Colpo Grosso (Big Shot) was an Italian television program, broadcast for five seasons from 1987 to 1992 in late evening on the Italia 7 syndication network.
The main host of the program was Umberto Smaila, replaced by Maurizia Paradiso in the first part of the final season. After she left the show, she was replaced by Massimo Guelfi and Gabriella Lunghi for the remainder of the season. The first season was directed by Pino Callà, while subsequent seasons were directed by Celeste Laudisio.
The show was produced by Fininvest, the manager of Italia 7's programming at the time. the program was initially set in a casino distinguished by the presence of numerous showgirls who offered stripteases during each episode. The sets became more elaborate as the show went on, with season 3 set in an airport while seasons 4 and 5 were set on a cruise ship. The contestants also had the option to strip in order to increase their score. The show's title was a deliberate reference to the Italian title of the original Oceans 11 film by Frank Sinatra, set in a casino.
Despite being considered by many critics as a lowbrow show of dubious taste, the program achieved enormous public success, especially considering the small channel that broadcast it, with audience peaks exceeding 2 million viewers. Smaila himself, in an interview during Enzo Biagi's program I dieci comandamenti on Rai 1, declared that the audience could easily be identified as the medium-high range.
The popularity of the programme, considered today a cult of commercial television, remained high even after the end of the programme, thanks to the continuous syndication of episodes on regional broadcasters who still owned the masters and on the Mediaset channels Happy Channel (from 1998 to 2005) and Mediaset Extra (since 2015).
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
No comments yet — be the first.
Sign in — Sign in to leave a comment or review.