Grief suits Electra, but Maurizio wouldn’t have wanted it to suit Maria. There is an invincible ethic in the dignity of Maria en Philippi, in tears from a sense of duty and the desire to get back to work after the horrific death of her husband. Maria – exhausted with pain – opens her personal Amici lock again this Saturday evening. And he throws his heart over the obstacle and into the program “as he was taught” by Maurizio Costanzo; and by Maurizio himself, Maria is a tribute to the legendary work Bulimia, immortalized to the last breath from a hospital bed. Friends isn’t just a TV show. It is the ideal anxiolytic for Maria while also being the secular church of Italian entertainment. When she released it (with a 1992 announcement conducted by a very sensitive Lella Costa at the helm and later the 2001 preview with Daniele Bossari conducting), De Filippi was already a solid and established writer behind the camera. And on this occasion he invented something that had not previously existed in nature on Italian television.
YOU WILL BE FAMOUS
It was a talk show reserved for teenagers and 20-somethings and their complex relationships with peers and parents. It was a good start. Then, little by little, that life story became the plot of a 1980 period film—and then a made-for-TV film—by Alan Parker, Fame; and from there the format, called Fame, found its way and became the springboard for talent to be introduced to the world of television, recording, dance and theatre. I remember the novices from that pioneering period: from Pino Insegno to Fioretta Mari, from Garrison to Beppe Vessicchio to the Albanian dancer Kledi, all baptized by the director of the “school” Bruno Voglino, who came from the boarding school where Rai had gone the legendary scouting ability. Today, Amici is a very oily war machine. The evening’s new three judges are Michele Bravi, Giuseppe Giofrè, the ubiquitous Cristiano Malgioglio; and all will no doubt be consumed in the usual uproar of listeners and churning hearts, while Maria’s half-smile and sideways glance will set the rest of the show up.
Still, many of us are old enough to remember when the show was forced to change its title because the US show’s production company threatened copyright infringement lawsuits. So it became Amici di Maria De Filippi, almost immediately shortened to Amici. The first edition was won by the singers Denis Fantina and Valeria Monetti and Monica Hill, who performed on stage and today have become good actresses and Ramazzotti’s excellent chorus singers respectively. Amici also had the undoubted merit of breathing new life into Italian discography. Starting with the success of Marco Carta in 2008, whose invitation to Sanremo (which he won) broke the glass roof of the bitter rivalry between Mediaset and Rai. Maria illuminated the market thanks to the cooperation with the record companies. A market that has come back to life where the voices of Alessandra Amoroso, Emma, Pierdavide, Valerio Scanu, Annalisa and all the new pop stars that have contributed, along with their X Factor counterparts, also the Sanremo To revive the festival had gotten into an audio crisis.
ALWAYS CHANGING
Amici, in two decades he has changed rules, competition mechanisms, barrier checks, protagonists, guests (everyone has been on this set, from Emanuele Filiberto to Al Pacino). Above all, it has often changed its skin to adapt to the times and the needs of the schedule. Friends, in that sense it was also a tactical weapon. For example, in 2009, after the completion of Amici 8, Maria stayed on the air for a further seven Saturdays with the ninth edition castings; and in doing so he devilishly instilled the Italian Academy 2, Raidue’s newborn talent. Amici is to Big Brother what Dr. Jeckill is for Mister Hyde. And our driver is always there to tell us about it. Welcome back Maria.