TELEVISION-ARGENTINA: Out to Conquer Europe

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 31 2000 (IPS) - Argentine television programmes, which have won top billing as the favourites of Latin American viewers for their originality, are now gaining ground in Europe.

The trend, though still in its nascent stages of marketing and advising on a specific idea for a show, runs counter to the traditional method of selling completed programming packages, such as soap operas, comedy series or movies.

Some of the new wave of Argentine shows have been replicated in Spain and Italy since 1996.

But the most recent case to cross the Atlantic is that of ‘El Show de Videomatch,’ one of Argentina’s most-watched television hours, which – with the name shortened to ‘Showmatch’ – is now broadcast by channel ‘Antena 3’ in Madrid.

Thus, the Argentine television industry has been able to consolidate a genre of programmes that are “light” in content, but highly profitable, and local independent producers can reap positive results overseas.

Marcelo Tinelli, creator and host of ‘El Show de Videomatch” and owner of the production company ‘Ideas del Sur,’ participated in selecting the team for the version of the programme in Spain. He took advantage of the trip to Europe, shooting episodes in Madrid for broadcast back in Argentina.

His show is made up of comedy skits, crazy interviews and jokes played on passers-by or on famous people using a hidden camera, in addition to live music, often performed by famous artists.

After 13 years uninterrupted behind the microphone in Argentina, and with a major impact in other Latin American countries (his is the most- watched show in neighbouring Uruguay), Tinelli is beginning to make important business deals, selling his ideas for TV programmes abroad.

But one of the pioneers in this area was the production company ‘Cuatro Cabezas,’ with its show ‘Caiga quien caiga’ (fall who might) or ‘CQC,’ which began airing in Argentina in 1995, and soon thereafter had duplicates in Spain and Italy.

CQC, which ended local broadcasts this year, consisted of a weekly news review, covering politics, sports and entertainment, but always from a humorous, ironic and absurd perspective.

With their unique approach, and occasionally violating regulations on authorisation, the show’s hosts were able to interview presidents and other national and international figures.

Among their most notable achievements are a telephone conversation, broadcast live, with then-president of Argentina, Carlos Menem (1989-1999), who they caught by surprise, and filming Cuban president Fidel Castro and US president Bill Clinton, breaking all rules of protocol.

A CQC reporter was able to surpass Castro’s guards during the Fifth Ibero-American Summit, held in Argentina, to ask him when he would stage his next revolution.

Clinton received similar treatment from CQC when they gave him a saxophone as a gift on one occasion, and a copy of the ‘Kamasutra,’ a book on sex, on another.

The show won numerous awards locally, and was a finalist for the 1997 Emmy Awards in the United States in the “best programme” category.

CQC, which was hosted in Argentina by one of the studio’s owners, Mario Pergollini, has been airing, under the same name, in Spain since 1996 on the Tele 5 channel, and since 1997 in Italy, where it is known as ‘Le lene’ (the hyenas).

The version in Spain has won awards and a strong following among the TV-viewing public, as has the Italian version. Now the Argentine creators are looking to set up similar projects in Germany, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries.

The Cuatro Cabezas studio was also able to sell another idea to Spain’s Tele 5, ‘El Rayo,’ which targets a younger audience with profiles of personalities from the world of entertainment, sports and politics, showing their spontaneous and humorous sides.

Along the same line, Tinelli sold a version of Argentina’s ‘Fugitives’ to Antena 3 in Spain, where it became ‘Fugitives in the City.’

The show involves pairs of ordinary people who make jokes about the people who pass by on the street, pushing their victims into some sort of comical trap, unaware they will end up on national television.