Las noticias del guiñol
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Las noticias del guiñol ("The news of guignol") is a satirical news program that airs on Canal+ in Spain. It is somewhat based on a similar program airing on its sister Canal+ network in France, Les Guignols de l'info, in that it features latex puppets. Latex casts may be shared among countries with local celebrities being used as anonymous citizens in foreign shows. Its current host is a facsimile of Michael Robinson, an English-born football pundit. While Penélope Cruz has made some appearances, the program generally focuses on prominent athletes and political figures. Among other figures, the program features Pau Gasol, Raúl, Luis Aragonés, Florentino Pérez, Joan Laporta, Fernando Alonso, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Mariano Rajoy, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, José Bono, Pasqual Maragall, and Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira. International figures who regularly appear include David Beckham, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi and Pope Benedict XVI.
Historically, prominent characters have included Felipe González (occasionally appearing as Cantinflas), José María Aznar and Jordi Pujol.
One of the most often quoted phrases attributed to former prime minister José María Aznar - "¡España va bien!" (literally "Spain is doing well").
While most programmes on Canal+ were scrambled for non set-top box subscribers, Las noticias del guiñol was broadcast unscrambled.
In November 2005 Canal+ ceased to exist as a partially encrypted terrestrial television channel (although it continued to exist on the Digital+ satellite platform). It was replaced by Spain's fifth national terrestrial channel Cuatro, the newest member of Jesús de Polanco's Sogecable media empire. Although the guiñoles were one of the very few programmes to make the transition from Canal+ to Digital+, the programme was rebranded for the new channel as Los guiñoles de Canal+. The programme is still also shown on the digital version of Canal+ to this day.
[edit] See also
- Txoko-Latex, an earlier show featuring latex puppets of Basque politicians in Euskal Telebista.
