Don Francisco gets a 'Gigante' farewell
NEW YORK — After 53 years and more than 2,800 episodes, Spanish-language variety hit Sábado Gigante drops the curtain on Saturday (Univision, 8 p.m. ET/PT). It's a bittersweet sign-off for ebullient host Don Francisco, who ends his historic run with only one regret.
"I have a last dream that I won't be able to accomplish, which is doing an interview with (Pope Francis)," he says. "Before I leave this world, I want to interview this pope. He is different and I respect him very much."
Since TV's longest-running primetime show started in Chile in 1962, Francisco has overseen the three-hour circus of madcap sketches, games, celebrity sit-downs and performances. In Sábado's five-decade run (the past 30 years have been Miami-based), the host, 74, estimates he's interviewed about 55,000 people, including presidents (Barack Obama, George W. Bush), entrepreneurs (Bill Gates) and actors (Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and a pre-Modern Family Sofia Vergara).
The show (whose title translates to "Giant Saturday") has also helped break emerging Latin artists, including Shakira, Enrique Iglesias and Prince Royce, all of whom will return for this Saturday's finale with Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony. Francisco (real name: Mario Kreutzberger) fondly remembers Iglesias's 1995 visit. "When he gave me his hand, he almost broke it, he was so nervous," Kreutzberger says. "That was the first time he was performing and he brought a big church choir."
Kreutzberger first talked to Univision three years ago about leaving Sábado, which has scored consistent ratings through the years (including 2 million last weekend). He suggested grooming new talent to take over hosting duties, but the network chose to retire the format altogether. (Another show, Sabadazo, will begin in its three-hour slot October 17 at 8 p.m.).
"It was so difficult to find another Mario," says Alberto Ciurana, Univision's president of programming and content. "We just decided that the best thing to do was to end the cycle of Sábado on a very high note."
But Kreutzberger won't be leaving TV for good. Aside from taking some time to travel and picking up hobbies such as fishing, he says he would like to develop other talk and reality shows with Univision and write a book.
"I'm not prepared to retire," he says. "It's very difficult after so many years and so much work — spending 15, 16 hours every day doing this one thing that's your passion. You have to accept the end of something that you love. I knew that day would come, but when the day arrives, that's the day."
Harking back to old-school hosts such as Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen, Kreutzberger believes Sábado has had longevity because it was fun entertainment that generations of Spanish-speaking families could enjoy together every week. He also thought it offered variety that's not often seen on primetime, with current late-night shows more focused on viral hits and headline-generating celebrity interviews.
"In the general market, they call it an extravaganza show," Kreutzberger says. "I call it a soup that you can change different ingredients but not the basic ingredients, and then the soup always has almost the same flavor. That's how I was able to keep it fresh."
As for the latest late-night crop, "I watch them on and off," he says. "They're very good, each one. Now, there's a new fellow — he does that impression of me."
New Late Show host Stephen Colbert, who parodied Don Francisco's outrageous antics in his own "Colberto Reporto Gigante" segment on The Colbert Report? "Yeah, it's funny," Kreutzberger says. "He's a funny guy. What do you think, is he going to beat Jimmy Fallon?"