1989 in Italian television

This is a list of Italian television related events from 1989.

Events

RAI

• 25 February: Anna Oxa and Fausto Leali win the Sanremo festival with Ti lascerò . The hosting, entrusted to four young sons of art (Rosita Celentano, Paola Dominguin, Danny Quinn and Gianmarco Tognazzi), completely inexperienced, a sketch, judged blasphemous, by the Marchesini-Solenghi-Lopez trio and the virulent intervention of Beppe Grillo, cause much quarrels. ^[1]
• 20 March: the last episode of La piovra 4, with the killing of Corrado Cattani, the hero of the series, gets 17.2 million viewers, an absolute record for an Italian fiction. ^[2]
• 7 April: Adriano Celentano returns to television, for the first time since Fantastico , as a guest of Pippo Baudo at Serata d'onore. Immediately, the singer sparked a new controversy, for his stance against abortion. ^[3]
• 30 April: debut of Chi l’ha visto?  ; already in the first episode, a missing person is found. The American soldier Jennifer Muir, who fled from a NATO base for sentimental reasons, telephones the studio answering the appeal made live by her father. ^[4]
• 24 May: the 1989 European Cup Final Milan-Steaua is the most watched program of the year, with 19.673 million viewers.  ^[2]
• 4 June: the Beijing correspondent Ilairo Fiore witnesses for Rai the Tien An Men Square massacre. ^[5]
• 9 November: the TG2 special correspondent Lilli Gruber (German native speaker) describes, for RAI, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the following events. ^[6]
• 10 November : RAI director general Biagio Agnes, a left-wing Catholic, resigns. For months he had been the target of a press campaign, accused of bad management and excessive spending. ^[7]
• 12 November: RAI 1 broadcasts the first episode of The betrothred (see below). Realized with a 20 billion liras budget, in coproduction with Bayerischer Rundfunk  and the Croatian television, the series gets high ratings in Italy; it is instead ravaged by critics, who reproach it the infidelity to the book, transformed into a cloak and dagger story, and the mediocrity of the two lead actors.

Awards

6. Telegatto Award, for the season 1988-1989.

• Man and woman of the year: Marco Columbro and Marisa Laurito; Piero Chiambretti as revelation of the year.
• Best tv show :Biberon.
• Best TV movie: La piovra 4
• Best serial:Big man (for Italy) and Dynasty (for abroad).
• Best miniseries:La romana
• Best spot: Associazione nazionale Lega Handicappati.  
• Best quiz:Telemike.
• Best game show:Tra moglie e marito.
• Best variety:Odiens.
• Best talk show : Maurizio Costanzo show
• Best educational:Alla ricerca dell’arca.
• Best news program:Linea diretta.
• Best music show:International D.O.C. club
• Best sport magazine: La domenica sportiva .
• Best show for children:Big.
• Best title track : C’è da spostare una macchina by Francesco Salvi.
• Awards for the foreign TV: Juan Lisiard, (France), Suscè (UK), Gudrun Landgrebe (Germany).
• Special awards: Telelombardia (best local channel), Mrs. Lucia Baldi (reader of Sorrisi e canzoni TV), Happy days, Fame , Loving (for having gotten 500 episodes), Emilio.

Debuts

Rai

Variety

• Piacere Raiuno – midday traveling show, from the Italian provincial towns, with Toto Cotugno, Piero Badaloni, Simona Marchini and then Gigi Sabani.
• Lascia o raddoppia? – unlucky remake of the legendary quiz of the Fifties, with Bruno Gambarotta and Lando Buzzanca  ; 2 seasons.
• Gli antennati – care of Nicoletta Leggeri; 2 seasons. Satire of television, based on the comic editing of the material from the RAI archive.

News and educational

RAI 3, directed by literary critic Angelo Guglielmi, stands out for its sometimes discussed, but nevertheless innovative programs.

• Blob, di tutto di più – daily column showing the worst of the day in television, care of Enrico Ghezzi and Marco Giusti; very acclaimed by critics for its satirical use of editing, it’s still on the air. ^[8]
• Chi l'ha visto? - true crime program, hosted by Donatella Raffai and many others (actually by Federica Sciarelli); again on air. ^[9]
• I racconti del 113 (113's stories ^[10] ) real TV program, following the daily work of the police in Rome, by Gilberto Squizzato, 2 seasons. ^[11]
• Cartolina (Postcard) – daily column by Andrea Barbato, consisting of a five minutes open letter addressed to a personality of politics or everyday life; five seasons. ^[12]
• Fluff, processo alla tv (The TV on trial) – magazine about television, always with Andrea Barbato; 2 seasons.

Fininvest

Serials

• Chiara e gli altri – by Andrea Barzini and Gianfrancesco Lazotti, with Ottavia Piccolo and Alessandro Haber; 2 seasons.
• I-taliani – sitcom with Trettré; 2 seasons. It’s a series of satirical sketch, without fixed characters.

Variety

• Emilio – comic variety, set in an imaginary newsroom, with Athina Cenci, Zuzzurro e Gaspare, Silvio Orlando and Teo Teocoli; 2 seasons.
• Agenzia matrimoniale (Marriage agency) – people show, hosted by Marta Flavi (by then wife of the producer Maurizio Costanzo) and later by Barbara D’Urso; 9 seasons. In every episode, two lonely hearts have a blind date in front of the cameras. ^[13]
• C’eravamo tanto amati (Once we loved each other so much) – talk-show, hosted by Luca Barbareschi; 5 seasons. The program, forerunner of the future trash-TV, is focused on the angry quarrels (largely staged) of couples in crisis; despite its bad taste, it gets public success and has an American version (That’s amore). ^[14]
• Bellezze al bagno (Bathing beauties) – game show, aired in the summer from the most famous Italian water parks; 5 seasons. ^[15]
• Una rotonda sul mare (A gazebo on the sea) – music show, hosted by Red Ronnie, tribute to the summer tunes of the Sixties; 2 editions.

News and educational

• Radio Londra - column with Giuliano Ferrara; 3 seasons.

International

• Max Headroom ( RAI 3 )
• Hunter ( RAI 2)
• Batman (Italia 1)

Television shows

Rai

Comedy

• Allacciate le cinture di sicurezza (Fasten your seat belts) with the trio Marchesini-Solenghi-Lopez, parody of Othello , The cherry orchard and Agatha Christiie 's plays, with a willingly absurd plot.
• E se poi se ne vanno? (If they leave home actually) –, by Giorgio Capitani, with Turi Ferro and Virna Lisi; sequel of … e non se ne vogliono andare.

Drama

• Una donna spezzata – by Marco Leto, from Simone de Beauvoir’s La femme rompue, with Lea Massari and Erland Josephson, in 2 parts. A middle-class woman has to face the crumbling of her seemingly happy family. ^[16]
• Quattro storie di donne (Four women’s stories) – cycle of TV-movie (Emma by Carlo Lizzani with Mariangela Melato, Carla by Dino Risi with Gudrun Landgrebe, Luisa by Franco Giraldi with Senta Berger, Rose by Tomaso Sherman with Valerie Perrine) showing the evolution of woman in Italy from the Fifties to the Eighties. ^[17]
• Una lepre con la faccia da bambina (A hare with a child’s face) – by Gianni Serra, from the Laura Conti’ s novel about the Seveso disaster, with Franca Rame, Gianni Cavina and Lydia Alfonsi.
• Marco e Laura dieci anni fa (Ten years ago) by Carlo Tuzii, with Christian Vadim and Mapi Galan; a love story with the movement of 1977 on the background.
• Uomo contro uomo (Man vs. man) – by Sergio Sollima, with Christopher Bucholz and Barbara De Rossi, in 2 parts. It’s the story of a men of honor in the Calabrian ‘ndrangheta and of his sister, a teacher enemy of the organized crime. ^[18]
• The jeweler’s shop – by Michael Anderson, from the Karol Woytila’s play, with Burt Lancaster and Olivia Hussey. ^[19]

Miniseries

• Come stanno bene insieme (How well they fit together) – by Vittorio Sindoni, with Sergio Castellitto and Stefania Sandrelli; 3 episodes. It’s the story of thirty years in the life of a couple, from the falling in love and the marriage to the separation and the reconciliation. ^[20]
• Affari di famiglia (Family affairs) by Marcello Fondato; 6 episodes. Love triangle among a man (Jean Sorel) and two sisters (Florinda Bolkan and Catherine Spaak) in the Italian upper class.
• Appuntamento a Trieste by Bruno Mattei, from the Giorgio Scerbanenco’ s novel, with Tony Musante; a story of love and espionage, set in post-war Trieste; 3 episodes.
• Io Jane, tu Tarzan – musical comedy by Enzo Trapani, with Carmen Russ o, Franco and Ciccio and Nino Manfredi; 4 episodes.
• Chateauvallon

Period dramas

• I promessi sposi (The Betrothed) – by Salvatore Nocita, adapted from Alessandro Manzoni's novel The Betrothed , with  Danny Quinn and Delphine Forest as protagonists and a stellar cast in the minor roles (Alberto Sordi, Burt Lancaster, F. Murray Abraham, Franco Nero, Dario Fo); in 5 episodes. ^[21]
• Modì, vita di Amedeo Modigliani (Life of Amedeo Modigliani) – by Franco Brogi Taviani, with Richard Berry in the title role; 3 episodes.
• The last days of Pompei , by Peter Hunt, from the Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel, with Nicholas Clay, Olivia Hussey and Franco Nero; 4 episodes.

Variety

• Ars Amanda – malicious talk show, hosted by Amanda Lear, set in a bed where the singer and her guests chats about eroticism. ^[22]
• Prove tecniche di trasmissione (Technical transmission tests), with Piero Chiambretti, broadcast from a circus tent outside a stadium where a Serie A match is played.
• Uno su cento – with Pippo Baudo; contest to choose the most popular Italian personality (the winners are Giulio Andreotti and Alberto Sordi.) ^[23]
• L’amore è una cosa meravigliosa (Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing) – talk-show about love, hosted by Sandra Milo.

News and educational

• La notte della repubblica (The night of the republic) – by Sergio Zavoli; monumental enquiry in 18 episodes about the Years of lead, with precious witnesses of many protagonists of the tragic season, politicians or terrorists. ^[24]
• Rosso di sera - column with Paolo Guzzanti.

Fininvest

Drama and comedy

• Amori: cycle of TV movies directed by renowned directors. It includes Il vizio di vivere, by Dino Risi; The tenth one in hiding by Lina Wertmuller, from Giovanni Guareschi with Piera Degli Esposti and Dominique Sanda; La moglie ingenua e il marito malato (The naïve wife and the ill husband) by Mario Monicelli, from Achille Campanile, with Fernando Rey and Stefania Sandrelli; Mano rubata by Alberto Lattuada (last work), from Tommaso Landolfi; Gioco di società by Nanni Loy; Cinema by Luigi Magni.
• La bugiarda (The deceitful woman) by Franco Giraldi, from the Diego Fabbri’ s piece, with Francesca Dellera.

Horror

• Brivido giallo - cycle of four horror tv-movies, directed by Lamberto Bava (Dinner with a vampire, Graveyard disturbance, Until death, The ogre).

Other cycles of horror movies are produced but not broadcast because too violent and are released only years later, in the local circuits or in home video.

• Le case maledette – cycle of movies about the theme of the haunted house, (La casa dei sortilegi and Lacasa delle anime erranti by Umberto Lenzi, The house of clocks and The sweet house of horrors by Lucio Fulci)
• Alta tensione, cyvle of thrillers directed by Lamberto Bava (Il gioko, L’uomo che non voleva morire, Il maestro del terrore, Testimone oculare).
• I maestri del brivido (Massacre by Andrea Bianchi).
• I maestri del thriller (Le porte dell'inferno by Umberto Lenzi).

Miniseries

• Disperatamente Giulia by Enrico Maria Salerno, with Tahnee Welch, Fabio Testi and Dalila Di Lazzaro; 6 episodes. Melodrama about the long-life love story between a female writer and a surgeon.

Serial

• Valentina - from the Guido Crepax' s comics, with Demetra Hampton.
• Cristina – sequel of Arriva Cristina, with Cristina D’Avena. ^[25]

Variety

• Finalmente venerdì (Friday, at least) – with Johnny Dorelli and Heather Parisi; one of the most sumptuous variety ever produced by Fininvest.

News and educational

• Il mondo del terrore (World of terror) – enquiry about Italian and international terrorism, by Giorgio Bocca.

Other channels

• Quattro carogne a Malopasso – amateurish spaghetti-western directed by the Sicilian quarrier Vito Colomba and broadcast on the Trapani channel TRC, infamous as example of trash-movie. ^[26]

Ending this year

• Aboccaperta
• Buona fortuna
• C’est la vie
• Calcio spettacolo
• Cocco!
• D.O.C.: musica e altro a denominazione d’origine controllata
• Discoring
• Paroliamo
• Piccoli fans
• Quark
• I ragazzi della 3. C
• Tuttinfamiglia
• La TV delle ragazze
• Va’ pensiero
• Videobox

Deaths

• 4 January : Pino Calvi, musician, 58.
• 10 March: Maurizio Merli, actor, 49.
• 12 August: Olga Villi, actress, 67.
• 29 September: Gianni Santuccio, actor, 78.
• 1 October: Carlo Dapporto, comic actor, 78.
• 2 October: Vittorio Caprioli, actor, 68.
• 5 November: Enzo Trapani, TV shows director, 67, suicide.
• 17 December: Luciano Salce, actor, director and TV presenter, 67

References

1. Paracucchi, Luca "Luke" Morettini (2017-02-08). "Sanremo '89: il peggior festival di sempre". Orrore a 33 Giri (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-03-03.
2. Hit (2010-08-30). "Auditel Rewind -1989". TvBlog (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-03-03.
3. Robiony, Simonetta (8 April 1989). "Baudo: ecco il comizio di Celentano". La Stampa . p. 16.
4. nellamentecriminale (2025-09-10). "Il Primo Caso di Chi l'ha Visto (1989) La Storia di Jennifer Muir". Nella Mente Criminale (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-03-04.
5. Fiore, Ilario (1989). Tien An Men. Torino: Nuova ERI. ISBN   8839705821.
6. "Berlino '89, cronache dal crollo". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-13.
7. Pucci, Emilio (11 November 1989). "Agnes: "Ecco perchè mi dimetto"". La Stampa . p. 7.
8. "Blob". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-03-03.
9. "Chi l'ha visto?". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-02-23.
10. 113 was, by then, the Italian number for the emergency calls.
11. ""I racconti del 113", 15 ottobre 1989". Rai Teche (in Italian). 2019-10-14. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
12. "Cartolina". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-01-05.
13. "Agenzia matrimoniale". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
14. "C'eravamo tanto amati". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
15. "Bellezze al bagno". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
16. "Una donna spezzata". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-12-16.
17. Radio, Televisione e (2019-01-25). "Quattro storie di donne, 1989 -". Rai Teche (in Italian). Retrieved 2026-03-10.
18. "Uomo contro uomo". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-04-16.
19. "La bottega dell'orefice". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-01-12.
20. "Come stanno bene insieme". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-06-04.
21. "I promessi sposi (1989)". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-01-05.
22. "Ars Amanda". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-07-09.
23. Grasso, Aldo (2004). Storia della televisione italiana (New updated ed.). Milan: Garzanti. ISBN   9788811740315.
24. "La notte della Repubblica". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-01-05.
25. "Cristina 2". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-01-12.
26. Lorebea Film Production (2019-09-10). Quattro carogne a Malopasso (1989) - Vito Colomba . Retrieved 2026-03-09– via YouTube.