Everything changes, we have become accustomed to uncertainty, we don't know if the ground we stood on in 2023 will continue to be solid in 2024, but one of the few things that never changes is New Year's Eve in the traditional way TV. You could read one of my chronicles of the last five years tonight and it would work for now. I don't say that as a criticism: I'm glad there's something resilient and predictable amidst so much collapse, but it makes it very difficult for those of us who have to write about that clone night that's forced to find it every December 31st the seven differences. Do it.
Carlos del Amor has earned a place of honor in the tradition with his summary of the year, which serves as an early midnight mass, which is very good because then we take the sacraments before dinner and can go to mass absolved and free from sin. This year it was Lola Herrera who gave the sermon from a library that seemed less moralistic than in other years, although with a similar rhythm: The year 2023 marched before our eyes like life before those of the dying. The celebratory mood of the evening was on the verge of being completely extinguished when Herrera quoted Luis Mateo Díez, winner of the Cervantes Prize: “Life is uncomfortable, let's make it worth it.” The actress then addressed the heartless people and told them, echoing María Jiménez: “It's over.” I had hoped that the program would end there, but it was left to Amaral, who performed a magnificent and delicate version of the song, giving life to a show that was buried seemed.
New Year's Eve had already started on the remaining channels. In La Sexta, Leo Harlem told his most classic monologues from last Christmas in a Comedy Club special. There was a time when all of Spain loved this program. Maybe there are people who still like it, who knows. I was about to return to Lola Herrera, but Antena 3 had already started zapping, with Roberto Leal and Eva González, perfectly dressed (he in tuxedo, she in red), and the Atresmedia stars dancing in El and their Bullarengue shook Hormiguero and beyond. Meanwhile, at Cuatro, Carlos Sobera acted as a pimp for the freaks who wanted to find a partner during the discount time of the year on First Dates.
Everything conspired to end up in the familiar and timeless arms of José Mota, who took Milei and Trump to the barbershop. It was the first intelligent thing to appear on screen: a joke about right-wing extremist hairballs. An insightful note from the master of white humor. On this snowy and banal night, even Mota's humor is full of malice.
Since I'm old (at least I think so), I had to switch to La 2 and watch Cachitos. It was a mistake, like so many other things on New Year's Eve. When irony becomes mainstream and predictable, it becomes less fun. The imitation dirty gala they did looked too much like a dirty gala. I think that both La Maña and Fernando Esteso have appeared on television more often as parodies of themselves than of themselves. Cachitos is so established that it begs for a parody of its parody.
Aside from the vinegary musings, the Cachitos karaoke provided a warm atmosphere for the glockenspiel, the moment of pause in which Silvester allowed himself to be a little innovative. He didn't at La Sexta, where Dani Mateo and Cristina Pardo (he in navy and black and she in red) repeated jokes, although without attacking the crowd on the pitch like last year. This time, instead of a megaphone, they threw balloons in the shape of a bunch of grapes.
There was also nothing new in Antena 3, where Pedroche went hydroponic and biodegradable with a dress by Paula Ulargui, with Alberto Chicote at his side, once again a troupe and very comfortable in his role as an ensemble.
TVE was a retro innovation. Embodying the eternity of the New Year's spirit, Ramón García took risks with a pink jacket covered by the familiar Castilian cape. At her side, Ana Mena ran as the new Pedroche, with a dress that did not look biodegradable but showed more than that of Antena 3. Jenni Hermoso was not missing (very tall, so that her companions looked like dolls) and was in charge of the sermon the bells were ringing. It was her mission, Jenni came to talk to us about empowerment and she spoke well.
The most innovative were those of Telecinco (half of Mediaset, half of Cuatro, followed by those of First Dates), who traveled to Seville with a very racist Marta Flich, in a fuscia dress and a Manila scarf, which was not only the very old Cape of Ramón dwarfed, but the fairy boasts of the forest of Pedroche. At his side, Jesús Calleja was just as mobile as Chicote. Only the surroundings spoiled him. Not because Seville and its Plaza Nueva are small, but because we really like Puerta del Sol and Flich deserves to be crowned the mecca of New Year's Eve. At the moment he rules on the periphery, from where he threatens the rule of Pedroche and Ramón.
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