subtitles) of a country girl, victim of the misery and of her uncle’s abuses.[15]
Il caso Graziosi (The Graziosi affari) – by Michele Massa, with Jean-Pierre Cassel; the true story of the pianist Arnaldo Graziosi, presumed uxoricidal.
Illa: punto d’osservazione (Observation point) – 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 (Night Shift) by Paolo Poeti, with Rino Cassano and Barbara De Rossi; 3 episodes. Another occasional witness (this time a signalman) investigates a crime.
Un paio di scarpe per tanti chilometri (A pair of shoes for so many kilometers) - by Alfredo Giannetti, with Fabio Boccanera and Michele Esposito; 3 episodes. The ordeals of two boys escaped from a re-education institute.
Telepatria international ovvero niente paura siamo italiani (Telepatria international, or No fear, we are Italians) variety with Renzo Arbore and Luciano De Crescenzo, dealing ironically with the Italian patriotism theme: 3 episodes.[21]
Foto finish – variety with the young learners of Vittorio Gassman’sBottega 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.