In the effervescent cauldron of social networks, an emblem of Spanish television from three decades ago has revived. Las noches de tal y tal, the irreverent space broadcast by Telecinco exactly 32 years ago, has returned to the news through a thread on Twitter that has gone viral.
Tailor-made for the former mayor of Marbella, Jesús Gil y Gil, the show was an explosive cocktail of irreverence, humor and controversy. It was something like this: Gil, from a jacuzzi surrounded by women in bikinis, giving his unmistakable point of view on current affairs without cutting a hair.
Today, there is no doubt, this type of program could be done. However, at that time it managed to conquer the audience with an astonishing 40% share. And it is that Gil did not hesitate to expose what he would do if he had a lesbian or prostitute daughter, for example. His motto couldn’t be any other: “The only cuts here are the advertising ones, because Gil doesn’t cut himself.”
Recorded in Marbella’s opulent Puerto Banús, the show also offered a showcase of the city, with Gil in the role of the eccentric host. Along with him, Jeanette Rodríguez, diva of telenovelas, and Pepe da Rosa, added their touch to the variety show full of girls in bikinis and stellar performances, such as Benny Hill or a young Thalía, as well as that of the Imperious horse.
The resurrection of Las noches de tal y tal on the networks has once again reminded us of those days when television was a wilder, more uninhibited and daringly entertaining terrain. That program of 11 installments recorded in 17 consecutive days, which also had a large number of critics, marked a milestone in Spanish television history.
