It has been more than 66 years since public television was born in Spain, and more than 30 since regional and private television arrived. And although it seems like it was yesterday, the great takeoff that the arrival of new players meant for the small screen marked a before and after in television entertainment. That is what “Prime Time: the TV that marked our lives” tries to reflect, a three-episode docuseries that Movistar Plus+ premieres this Friday, September 15, which includes images of iconic formats and the testimony of dozens of professionals in the sector: actors, presenters, producers and directors of those years.
As Florentino Fernández explains well in the heading of the first episode, on TV in the 90s “we were very virgins” and everything had to be invented. Journalists such as Borja Terán, Mariola Cubells and Juan Sanguino contextualize a television “reflection of society” that evolves as times change. With the past as a reference we will listen to the opinions of Anne Igartiburu, Carlos Sobera, Jesús Vázquez, Ramón García, Arturo Valls, Andreu Buenafuente and Mercedes Milá. All of them point to regional and private television channels as drivers of the new television. The birth of Canal + and late nights are the focus of this first episode (The show begins), which also includes the personal experiences of Francesco Boserman, Mikel Lejarza, José Miguel Contreras, Alejandro Macías, Elena Neira and Isabel Gemio. At that time we will remember the late “Martian Chronicles” and “Tonight we cross the Mississippi”, contests like “What’s Bet” and “The Grand Prix” and spaces like “Caiga qué caiga” and “Surprise surprise”. All of them referents of formats that are currently broadcast such as “El Intermedio”, “Ilustres ignorantes” or “La Resistencia”.
Live programs and reality shows lead the second episode (La vida en direct) which highlights what the premieres of “Big Brother” in 2000 and Operación Triunfo” in 2001 meant. The approach of recognizing that there already was pioneering attempts in the world of reality television with mythical spaces such as “Queen for a Day” in 1964 and other testimonials such as “Who knows where” and “What you need is love”, which laid the first stones for the viewer to be part active part of the programs, with their joys, confessions and miseries. Ismael Beiro, the first winner of “GH” in Spain, will talk about it and Tinet Rubira will admit in front of the camera that “without ‘GH’ there would not have been ‘OT’ in the way we understand it now.” Later, formats derived from original reality shows would arrive that would feed into the rest of the networks’ programming for years. It will be time to talk about the famous date shows that represented spaces such as “Su media orange” (1990) and the current “First Dates” so well, and that found their birth in spaces such as “Llamada al corazón” (1964). To close the second episode, “Prime time” reminds us of the emergence of the world of contests, which have the advantage of having good audience levels because the viewer quickly empathizes with the contestants, creating a loyal following. They are also cheap, manage to become good investments for advertisers and “everyone likes them.” Examples from the past like “One, two, three…” and more recent ones like “How to be a millionaire.”
The dissection of the third episode (“The heartbeat”) focuses on what is called the Pink Chronicle, with the testimonies of Jaime Cantizano, Algerino Marroncelli, Rosa Villacastín. Travel back in time to the famous program “Bla, blah, blah”, a weekly program broadcast on TVE between 1981 and 1983, presented by Jesús María Amilibia and Marisa Abad. Every week there was a review of the social chronicle and the world of the heart. And the evolution from there, where very white information about celebrities was still broadcast, such as in “Corazón” on RTVE, passing through “Pasa la vida” by María Teresa Campos in the 90s, the contribution of Ana Rosa Quintana and exploiting with the appearance of “Tómbola”, “Qué me dices”, “Aqui hay toma” (which were the first to start chasing celebrities), “Salsa Rosa”, “Where are you heart” and culminating in “Sálvame”. Special chapter for “I know what you did”, for its contribution to the pink chronicle from humor. “Prime time” is a documentary about nostalgia, the end of a golden age of television and the beginning of a new era.
The documentary series has testimonies from the most recognizable faces on our television
More nostalgia to binge
The revival of formats such as “The Grand Prix”, “Takeshi’s Castle”, “Big Brother” and Amazon’s future “Operation Triumph” in programs, in the line of rescuing old glories for new audiences, will soon be joined the legendary series from the 90s “Farmacia de Guardia” on Antena 3, which can be seen on atresplayer, which is placed in the Netflix catalog of the complete fiction (169 chapters) created by Antonio Mercero. We’ll see if it convinces as “Los Serrano”, “Los hombres de Paco”, “Física y Química”, and many more series that appeal to a new young audience continue to do.
2023-09-12 00:39:25
#Entertainment #born #90s
