1999 in Italian television

List of years in Italian television
… 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 …
Art Archaeology Architecture Literature Music Philosophy Science +...

This is a list of Italian television related events from 1999.

Events

Rai

• 23 February: Anna Oxa wins the Sanremo festival with Senza pietà . The show is conducted, for the first time, by Fabio Fazio, sided by the actress Letitia Casta and by the Nobel Prize for Medicine Renato Dulbecco; the presenter achieves a personal success, getting the presence of several international guest stars, even not related to the music, such as Michael Gorbachev and Neil Armstrong. The festival is the most watched program of the year, with 16,234,000 spectators. ^[1]
• 26 April: at 6 am, the all-news satellite channel Rai news 24 begins to broadcast. ^[2]
• 6 May: The snack thief, first episode of the Montalbano series, is aired on RAI 2.
• 1 July: the thematic channels RAISat Cinema, Album (material from the RAI archive), Art, Show, Ragazzi (for children) and Gambero Rosso (cooking) make their debut (for a fee) on the satellite platform Tele+ Digitale. ^[2]
• 27July: Rai Way is born. The company owns and manages the RAI broadcasting infrastructure. In the year, RAI effectuates, in Rome, the first digital terrestrial broadcastings. ^[2]
• 7 October: the first episode of ’Francamente me ne infischio, with Adriano Celentano, is broadcast. Provocative as usual, the singer alternates musical numbers with a shocking video against the capital punishment, displaying an execution in Guatemala. The show gets 9,6 million viewers. ^[3]

Mediaset

• 3 July - Debut of Momenti di gloria, a series hosted by Mike Bongiorno in which members of the public impersonate their favourite singers.

Other channels

• Law 78, regulating Italian pay-tv, is promulgated; it imposes some antitrust rules to contrast Rupert Murdoch's plans for a monopoly in the sector. ^[2]
• 30 May: the local televisions network Italia 7 splits into two ones: 7 Gold and Europa 7, belonging to the Abruzzo businessman Francesco Di Stefano.
• 28 July: A decree of the Ministry of Communications establishes that the national frequencies of Rete 4 are transferred to Europa 7. The rule, which should reduce Mediaset's monopoly of private television, will never be applied, despite a long Di Stefano’s legal battle. ^[4]

Awards

16. Telegatto award, for the season 1998–1999.

• Show of the year: Striscia la notizia .
• Man and woman of the year: Teo Teocoli and Paola Barale.
• Best TV movie: Ultimo
• Best serial: Un medico in famiglia (for Italy) and Derrick (for abroad)-
• Best quiz: In bocca al lupo.
• Best variety: Carramba, che fortuna.
• Best satirical show: Le iene .
• Best talk show: Maurizio Costanzo show.
• Best music show: C’era un ragazzo
• Best magazine: Porta a Porta .
• Best sport magazine: Quelli che… il calcio.
• Best show for children: GT ragazzi.
• Special awards: Chi l’ha visto (for the service TV), Murder, she wrote (cult show), Mrs. Attilia Pellgrini (reader of Sorrisi e Canzoni), Enzo Biagi (for the TV journalism), Ciao Darwin , Sandra Mondaini and Raimondo Vianello (for Casa Vianello ’s ten years).

Debuts

Rai

Miniseries

• Commesse (Salesgirls) – by Giorgio Capitani and Josè Maria Sanchez, with Nancy Brilli, Sabrina Ferilli, Veronica Pivetti and Anna Valle; 2 seasons. Comedy drama about family and work troubles of some salesgirls in a Roman boutique. ^[5]

Serials

• Inspector Montalbano by Alberto Sironi, with Luca Zingaretti in the title role, Cesare Bocci, Angelo Russo and Katharina Bohm, from the Andrea Camilleri’s novels; 15 seasons. Procedural set in the imaginary Sicilian town Vigata, it’s the greatest public and critic success of the latest Italian fiction and one of the few Italian serials exported abroad. ^[6]
• Non lasciamoci più (Let’s never break-up again) – romantic comedy by Vittorio Sindoni, with Fabrizio Frizzi (in his only performance as an actor) and Debora Caprioglio; 2 seasons. A marriage lawyer, confirmed bachelor, avoids several useless divorces, till he's embedded by his helper, a charming female private eye. ^[7]
• Turbo – with Roberto Farnesi, Anna Valle and the Border Collie Sun Shonik as protagonist in the role of a police dog; 2 seasons.

Variety

• Al posto tuo (In your place)– talk-show hosted by Alba d’Eusabio ; 7 seasons. Considered a typical example of trash TV, the program is also accused of presenting as real made-up stories; following the controversies, the presenter was replaced by Paola Perego.
• Cominciamo bene (We start well) – talk show of the morning, hosted by Toni Garrani, Michele Mirabella and various others; 13 seasons (+ 10 seasons of the summer edition and various spin-off).
• Convenscion – cabaret with Enrico Bertolino and Natasha Stefanenko  ; 3 seasons.
• Festa di classe (Class party) – game show hosted by Amadeus and Pippo Franco; 2 seasons. Two VIP (a man and a woman) must compete with their old schoolmates.
• Sette per uno (7 x 1) – game show of the summer from the Mirabilandia park, hosted by Gigi Sabani; 3 seasons
• Sanremo estate (Sanremo in the summer) – musical show, 6 editions.
• Varietà – anthology of variety from the RAI archive; 5 seasons. It generates two spin-offs (Supervarietà and Fantastico! 50 anni insieme)

News and educational

• Correva l’anno (It was the year...) – historical magazine, care of Paolo Mieli. ^[8]
• La musica di RAI 3 – magazine of art music; 16 seasons.
• C’era una volta (Once upon a time) by Silvestro Montanaro – magazine about the problems of the Third World, realized in collaboration with United Nations; 14 seasons.

For children

• Melevisione (Apple TV) – show for children, hosted by Danilo Bertazzi and Lorenzo Branchetti; 16 seasons. Initially, it’s a simple block programming of cartoons, but soon it evolves in two distinct shows: La Melevisione (a sti-com set in an enchanted wood) and La melevisione e le sue storie (cartoons). ^[9]

• Teletubbies (RaiSat Ragazzi) (1997-2001, 2015–present)
• The Angry Beavers (Rai 2) (1997-2001)

Fininvest

Serials

• Finalmente soli (Alone, at least) – sit-com with Gerry Scotti and Maria Amelia Monti, spin-off of Io e la mamma; 5 seasons and 3 TV-movies. A dentist, who has lived with his mother up to forty, faces for the first time marriage and fatherhood. ^[10]

Variety

• Allegria! – quiz aired for Christmas and hosted by Mike Bongiorno, with VIP contenders answering questions about television history; 3 editions.
• 3 July - Momenti di gloria (1999-2000)
• Passaparola – game show hosted by Gerry Scotti, Italian version of The alphabet game ; 8 seasons.
• Chi ha incastrato Peter Pan? (Who framed Peter Pan?) – game show and variety with contenders from four to ten years old, hosted by Paolo Bonolis and Luca Laurenti; 6 seasons. (The 2005 edition, hosted by Gerry Scotti, has been called Who framed Uncle Gerry?) Italian version of the Spanish Esos locos bajitos ^[11] .
• Il trucco c’è (There is the make-up) - talk show hosted by Rita dalla Chiesa and the make-up artist Diego dalla Palma; 2 seasons.

Serials

• Vivere – soap opera about the lives of three families in Como, with Gianni Garko and Veronica Logan; 8 seasons. ^[12]
• Finché c’è ditta c’è speranza (As long there is the company there is hope) – comical sketches with the comic quartet La premitata ditta (including Pino Insegno) ^[13]

News and educational

• Pressing champions’ league – sport magazine about the matches of UEFA champions League, hosted by Massimo De Luca and Giorgia Rossi; 9 seasons (with a break from 2006 to 2019)
• TV Moda – fashion magazine, hosted by Jo Squillo; again, on air. Born on the Mediaset channels, it evolves later into a satellite channel of its own., owned by Class Editori.

For children

• September - / Pocket Dragon Adventures (Italia 1) (1998-1999)

Other channels

• Anime night ; 11 seasons. Unlike in other Italian televisions, anime are broadcast uncensored for an adult audience. (MTV Italia)
• Total request Italia – Italian version of Total Request Live  ; 11 seasons (MTV Italia)
• Come Thelma e Louise (As Thelma and Louise) – reality series, hosted by Justine Mattera, showing couples of girls traveliing in exotic places; 3 seasons.  (TMC 2 and later Odeon TV)
• Stargate Linea di confine (Stargate borderline) – program of popular science (actually, of pseudoscience and pseudo-history), initially bound to the Stargate serial, hosted by Ruggeerio Giacobbo and, later, by Valerio Massimo Manfredi  ; 9 seasons (TMC).
• Diretta stadio: ed è subito gol! (later, Diretta studio ), talk show commenting live the main football matches, and TG7 sport, sport news programs; both again on air (Italia 7 Gold)

• Missione relitti (Relic mission)  – magazine about underwater explorations; (Odeon TV)

Television shows

RAI

Drama

• Pinocchio ovvero lo spettacolo della Provvidenza (Pinocchio, or The Providence’s show) – parody of the Collodi’s novel, directed and interpreted by Carmelo Bene. ^[14]
• Esther – by Raffaele Mertes, with Louise Lombard in the title role and F. Murray Abraham as Mordecai; tenth episode of the LUX Vide’s Bible project. ^[15]
• Jesus – by Roger Young, with Jeremy Sisto in the title role, Jacqueline Bisset as Mary, Debra Messing as Mary Magdalene and Gary Oldman as Pontius Pilate; 2 episodes.  Eleventh episode of the LUX Vide’s Bible project. ^[16]

For children

• Jolanda, la figlia del corsaro nero (Yolanda, the black corsair’s daughter) – animated series from the Emilio Salgari’s novel, coproduced with Spain. ^[17]

Channels

New channels

• 26 April - RaiNews 24
• 17 September - Game Network
• 16 December - Milan TV

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Cinematic Credibility
8 June	Corrado Mantoni	74	Italian radio & television host

References

1. Hit (2015-11-15). "Ascolti Story, dalle origini ai giorni nostri: 1999-2000". TvBlog (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-06-07.
2. Bruno, Somalvico (25 October 2012). "cronologia radiotelevisiva IV: 1993-2008: 1996-2001". cronologia radiotelevisiva IV. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
3. Venegoni, Marinella (8 October 1999). "Celentano, prediche e canzono". La Stampa . p. 30.
4. Wagner, Alessandro (2003). Il grande scippo[The great mugging] (in Italian). Editori Riuniti. ISBN   8835954932.
5. "Commesse". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-04.
6. "Il commissario Montalbano". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
7. "Non lasciamoci più". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
8. "Correva l'anno". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
9. "La Melevisione". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-06-14.
10. "Finalmente soli". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
11. "Chi ha incastrato Peter Pan?". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
12. "Vivere". Mediaset Infinity. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
13. "Finchè c'è ditta c'è speranza". Mediaset Infinity. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
14. "Carmelo Bene - Pinocchio ovvero Lo spettacolo della provvidenza". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
15. "Ester". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
16. "Jesus". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
17. "Jolanda, la figlia del Corsaro Nero". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.