Sábado Gigante (English translation: "Giant Saturday" or "Gigantic Saturday"; known officially as Sábado Gigante Internacional outside Chile) was a Spanish-language television variety show. It originated from Chile in 1962, where it was broadcast on Canal 13. Beginning in 1986, it was broadcast in the United States by Spanish International Network (SIN), later renamed Univisión. It was Univision's longest-running program and the longest-running television variety series in world television history. Sábado Gigante is an eclectic and frenetic mix of various contests, human-interest stories, and live entertainment. Throughout its run, the show was hosted by Mario Kreutzberger under the stage name of Don Francisco. Rolando Barral and Pedro De Pool began serving as a co-hosts in 1986; that role was taken over by Javier Romero in 1991.
The three-hour program aired on Univision each Saturday at 8:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. from 1987 to 2001). A new episode was produced every week throughout the show's history, with no reruns and only rare preemptions due to special programming (most notably by Teletón USA, an annual 24-hour telethon held each December, which Kreutzberger has hosted since its inception in 2012).
On April 17, 2015, Univision announced that Sábado Gigante would end after 53 years, with its final episode (titled Sábado Gigante: Hasta Siempre; English translation: "Giant Saturday: Forever") airing on September 19, 2015. Present at the show were former members of "Clan Infantil" and the current host of the Univision magazine "Primer Impacto" Pamela Silva Conde, the soap opera actress Sherlyn, the Univision Radio host José Felipe Padrón, "Primer Impacto" correspondent Tony Dandrades, actor and singer Eduardo Antonio, the Venezuelan singer Karolina con K and Zuleyka Rivera, Miss Universe 2006 and current presenter of the UniMás program "La Revista de Zuleyka", among others.
The final episode was broadcast live simultaneously in Chile, Mexico, and the U.S.
Broadcast history
Kreutzberger originated the weekly program on August 5, 1962, airing on Canal 13 in Chile as Show Dominical ("Sunday's Show"). He had been inspired by television shows he had seen in the United States and Argentina but, as he explained, "My idea was mixing all the programs that I saw into one program."
The program's broadcasts were subsequently moved to Saturdays, and henceforth, was renamed Sábados Gigantes in 1963 and quickly developed a loyal following in Chile, and then throughout Latin America. In Chile, during the 1970s and 1980s, the show reached peak audiences of 80%. During this period, some episodes of the program lasted up to eight hours.
In its early years, the series was broadcast live with the exception of short segments; notable among the pre-taped segments was the travelogue, where Kreutzberger visited different locations around the world.
On April 12, 1986, Kreutzberger and the program moved to Miami, Florida where it began to be produced by the Spanish International Network, now Univision (originally by their Miami affiliate, WLTV). At that time, the show's title was changed to the singular Sábado Gigante, although some longtime fans in Chile still call it by the pluralized title. On June 18, 2005, the series celebrated its 1,000th episode on Univisión, and on May 20, 2006, it celebrated its 20th anniversary in the U.S. and on May 21, 2011, it celebrated its 25th anniversary on the Univision. On October 27, 2012, Sábado Gigante celebrated its 50th anniversary (counting both its runs in Chile and the U.S.).
For the Univision program, from its inception until 2001, the broadcast began at 7:00pm ET, with the "first hour" (from 1996 to 2001) usually revolving around a theme and marketed under an alternate name (e.g. Amor Gigante, Sorpresa Gigante, Tutti Frutti Gigante, Fiesta Gigante among others). This first hour was exclusive to Univision and was not used in international broadcasts.
For several years, two programs were recorded each week from identical sets: One in Miami, Florida for broadcast in most Latin American countries, as well as Australia, Canada, and Europe. One in Santiago, Chile for broadcast in that country (Kreutzberger's home country).
In 2000, the show was remotely broadcast from Los Angeles to coincide with the Mexican Independence Day celebrations. In June 2010, the final hour of the show was again remotely broadcast at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to celebrate the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
In 2011, the show aired a special three-hour telethon benefiting the American Red Cross' efforts to aid the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Regular segments
El Chacal de la Trompeta ("La Gran Oportunidad") One of the show's signature segments, six contestants are given the chance to sing a song, with the bad performers being eliminated mid-song by "El Chacal de la Trompeta" (lit, "the Jackal of the Trumpet"), a ghost-like character who blows an old trumpet to end such acts (similar to The Gong Show). Unlike The Gong Show, El Chacal does not have to wait a specific amount of time before eliminating someone (on many occasions, contestants have been eliminated almost immediately after beginning their performance). Don Francisco would always get into the act, and wear silly hats and wigs to intimidate the contestant. From 2000 to 2006, the eliminated performer would also be "fed" to a lion in his cave, with Don Francisco chanting "A los leones" (in addition to the usual "y....fuera!" chant). The "Lion" character was later phased out and would be "replaced" with an Alex the Lion doll. The "surviving" performers are voted on by the audience, with the one receiving the most applause winning a prize or cash (in this case, $1,000). The performer also has the chance to win an additional $1,000 by acquiring "La Corona", which would pre-qualify that performer for the "Reyes del Chacal" competition, which was held every two to four years (although this competition had not been held since 2010). From 1987 to 1993, any performer who advanced also received a six-pack of Coca-Cola.
A running gag of this segment occurs whenever Don Francisco sings during this segment, El Chacal would blow the trumpet mid-song, effectively insulting the host, who responds by kicking El Chacal. He would also kick the character if a bad call was made. Another running gag also had an attractive female performer "automatically" advancing before even singing.
El Chacal's antics are more in line with such, similar to a laughing hyena. However, there is a bit darker (or dark humor) meaning behind the character and his appearance. He actually has more similarities to an "Executioner" or a "Hooded Hatchetman", who used to kill people on the gallows or guillotine while wearing such a mask. Only in this case, he "kills off" acts of performers by playing the trumpet and not wielding an axe or guillotine.
In November 2013, Leonardo Núñez Guerrero, the man who played El Chacal for more than 20 years, was fired from the show by Don Francisco.El chacal de la trompeta" hablará sobre su despido de "Sábado gigante
Miss Colita A parody of beauty pageants, six women compete in swimsuits or other revealing attire for the title of Miss Colita. It is similar to the Brazilian contest "Miss Bumbum". The contest is usually held the Saturday before the Miss Venezuela, Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, although it – or variants of the segment – are frequently held every two to four weeks. A Christmas-themed version, Miss Santita, is held the Saturday before Christmas. Another version, "Miss Colita Petite", features mainly smaller women. From 2003 to 2005, it was succeeded by a similar contest, "Miss Curvilinea", which focused more on the body type and form. The final Miss Colita contest took place on August 22, 2015, the same night as the Miss Teen USA 2015 pageant.
It is also well known for the song "Mueve la colita", where the idea of the contest was conceived from; it has been an unofficial hymn of Sábado Gigante. Don Francisco had stated that the popularity of the song and its accompanying dance saved the program from an early cancellation in 1987, although this was not publicly revealed until 2012, during the show's 50th anniversary celebration.
This segment has been criticized by several former Miss Universe delegates including Alicia Machado, Justine Pasek, Mónica Spear, and Taliana Vargas due to the main focus of the contest being the buttocks. This led to the creation of Miss Curvilinea, among other similar contests.
Miss Chiquitita This contest featured girls (usually children) competing for the title of Miss Chiquitita. The contest was held between 1994 and 1996, and was held in a two-month period; it was revived in July 2012 after a 16-year hiatus. The structure was similar to Miss America, sans the swimsuit and evening gown rounds.
Clan Infantil/Los Niños de la Conversación This segment involved a group of children (usually regular attendees of the program with rotations every year) participating in a round table discussion with Don Francisco regarding various topics. Additionally, the same children are also sometimes used as a panel for contests with adults as participants.
Cap'n Crunch was a sponsor of this segment from 1997 to 2001 in the Univision version, with the children (and one member, usually female, holding a box of the cereal) often singing along with its jingle. The Cap'n Crunch jingle (specifically the 1993-98 version) later gained a cult following amongst those who were viewers of the program.
Live entertainment Every hour of the show, recording artists and bands (usually from Latin America) perform songs live in front of the audience. Notable non-Spanish language artists/groups that performed in Sábado Gigante have included Pitbull, SkyBlu (of the group LMFAO), No Mercy, Eden's Crush, i5, Dream, Kiley Dean, Tony Bennett and Psy.
In addition to musical talent, other acts such as magicians, world record holders among others also perform their talents during the show.
El Detector De Mentiras Whenever someone is accused of infidelity, Don Francisco puts that person to a lie detector test, conducted by retired police officer (and licensed polygraph) Joe Harper. While this is a serious segment, there is some humor, whenever Harper mispronounces the words in the questions since he is not fluent in Spanish, only to be criticized (and corrected) by Don Francisco.
There have been several instances where infidelity was not involved in this segment, when a woman believed to have had an encounter with extraterrestrial life in Battle Ground, Washington, as well as a man being suspected by his wife of being gay.
Póngale Ritmo This segment is a dance competition. The first round has contestants perform a freestyle dance before a panel of judges. Only three are selected for the final rounds of the contest.
La Cuatro At some point during the show, Don Francisco gets interrupted (and sometimes annoyed) by "La Cuatro" (initially named "La Cuatro Dientes" in Chile; played by Chilean singer and actress Gloria Benavides). She has a semi-romantic interest in Don Francisco, but would frequently pester him, including the use of bad jokes and bothering the audience. If La Cuatro pokes fun at various celebrities, Don Francisco warns her (numerous times) to not mess with them.
Comedy segments There have been numerous comedic segments throughout the show's run. Some of the starring actors include Frank Falcon, Miguel "El Flaco", Gloria Ordonez, Carlos Justis, Juanito and Zulema Salazar. They were best known for helping launch the career of the Argentine model/vedette/actress Nanci Guerrero, who starred in a majority of these sketches. Most have included the following: