This is a list of Italian television related events from 1997.
Events The RAI-Mediaset duopoly shows the first signs of crisis; several shows by the two estates are suspended or change their host for low ratings, while the new media, as Internet and the satellite television, spread also in Italy.
July 31. The Maccanico law, ruling the telecommunications, is approved by Italian Parliament. A single subject is forbidden to own more than 20% of national networks and 30% of the economic resources; RAI 3 must become a service channel, publicity free; AGCOM (Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni) is instituted. The law should terminate the RAI-Mediaset duopoly, but its concrete application is postponed to 2003 (actually, it will remain on paper).
RAI
February 22: Jalisse, an almost unknown duo, with the song Fiumi di parole, wins the 1997 Sanremo music festival, hosted by Mike Bongiorno (for the eleventh and last time) and Piero Chiambretti. Paola e Chiara, with Amici come prima, win among the new proposals. March 16: Mara Venier announces live, and crying out, to leave RAI for Mediaset; her program, Domenica in, is RAI's flagship show, also if many critics consider it a typical example of trash TV. For Venier, as for many other RAI defectors, the experience in Mediaset will be disappointing. June 23: RAI 3 airs the first episode of Friends. September 29: the first RAI satellite channel, RAISAT 2, aimed to the youngest ones, begins broadcasting. Soon, the entertainment channel RAISAT 1 (October 27) and the educational RAISAT 3 (October 13) and Uninettuno University TV (November 10) follow. All the four channels are free. October 9: Dario Fo, in a car with the actress Ambra Angiolini for an episode of the show Milano-Roma, (see below) learns by some fans to have won the Nobel Prize for literature. The RAI cameras shot the historical moment. November 3: Enrico Montesano leaves, for low ratings, the hosting of Saturday evening show Fantastico Enrico; Giancarlo Magalli takes his place, with slightly better results. It's the last edition of Fantastico, the most popular RAI show in the Eighties. November 15: the match Italy-Russia, for 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, it's the 1997 most seen TV program, with 16.700.000 viewers.
Private channels March 4: on TMC, the dating show Strettamente personale shows, for the first time in Italy, a young gay (the Croatian Elvis Busic) looking for a stable relationship with another man. The program arouses many controversies by the Catholics. April 14: TMC rips off from RAI part of the TV rights on Serie A and particularly the one to the synthesis of a match, traditionally broadcast the Sunday evening. RAI serves the exclusive on the match of the National team, for fifty billion liras. September 1. MTV Italia begins to broadcast, with the Nirvana concert MTV unplugged in New York, recorded 4 years before; the new channel is guest of Rete A frequencies. September 20, the newborn MTV Italia organizes and airs a U2 concert form Reggio Emilia with the presence of several emerging Italian bands. November 27: Mike Bongiorno celebrates his fifty years of career (he debuted on radio in 1947) and enters in the Guinness World records as the TV presenter been active for the longest time, with 7500 presences in video.
Pay TV
February. Stream TV, the second pay digital platform in Italy, owned by STET, begins to broadcast by cable. Spring The French group Canal Plus gets the 90% of Tele+, ousting Leo Kirch. The Italian versions of Bloomberg and Hallmark are added to Tele+ Satellite. September 1. General reorder of the Tele+ offer. The air channels Tele+ 1 and Tele+2 become Tele+bianco (cinema) and Tele+nero (sport). The platform Tele+satellite becomes D+ and is enriched by new channels: Tele+Calcio, (airing live the Serie A matches), Telepiù 16/9, (the first Italian TV in the broader format), Marcopolo (travels), Eurosport (Italian version) and INN (all news). November 15 The Italian version of Canal Jimmy make its debut on D+.
Awards 14. Telegatto award, for the season 1996-1997.
Show of the year: Anima mia. Man and woman of the year: Paolo Bonolis and Maria De Filippi. Best TV movie: Caro maestro 2. Best serial: Dio vede e provvede (for Italy) and ER (for abroad). Best soap opera: The bold and the beautiful. Best quiz: Tira & molla. Best variety: Paperissima. Best talk show: Maurizio Costanzo show. Best satirical show: Striscia la notizia. Best Music show: Sanremo music festival 1997 Best magazine: Target. Best sport magazine: Quelli che... il calcio. Best show for children: Solletico. Lifetime achievement awards: Eli Wallach and Enzo Biagi. Special awards: Mi manda Lubrano (for the service TV), Porta a porta, Mrs. Gabriella Pontone (reader of Sorrisi e Canzoni) and Johnny Deep (for the cinema in TV).
Debuts
RAI
Serials
Linda e il brigadiere (Linda and the brigadier) – detective comedy, by Gianfrancesco Lazotti and Alberto Simone; 3 seasons. Nino Manfredi plays a retired police brigadier who constantly interferes with the work and the private life of his daughter (Claudia Koll), she too police officer; in the third seasons, the Koll's character dies and her place in the life of the brigadier is taken by a young colored girl (Caterina Deregibus), his helper in a detective agency. Un prete tra noi (A priest among us) by Giorgio Capitani and Lodovico Gasparini, with Massimo Dapporto, as the prison chaplain Don Marco, and Giovannia Ralli; 2 seasons.
Variety
Milano Roma – reality show; 5 seasons (one on Italia 1) and a restart in 2016. The program follows the travel by car of a couple of VIP from Milan to Rome. Furore, music game with VIP as contenders, Italian version of the French La fureur, hosted by Alessandro Greco; 7 seasons more a reprisal for the twenty years of the show.. Per tutta la vita? – game show reserved to couples about to get married, Italian version of the French Pour la vie, hosted by Fabrizio Frizzi; 6 seasons more a reprisal in 2012.
News
A sua immagine (in his image) – religious program aimed to the Catholics, hosted by Lorena Bianchetti and others; again on air. Pinocchio – program of journalistic insight hosted by Gad Lerner; 2 seasons. Pole position – magazine about Formula One; 21 seasons. TG2 motori – column about motors, again on air.
Educational
La grande storia (again on air) and La storia siamo noi (hosted by Giovanni Minoli, on air till 2013) – cycles of historic documentaries, focused on the Twentieth Century. Magazzini Einstein – documentaries about art and culture; on air till 2013. Speciale Superquark (spin-off of Superquark, hosted by Piero Angela, on air till 2015) and Passaggio a Nord-ovest (North-West passage, hosted by his son Alberto Angela, again on air) – programs of popular science, history and travels.
For children
Lupo Alberto – cartoon from the comic strip by Silver, the protagonist is voiced by Francesco Salvi; 2 seasons. Glu-glu – block-programming of cartoons on RAI SAT 2, one of the first RAI show realized for the satellite; 2 seasons.
Mediaset
Serials
Doctor Giorgia – medical drama with Barbara D’Urso; 3 seasons (the third one realized after a 20 years break-up). Due per tre (Two parents for three sons) – sitcom with Johnny Dorelli and Loretta Goggi; 3 seasons.
Variety
Sarabanda – musical quiz, inspired by Name that tune and hosted by Enrico Papi and Teo Mammuccari; 10 seasons (Italian record for a musical show, with 1777 episodes, specials included). The show gets a wide public success, so much so that its timetable is often changed to not harm the other Mediaset programs. It arouses yet several controversies about the regularity of the contest. Ciro il figlio di target (Ciro, the Target's sonThe title hints to another Paolini's show (Target) and to a controversial episode, when the actress Sandra Milo, on air, burst into tears calling the son Ciro because the fake news of an accident.) – satirical variety ideated by Gregorio Paolini, hosted by Gaia De Laurentis and Enrico Bertolino, with various comic actors, among which Luciana Litizzetto stands out; 5 seasons (with slightly different titles).
News and educational
Le iene (The hyenas) – infotainment show, Italian version of the Argentinian Caiga quien caiga, with various hosts, generally female (Simona Ventura, Alessia Marcuzzi, Ilary Blasy, Nadia Toffa); again on air. It's a mix of reportages and interviews, realized, often in a very provocative tone, by actors dressed as the Reservoir dogs’ characters. The program, despite the charges of sensationalism, is now again one of the most successful of the Italian television ad has generated several special editions and spin-off. La macchina del tempo (Time machine) – show of popular science, hosted by Alessandro Cecchi Paone, considered the Mediaset answer to the Piero Angela's programs in RAI; 9 seasons and a reprisal. Fuego – magazine aimed to the young ones, hosted by Alessia Marcuzzi and others; 3 seasons. Angeli (Angels) – magazine about spirituality and ESP experiences, hosted by Marco Liorni; 3 seasons and a reprisal.
Other channels
Hitslist Italia (till 2016) and MTV select (till 2005): musical shows on MTV Italia.
Television shows
Rai
Drama
Vajont 9 ottobre 1963, orazione civile (Vajont 9 October 1963, civil oraction) – monologue by Marco Paolini (author and interpreted). The show is broadcast live on RAI 2 for the 34th anniversary of the Vajont disaster, in a theatre build on the dam's place, and gets 3 million and a half of viewers. David by Robert Markowitz, with Nathaniel Parker in the title role and Solomon by Roger Young, with Ben Cross in the title role; seventh and eighth chapter of the Lux Vide Bible project. La piovra 8 – Lo scandalo (The scandal) by Giacomo Battiato, with Raoul Bova and Primo Reggiani; 2 episodes. Prequel of La piovra franchise, it describes the beginning of the Tano Cariddi's criminal career in the Sicily of the Fifties. Nessuno escluso (Nobody excluded) – by Massimo Spano, with Ennio Fantastichini and Giancarlo Giannini; a Mafia business consultant redeems himself working for DIA. Teo – by Cinzia Th Torrini, with Ludgero Fortes Dos Santos –a young Somali saves an Italian girl abused by the stepfather. Un giorno fortunato (A lucky day) – by Massimo Martelli, with Fabio Fazio, in his only role as an actor, and Claudio Bisio; tv-movie about the daily work of a public service psychologist. Il padre di mia figlia (The father of my daughter) – by Livia Giampalmo, with Davide Bigazzi and Sabrina Ferilli; comedy about the consequences of the assisted reproduction.
Biopics
Padre Pio da Petralcina, by Alberto Rondalli, with Antonio Buil Pejo in the title role. Don Milani, il priore di Barbiana (The Barbiana prior) – by Andrea and Antonio Frazzi, biopic with Sergio Castellitto (in the title role) and Ilaria Occhini. La casa bruciata (The burn-out house) – by Massimo Spano, with Giulio Scarpati; inspired by the true story of Ezechiele Ramin.
Miniseries
Mamma per caso (The accidental mum) – by Sergio Martino; romantic comedy in 4 episodes with Raffaella Carrà and Maurizio Crozza. A career anchorwoman, always a single, is forced to take care of her three nephews. Il conto Montecristo (The Montecristo account) – by Ugo Gregoretti, with Corso Salani, Imma Piro and Alessio Boni; parody of Alexandre Dumas’ The count of Montecristo, transferred in the time of Mani pulite. Racket – by Luigi Perelli, with Michele Placido. A restaurant owner, former policeman, fights against the Sacra Corona Unita racket. Noi siamo angeli – by Ruggero Deodato, with Bud Spencer, Philip Michael Thomas and Kabir Bedi; in Costa Rica, two fake friars (actually, escaped inmates) become protectors of the weak and oppressed.
Serials