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1991 in Italian television

This is a list of Italian television related events from 1991.

Events

RAI

Fininvest

  • 9 January: Canale 5 broadcasts the first episode of Twin Peaks. The series repeats in Italy the success gotten in the United States, with 11 million viewers.
  • 17 January: on Italia 1, Emilio Fede, director of Studio Aperto (Open Studio), beating on time RAI, announces on air the beginning of Desert Storm and follows the events with a long special edition, until 8 AM; the news program had been launched just the day before.
  • 15 April: on Italia 1, the infotainment show L'istruttoria broadcasts a brawl between the critic Vittorio Sgarbi and the journalist Roberto D'Agostino, notoriously rivals. The two, after heavily insulting each other, come to blows in front of the cameras. The episode becomes emblematic of the Italian TV's drit towards trash.
  • 29 July: TG4, the third Finivest news program, starts on Rete4, directed by Edvige Bernasconi.
  • 1 September: Emilio Fede announces the start of live broadcasts for Fininvest.
  • 26 September: First collaboration between RAI and Fininvest. Samarcanda, with Michele Santoro, and the Maurizio Costanzo show broadcast, in relay, a five-hour anti-mafia marathon in memory of Libero Grassi, with the presence of the Minister of Justice Claudio Martelli, Pippo Baudo and Giovanni Falcone. Those who took part in the broadcast come into the Cosa Nostra’<nowiki/>s crosshair. On November 3, a mafia attack destroys Baudo's villa in Acireale.
  • 1 October - Long running US animated comedy series The Simpsons begins broadcasting on television stations all across Italy for the first time. The series was premiered on Canale 5.

Other channels

  • 3 February: the syndication TV7 Pathe, owned by Giancarlo Parretti, begins to broadcast.
  • 19 March: Retemia’s bankruptcy; its president Giorgio Mendella, who used the channel to promote his unscrupulous financial operations, fled to Romania to escape arrest.
  • 1 June: birth of pay-TV in Italy; the thematic channel Tele+1, dedicated to cinema, begins encrypted broadcasts airing Blade Runner by Ridley Scott.
  • 26 June: during the Ten Day War, a Serbian bombing destroys the TV-Koper repeaters; Slovenian TV is no longer visible on Italian territory.
  • 29 November: Umberto Eco, generally reluctant to appear on television, grants a long interview to Alain Elkann on Telemontecarlo.

Awards

8. Telegatto award, for the season 1990–1991.

Debuts

RAI

Miniseries

  • Felipe ha gli occhi azzurri (Felipe has blue eyes) – by Gianfranco Albano and Felice Farina, with Claudio Amendola, Silvio Orlando and the eight-years old Filipino child Victor Vicente as protagonist; 2 seasons. The miniseries, also if treats challenging topics like the clandestine immigration and the exploitation of the minors, gets a huge public success, with 10 million viewiers.

Serials

  • I ragazzi del muretto (The little wall boys) – coming-of-age serial, set in a Rome high-school, with Francesca Antonelli and Lorenzo Diglio; 3 seasons. Unlike many similar products, it treats also serious matters as racism and drug.

Variety

  • Avanzi (Leftovers) – with Serena Dandini (also author), Corrado Guzzanti and a debuting Luciana Litizzetto; 3 seasons. It begins as a parody of the Italian television while in the two later seasons the satire is extended to the whole society. The leftovers of the title are “shows never aired, found in the RAI archives”, obviously staged by the actors.
  • Scommettiamo che... (Let's make a bet) – Italian version of the German show Wetten, dass..?, hosted by Fabrizio Frizzi and Milly Carlucci, care of Michele Guardì; 10 seasons.
  • Creme caramel – variety set in a pastry shop by Pier Francesco Pingitore, with the Bagaglino troupe; 2 seasons.
  • Non è mai troppo tardi - revival and parody of Alberto Manzi'<nowiki/>s historic educational program in the form of a quiz on the Italian language, with Gianni Ippoliti; 2 seasons.

News and educational

  • Detto tra noi – infotainment afternoon show, aimed to the female public and focused on gossip and crime news, with Pietro Vigorelli and Patrizia Caselli; after many changes of titles and hosts, it’s again on air as Vita in diretta, hosted by Alberto Matano. Often criticized for its sensationalism, it however got a noticeable public success and generated several spin-off.
  • Diritto di replica (Right to reply) – semiserious talk show, hosted by Sandro Paternostro and Fabio Fazio, with controversial personalities defending themselves as guests ; 2 seasons.
  • Turisti per caso (Accidental tourists) – humorous travel show, with Patrizio Roversi and Syusy Blady; 18 seasons.
  • Il circolo delle 12 - daily cultural magazine, hosted by Roberto Battaglia and others; lasted till 1994.
  • Il coraggio di vivere (The courage of living) – magazine about healthcare and social questions, care of Riccardo Bonacina; 4 seasons (the first two follow the formula of the film with debate).

Fininvest

Serials

Variety

  • Non è la RAI (It's not RAI) – musical and game show ideated by Gianni Boncompagni and hosted by Erica Bonaccorti, Paolo Bonolis and Ambra Angiolini (debuting 15 years old), with a cast composed almost entirely by female teen-agers, some of which, as Angiolini herself and Claudia Gerini, destined to a career in the show business; 4 seasons. The program becomes a cultural phenomenon, with episodes of stardom for the adolescent showgirls but is also heavily criticized for the given image of the young woman, shallow and sexually precocious.
  • Mai dire TV – anthology of involuntarily comic clips broadcast on local Italian TV and on foreign satellite channels, commented by Gialappa's Band; 2 seasons.
  • Bellezze sulla neve (Beauties on the snow) – winter version of Bellezze al bagno, aired from ski resorts, hosted by Marco Columbro and Lorella Cuccarini, later by Claudio Lippi and Sabrina Salerno; 2 seasons.

News and educationals

  • L'istruttoria – in-depth program care of Giuliano Ferrara and Lino Jannuzzi, much discussed for its partisanship and for the debates that often degenerate into verbal brawls (see over); 2 seasons.

Other channelas

International

Television shows

RAI

Drama

Miniseries

Serials

  • Il commissario Corso (Chief Corso) – by Alberto Sironi and Gianni Lepre, with Diego Abatantuono as a Southern police superintendent in Milan; realized for the coproduction series Eurocops.

Variety

News and educational

  • Il portalettere (The postman) – Piero Chiambretti, as an irreverent postman, delivers the Andrea Barbato’s open letters to public personalities, moreover politicians; the last one is to the Republic President Francesco Cossiga.
  • Goodbye Cortina – ironical reportage by Piero Chiambretti about Eastern Europe after the fall of the iron curtain; 8 episodes.
  • Profondo Nord (Deep North) – political talk show hosted by Gad Lerner; the journalist travels among the Northern Italy towns, trying to understand the reasons of the Lega Nord’s success.
  • Passo falso – Gad Lerner interviews public personality who, in their life, committed a “misstep”.
  • I dieci comandamenti all’italiana (The Ten Commandments Italian Style) – Enzo Biagi'<nowiki/>s enquiry about the relationship of Italians with religion and ethics; 10 episodes.
  • Viaggio in Italia, schegge dagli anni ’60 (Journey in Italy, splinters from the Sixties) – montage film by Filippo Porcelli, realized exclusively with material from the RAI archives.

Fininvest

Drama

Miniseries

Serial

Variety

Deaths

See also

References