Sábado Gigante
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| Sábado Gigante | |
|---|---|
| Format | Talk show, variety show |
| Created by | Don Francisco |
| Starring | Don Francisco |
| Country of origin |  Chile (1962-1986) United States (1986-present) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 3 hours per episode |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Canal 13 (Chile) Univision (United States) |
| Original run | 1962 – Present |
Sábado Gigante ("Giant Saturday") is a Spanish-language variety show and one of the longest running shows on television. Sábado Gigante is an eclectic and frenetic mix of Variety show and game show with celebrity guests ranging from singers, to movie stars, to world leaders. At its start in 1986 it was hosted by Mario Kreutzberger, known as Don Francisco, the late Cuban entertainer Rolando Barral, and the announcer Pedro De Paul until Javier Romero took over in 1991.
Don Francisco originated the weekly program in 1962 airing on Canal 13 in Chile under the name "Show Domingal" (Sunday's Show). He had been inspired by television shows he had seen in the USA and Argentina but, as he explained, "My idea was mixing all the programs that I saw into one program." The show quickly developed a loyal following in Chile, and then throughout Latin America.
Don Francisco (later joined by his daughter Vivi) hosted a new show every week thereafter in programs ranging over the years from 2 hours to 4 hours long (for a while they lasted even longer – up to seven hours for special shows). The show now lasts at least 2¾ hours every Saturday, from 8 p.m. Eastern to 11. Don Francisco has said that the only way he will stop hosting the show is upon his death.
On April 12, 1986 Don Francisco and the program moved to Miami, Florida, where Univision (formerly SIN) began producing it. At this time the show's title was changed from the plural "Sabados Gigantes" to the singular Sábado Gigante, although some long time fans in Latin America still call it by the plural Sábados Gigantes. On June 18, 2005 the program celebrated its 1,000th episode on the Univisión Network, and on Saturday, May 20, 2006 it celebrated its twentieth anniversary on that same network.
For a while, two programs were recorded week from identical sets: one in Miami, Florida, which was broadcast in most Latin American countries, on Spanish language stations in the United States, and Europe, while a second program was recorded in Santiago, Chile, for broadcast in Chile, Don Francisco's home country.
The show is recognized as one of the longest-running weekly television shows in history. A new show has been produced every week in its history, with no reruns.
In its early years the show was broadcast live, with the exception of short segments. Most notably the pre-filmed "Traveling Camera" segment where Don Francisco visited different locations from around the world.
On the 40th anniversary of the show in 2002 it was calculated that Don Francisco had been on the air for the equivalent of 600 continuous days, had traveled more than 2.8 million miles for the show's weekly travel segment, hosted more than 1.5 million contestants and guests, and had given away more than 3,000 automobiles plus over USD $50 million (or 2.5 billion Chilean pesos) in prizes.
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- A board game based on the show was released in 1991.
- The animated televison show Famliy Guy made reference to this program in the episode Stewie Loves Lois.
