Back to the 90s and 2000s: reality shows and entertainment programs have taken over TV

Far and long ago, Argentine television was a restaurant with various dishes. There were news programs, units, strips, soap operas, journalistic … In short: a menu for all tastes; in some cases a gourmet dish, with some audacity. In recent months, given the lack of local fiction due to the crisis and in an aggravated post-pandemic scenario, air channels immersed in old formulas.

Those old recipes are basically the cycles of questions and answers and the realities. The latter can be for coexistence or as a talent show, in almost all cases with foreign formats.

somehow it is return to the boom of the 90s with games – although they have existed since the late 1950s – e in the early years of reality at the turn of the century, when Big Brother made its appearance in 2001, on the Telefe screen.

Those who are and those who come

To check this trend – this air of something already seen -, just zap through the main air channels. The tanks of the most viewed channels are two singing realities: The Argentine voice (from Sunday to Thursday at 10.30pm, via Telefe) e sing with me now (at 10:30 pm, by El Trece).

The program that leads Marley has more than seven hours of broadcasting per week, while that of Marcelo Tinelli adds 6, from Monday to Thursday.

the realities they are far from being a thing of the past and will be a thing of the future, at least the closest. This year, with no confirmed date yet, Telefe will broadcast a new version of the pioneering cycle of this kind: yes, back big brother.

You’ll also get to that screen Who’s the Mask ?, with Natalia Oreiro like an uncovered driver. In both cases Endemol products are. Soon, El Trece will do the same with the second version of The famous hotelwhich in its first edition won alex caniggia.

play with me

Play from home. Try to guess before the participant. You win even if we don’t win, sitting in front of a screen. This seems to be the formula that drives game shows.

The 8 million steps (El Trece), the program conducted by Guido Kaczka, is perhaps a faithful demonstration of the penetration of game cycles. Fit well –some days it is the most seen on the canal– and has screen presence evening and night.

chatting with Clarionethe driver tries to find the reasons for so many such programs.

“In my experience, and after doing it for so long, I think it’s questions and answers they work for two reasons. On the one hand, interactivity. Not only do you watch and bet with your heart on the participants, but you can also play alongside them, unlike others where perhaps they are more skilled, ”she explains.

“Another thing,” he adds, “could be the fact that they are genuinely family oriented. Then, over time, the strategies change. But if you add to this good rewards and interesting life storiesyou have a format that has worked for decades “.

On Telefe, the list of game programs continues and there is something for everyone. The “Bare” William Lopez invites neighbors to play from their neighborhoods Chinese game (Friday, at 11:45 pm, from Telefe). On Saturday and Sunday evenings, on the same channel, Password follows the same logic, with questions and answers from the study – and there is also a famous version– with the guidance of Iván de Pineda.

In El Trece (Monday to Friday, 6:30 pm and with a famous special on Sundays), 100 Argentines say appeals to the common sense of the Argentines, with the conduct of Dario Barassi. Add to this Welcome on boardwhich was previously led by Kaczka and is now in the hands of Laura Fernandez.

Elnueve tries to add a rating with I live for you (Saturday and Sunday, at 8 pm), hosted by Carolina Papaleo and specialist in television games: Julián Weich. An even stronger and more concrete commitment to the playful genre is The exact time (Monday to Friday at 22:00), a program in which Tete Coustarot and Boy Olmi they play with the participants based on the memories and archives of the channel.

The looks of Boy Olmi and Robertito

The actor links the boom in game shows to the discomfort experienced by Covid. “The pandemic has created a hole in people’s souls, which we all try to heal in different ways. The fiction has not disappeared, because people consume a lot of series. But the television broadcast, perhaps due to an overdose of information, generated the need to distract yourself in another wayOlmi said.

“The spectator,” he added. feel involved in guessing and participating. It is a quick thought that does not require continuity. In the program, we try to go beyond evocation and reflect on war, love or science. We also want to do emotional and intellectual work“.

While it is outside the most demanding competition for ratings, public TV also echoes the trend Who knows more about Argentina? (Monday to Friday at 8pm), started in 2020. The program brings into play the knowledge of the history and idiosyncrasy of Argentina, led by Robert Funes Ugarte.

“The question and answer programs relax and separate people a little from the reality that exists in Argentina. I think they are supported because the formats are improving year after year; modernize and become more contemporary, also with the use of new technologies. He is the first I drive. And I’d like to host a reality show, for example, “she says. Robertito.

The status signal also has another one with games called “night of the mind “ (Monday to Friday at 22:00), but is more focused on mind games: one of the conductors is the scientific communicator Diego Golombek-, which in the classic question and answer that he immortalized Odol asks.

Of the five historic air canals, America seems to be the only one a bit out of date, with more attention to news and magazines. The exception, which has some games, is Sunday eveningthe classic of Gerardo Sofovich restored now from Mariano Giudicabut it’s more about skills: jenga is the classic apple cut.

Net TV and Bravo TVthe two open signals that have joined the historic aerial quintet are putting together their grids based on foreign cans, magazines and news programs.

The numbers of this vintage trend

In total, if we add the hours per week, El Trece surpasses 30 question and answer programs and reality shows, while Telefe is close to a dozen. And counting only the two main channels.

In the fight for the rating, even programs of this type – especially the singing realities – dominate everything. In fact the early evening it is lit every day with hand in hand in the middle The voice… Y Sing with me…how add about 24 pointstaking the mean 14 of the Telefe cycle (usually the most viewed of the day) and 10 by Tinelli.

Open TV is addressing the post-pandemic scenario with recreational, talent or general interest contests. The narrative, for now, boils down to boxed novels from Brazil, Turkey and other corners of the planet. Do you remember the “We are actors, we want to act” almost two decades ago? Today it seems like a chimera.