This is a list of Italian television related events from 1971.
Events
In 1971, RAI gets enormous public successes (Il segno del comando, E le stelle stanno a guardare, Canzonissima) and realizes prestigious miniseries in European coproduction, shot by renowned directors as Rossellini, Rossi and Castellani. However, the firm is increasingly criticized for its bad management and the delay in the use of the color, and begins to suffer the concurrence of the foreign televisions from Swiss and Yugoslavia.
May 6: In Yugoslavia, TV Koper-Capodistria, aimed at the Italian minority in Slovenia, begins to broadcast; its signal is picked up also in Italy, from Friuli to Marche, and, later, is relayed in the whole country. The new channel has limited technical facilities but broadcasts in PAL color (with six years in advance on RAI); for this, it is welcomed by the Italian public and becomes a serious contender for the state television, moreover in the sport events.[1]
May 24: the cable television Telediffusione Italiana TeleNapoli makes the first color broadcast on Italy, received only in four Neapolitan cafes equipped with the appropriate sets. In the year, Telediffussione shots in color all the Cantagiro's stages.[2]
July 27: RAI deletes the scheduled Enzo Biagi's interview to Pasolini, for the program 3 B facciamo l’appello, because the writer is in on trial for press crimes, as former director-in-chief of Lotta Continua. The show will be broadcast only four years later, after the Pasolini's death.[3]
Debuts
Serials
All'ultimo minuto (Last minute) – 3 season, directed by Ruggero Deodato; medium-length thrillers (30 minutes) about ordinary people involved in dramatic situations.
News
Nord chiama Sud, Sud chiama Nord (North calls South, South calls North) – magazine broadcast simultaneously from the Milan and Naples studios.
Tre donne (Three women) – a cycle of three TV dramas, directed by Alfredo Giannetti and all played by Anna Magnani. The great actress debuts on TV, getting a personal success, after a decades of relative decline. The three movies tell an history of Italy in feminine key, from the First world war (La sciantosa, The singer, with Massimo Ranieri) to the Resistance (1943 un incontro, 1943, a meeting, with Enrico Maria Salerno) to the boom (L’automobile, The car, with Vittorio Caprioli).
Il segno del comando (The sign of the command) – in five episodes; by Daniele D’Anza, from a script of Giuseppe D’Agata (later adapted in a novel); with Ugo Pagliai, Carla Gravina, Massimo Girotti and Rossella Falk. First Italian fantastic thriller, on the example of French productions as Belphegor. An English scholar, in Rome for a conference, meets the ghost of a woman loved in a previous life and is involved in the chase for a powerful talisman. Thanks to a suggestive direction and a well-conceived plot, the miniseries gets at an unexpected success (fifteen millions viewers) and becomes in the years a cult object.[6]
Vita di Leonardo (The life of Leonardo da Vinci) – in five episodes; by Renato Castellani; with Philippe Leroy in the title role. Docudrama highly spectacular (the lost fresco The battle of Anghiari is reconstructed for the shooting) but historically very accurate. An original idea is the insertion, in the Renaissance scene, of a teller modernly dressed (Giulio Bosetti) expressing the views of the author about the great artist.[7]
Canzonissima 1971 – directed by Eros Macchi; hosted by Corrado Mantoni and Raffaella Carrà, with the imitator Alighiero Noschese as guest of honor in every show, and won by Nicola Di Bari with Chitarra suona più piano (Guitar, play slower). Raffaella Carrà becomes a star of the little screen, also if her uncovered navel and her “tuca tuca” (a dance politely miming a petting, performed too in couple with Alberto Sordi) arouse some scandal. The show gets the record number of twenty-five million viewers.[10]
Terza B, facciamo l’appello (3B, let's make the roll call) – Enzo Biagi interviews famous personality together with their ancient schoolmates; particularly significant the dialog with Pasolini (see over).[15]
