Once upon a time ... The scripted novel

March 21, 2022

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And the magic of black and white

Once upon a time there was a scripted novel. We could define him as the father of the television series of the 80s and the grandfather of current fiction. The scripted novel it was the most important component of Italian television during the 60s and 70s. Even today there are titles and performers who, after half a century and beyond, have remained etched in the minds of millions of viewers. The scripted novel was the magnificent meeting point between television and great literature, whether Italian or foreign. It was a great opportunity for many people to get to know authors whose names, perhaps, only were known.

They certainly did not know the most important works, nor, much less, what subjects they dealt with. Those weekly appointments were for them like a visual primer visionary who, page after page, evening after evening, broadened their horizon, enriching it with words, stories, situations, emotions that they had never known before. If we want to understand the role and importance of the novel written since the 60s, we cannot ignore some components, such as those of disclosure and knowledge.

A priceless treasure

The rest is history of our television. An endless list of titles that are a gold mine inside the display cases Rai. Try to read a title, one at random and immediately go to scroll through the names of the main performers. We advise the youngest to turn to their parents or grandparents to get a good explanation of who the actors were in that particular television work. They can only tell you that in that list there were only great actors, not only those who were the protagonists, but also those who, in that work, held minor or marginal roles.

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Cast of exceptional quality, composed of actors who almost always had important experiences in theater and / or cinema. And we must never forget how, in those years, television had "only" two channels. This meant that the selection of actors, for each single television production, had to necessarily follow very strict rules. This explains the reason for the quality of the interpreters, which was, always and in any case, excellent. Exactly the opposite of what happens in today's television, where, in the face of an infinite offer, quality is, more often than not, inevitably sacrificed. There amount preferred to quality, with all that this entails in terms of the final result ...

A new It was cultural

Within this space of ours we will only mention some of the most important and famous scripted novels. Others will only be mentioned and many others will be forced to leave them out, knowing full well how much the selection, and the subsequent choice, are the most difficult part of this job since there are so many productions, directors, screenwriters, actors that should be remembered. What we will try, in short, to tell is the golden age of our television, which traveled almost parallel to the same golden age of our cinema in those same years, the years of Italian comedy. Those magical decades that have given us a new one It was cultural.