“Today it is more difficult to do television. It would take a somewhat visionary philosophy, one that is not concerned with sharing power, but is looking for ideas that can sustain you in the future,” says Mario Maffucci when asked about the path of television in the present day.
Maffucci, 85, began his journalistic career in 1968 at Rai. For 32 years, until 2000, he hosted programs, was one of Rai’s executives and the director of the Sanremo Festival from 1982 to 2000.
The presentation of Samurai. The Adventures of a TV Forrest Gump Behind the Scenes of Power was held in Rome, in the Galleria Alberto Sordi. The book, written in the form of interviews by journalist Andrea Scarpa, recounts Mario Maffucci’s recollections of his experiences behind the scenes at the broadcaster.
During the event, both through his memoirs and behind-the-scenes TV events, he talked about figures such as politician and entrepreneur Silvio Berlusconi and tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
The meeting was moderated by TG1 and Radio Back2Back program host Giorgia Cardinaletti. Singer-songwriter Renzo Arbore and director Francesco Pingitore attended the presentation.
The beauty of live broadcasting
Throughout his career he collaborated with many artists, including Adriano Celentano. He emphasized several times what the experience of working with Celentano was like because it was Maffucci who cast him on the television program Fantastico 8 in 1987.
When Cardinaletti asked him how the first episode went, Maffucci recounted that during one scene, one of the viewers shouted “Adriano, you’re great!”, leaving Celentano stuck mid-scene in silence. The anecdote made those in the audience laugh.
Speaking about live broadcasting, Mafucci emphasized the difficulties involved, “Live broadcasting, either you are used to it and you have a real relationship… live broadcasting is the medium you need to entertain, or if not, if someone has only done recorded television, it can be very decisive, it can really screw you.”
At the end of the presentation, attendees applauded several times and immediately approached him to meet him and get the book signed.