16 March: at 9.58, an extraordinary edition of the TG1, led by Bruno Vespa, heralds Aldo Moro's abduction and the slaughter of his bodyguards. In connection from via Fani, the journalist Paolo Frajese, gasping with emotion, describes the bloody scene of the crime. On 9 May, always Vespa and Frajese, in another dramatic extraordinary edition, lasting almost four hours, report to Italy the discovery of the politician's corpse.[1]
18 May: on the eve of the 1978 Italian referendum, four radical exponents appear on Political tribune gagged and with signals on the neck. Following ten minutes of silence, Marco Pannella and Emma Bonino explain that they intended to protest against the space given them by RAI, judged too exiguous.[2]
15 June: the President Giovanni Leone, long accused by the press of corruption and nepotism, announces in television his resignation. Clearly tired and embittered, the president ends his speech by saying: “It's my duty to say, it's your right to be reassured, that for six years and a half your president was an honest man.”[3]
13 July Corrado Mantoni and Dora Moroni, his partner at the show Domenica in, are gravely injured in a car crash. For Moroni, the accident and the following invalidity mean the end of a promising career as singer.
30 August: suicide of the actor Luigi Vannucchi. He was suffering from depression, despite his wide popularity gotten on stage and on television. The following week, RAI airs his last role, The absurd vice, where he plays Cesare Pavese (a writer who committed suicide).
16 October: RAI broadcasts live the election of Pope John Paul II and his first words to the crowd.[5]
For RAI, the year 1978 is marked, as well as by the particularly dramatic chronicle events, by a sudden wave of liberalism about sex and nudity, in variety shows (Stryx, Ma che sera, Settimo anno), fiction (Madame Bovary) and information (Aquario, L’amore in Italia),[6] The year also marks the arrival of two anime television series (Heidi, Girl of the Alps and Grendizer) that are popular among the youngest public. The shows inspire fierce criticism by parents and pedagogues.
Private channels
In 1978 the Italian private televisions, overcome the number of 400 and begin to be a serious threat to the RAI monopoly, also if they are again limited to the local scope and their programming remains, with some exception, low quality (sexy shows, old movies in bad copies, infomercials).
April: RCS Mediagroup enters in the TV business, buying Telealtomilanese, the most popular Lombard private channel.[7]
2 May: in Milan, birth of Antenna Nord, owned by the editor Edilio Rusconi.[8]
9 May: Franco Alfano, reporter of the Roman television GBR, gets to shot first the opening of the trunk hiding the Aldo Moro’s body, beating on time the RAI correspondent Paolo Frajese. Not wanting to speculate on a tragedy, GBR gives in for free the historical images to RAI.[9]
26 May: in Rome, birth of RTI (Radio Televisione Italiana), owned by Carlo Perrone.[10]
7 September: the cable TV Telemilanocavo begins to broadcast on air, renamed Tele Milano. In July, its editor Silvio Berlusconi had declared that his television would have been at disposal of the “right wing and anticommunist DC politicians”.[7]
Birth of Elefante TV, the first Italian network of local televisions, managed by the brothers Leo and Guelfo Marcucci; born as a generalist television, whose star is Beppe Grillo, in the Eighties becomes a channel airing exclusively infomercials.[11]
Debuts
Rai
Che combinazione (What a coincidence!) – show, hosted by Delia Scala and later by Rita Pavone, aimed to encourage the payment of the licence fee.
Il trenino (The little train) – show for children; two seasons.
Di tasca nostra (Of our own pocket) – magazine in defense of the consumer.
Private channels
Il bingooo (Antenna 3 Lombardia) – game show with musical interludes, hosted by Renzo Villa.
La bustarella (The sachet) (Antenna 3 Lombardia) – game show hosted by Ettore Andenna and directed by Beppe Recchia and Cino Tortorella, with sexy elements (in some trials, the female contenders end up naked). It sees the debut of many future Mediaset stars, as Carmen Russo.
Caccia al tredici (Hunt for the thirteen) (various channels) – football magazine, hosted by Gianni Rivera and successively by other champions.
Il balordo (The fool) – by Pino Passalacqua, from the Piero Chiara’s novel, with Tino Buazzelli in his last role; in 3 episodes. A quiet musician, victim of the circumstances, is first prosecuted by the fascism, then hailed as a hero and elected major of his village.
Nella città vampira. Drammi gotici (In the vampire city, gothic dramas) – by Giorgio Bandini, with Flavio Bucci, in 4 episodes; medley of fantastic tales by various authors (Capuana, Lovecraft, Gogol).
Disonora il padre (Dishonor thy father) – by Sandro Bolchi, with Stefano Patrizi and Martine Brochard, from the autobiographical novel of Enzo Biagi; 3 episodes. The father of the title is the fascism, to which the young protagonist rebels, adhering to the Resistance.[23]
Nero su nero (Black on black) – by Dante Guardamagna, with Paolo Stoppa, in 3 episodes; inspired by the true story of Amalia and Rosa Panvini, who forged the Mussolini diaries.
Storie della camorra (Histories of camorra) – by Paolo Gazzara, with Mariano Rigillo, Luigi Vannucchi and Massimo Ranieri, in 6 episodes; the history of the Neapolitan criminal society from the Nineteenth century to the Second world war.
News and educational
Acquario (Aquarius) – talk show hosted by Maurizo Costanzo. Sensational the episode where the magistrate Vincenzo Salmeri, infamous puritan, has to face the porno-star Ilona Staller.[24]
L’amore in Italia (Love in Italy) – reportage by Luigi Comencini about the Italian customs changing regard to love, family and sex.[25]
Indagine sulla parapsicologia (Enquiry about ESP) – by Piero Angela; unlike that in many similar programs, the journalist approaches the subject from a strictly skeptic and rationalistic point of view.[26]
Vita da Cioni (A Cioni's life) – directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci with Roberto Benigni; the actor plays, in a series of monologues, the role of the lumpen Mario Cioni. The show, before being aired, was stopped for two years by the RAI censure.[27]
Io e la befana (Me and the befana) – show bound to the Italia Lottery, directed by Romolo Siena, with Raimondo Vianello and Sandra Mondaini (who plays also the clown Sbirulino); TV debut of Gigi e Andrea.
Ma che sera (What an evening!) – directed by Gino Landi, with Raffaella Carrà, Alighiero Noschese, Paolo Panelli and Bice Valori (last apparition on the little screen for Noschese and Valori). The show, productively sumptuous, is criticized because aired in coincidence with the Moro's kidnapping and for the audacious performances of Carrà, who dances dressed as a sexy nun and sings tunes with explicitly erotic content.[28]
Macario più (Macario more) – directed by Vito Molinari, with the 76 years old Ermino Macario as showman.
Mille e una luce (A thousand and one lights) – variety hosted by Claudio Lippi and Luciano De Crescenzo; first Italian example of interactive TV (the public at home can vote the contenders turning the light on or off).
Il sesso forte (The stronger sex) – quiz, hosted by Enrica Bonaccorti and played by a male team and a female one.
Stryx – directed by Enzo Trapani, hosted by Tony Renis, with Patty Pravo and Angelo Branduardi; sexy musical show inspired to Satanism and witchcraft. Despite a stellar musical cast, the show, perhaps the most audacious in RAI history, is disliked by public and critic and closes a week on advance.[30]