1999 in Italian television

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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 i s 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]

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]

News and educational

• Correva l’anno (It was the year...) – historical magazine, care of Paolo Mieli. ^[8]

For children

• 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. ^[9]

Variety

• 3 July - Momenti di gloria (1999-2000)
• 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 ^[10] .

For children

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

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. ^[11]
• 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. ^[12]
• 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. ^[13]

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. ^[14]

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. "Finalmente soli". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
10. "Chi ha incastrato Peter Pan?". Mediaset Play. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
11. "Carmelo Bene - Pinocchio ovvero Lo spettacolo della provvidenza". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
12. "Ester". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
13. "Jesus". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.
14. "Jolanda, la figlia del Corsaro Nero". RaiPlay (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-03-15.