“The Key”, the debate program moderated by journalist José Luis Balbín, in which current topics were discussed.
No matter how much they invent, hardly anything is more interesting and gives the viewer more pleasure than taking part in a good conversation. The evidence is endless and goes back to the Platonic dialogues. We love people who talk a lot of good things, as Gabino Diego's character said to the innkeeper Tirso in Amanec, which is no easy task. As viewers and listeners, we are all this Gabino Diego. When we like a conversation, we comment with admiration: “A distinguished person speaks well.” Even the best literature and the best cinema consist of conversations.
The latest manifestation of this eternal passion is conversation podcasts (sic). The world of podcasts has flirted with many genres: documentaries, fiction, sound essays, monologues, conferences… But in the end, the conversation prevailed. We always return to the same thing, the filandón, as they say in the cities of León, or the capaco, as they call an eternal palique in my country. If the speakers are funny, entertaining, intelligent and agile, we don't care what they talk about.
That's why I've always been surprised by the super-stingy people on TV (and radio)'s distrust of pure conversation. In principle, it seems good to put chat programs on the net – in fact, in Spain the Tertulia is the hegemonic format for all channels to address any topic, from heart to politics, including sports and culture – as long as it is boycotted and abbreviated . Conversation yes, but with interruptions, music, resources and various distractions. They claim that the viewer is unable to maintain their attention for more than a few very short minutes and that they have to be hit with light stimuli and tick-tocks so that they don't fall asleep or start looking at their phone.
In the background, a banal nostalgia sighs for the talk shows of yesterday, and the same is quoted by Balbín from La Clave, who recalls the “millennialism will come” of Arrabal, without forgetting Quintero's silence, all transformed into memes. What happens to a conversation is what happens to a novel or to tomatoes: they used to be better, deeper, tastier. Today the usual people complain that they taste like nothing. Don't believe them: those conversations weren't that perfect, and the current ones aren't that stupid either. The only thing that is certain is that the urge to talk will not subside. Life is a perpetual after-dinner meal and we never get tired of it.
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