17 June: 17,700 Italian viewers stay up until 2 AM to follow in TV the “match of the century” Italy v West Germany, commented by Nando Martellini; the victory of the Italian team unleashes the popular anthusiasm.[2] The 21 June, the 1970 FIFA world cup final Italia-Brazil gets the greatest audience of the year, with 28, 2 million viewiers.[3]
Debuts
Rischiatutto – quiz, inspired by Jeopardy! and hosted by Mike Buongiorno; five seasons. The show renews the Lascia o raddoppiìa?’s mass success and relaunches the Bongiorno’s career after a period of relative decline; it’s the first RAI 2 program to enter in the top ten of the audience. It’s yet also accused by critics of notionism and sexism (for the decorative role played by the “female valet” Sabina Ciuffini).[4]
Shows of the year
Drama
I recuperanti (The recoverers) - by Ermanno Olmi; script by Tullio Kezich and Mario Rigoni Stern. In the Forties, a young veteran and an eccentric old man earn a living from the dangerous work to recover remnants of war.[5]
Le donne balorde (The oafish women) – cycle of satirical one-act plays, written and played by Franca Valeri and directed by Giacomo Colli.[6]
Canzonissima 1970 – directed by Romolo Siena, hosted by Corrado Mantoni and Raffaella Carrà (who gets success also as a singer, with the title track Ma che musica maestro). The contest is won by Massimo Ranieri with Vent’anni.[8]
News and educational
I bambini e noi (Children and us) – reportage by Luigi Comencini about infancy in Italy, in 6 episodes.[9]
Un secolo di lotte contadine in Italia (A century of peasants’ fights in Italy) – historical enquiry by Giorgio Bocca, in one of his very rare collaborations with RAI; in 7 episodes.[10]
