Sábado Gigante | |
---|---|
Also known as | 'Show Dominical (1962–1963) Sábados Gigantes (1963–2015) |
Created by | Don Francisco |
Presented by |
Don Francisco Rolando Barral (1986) Pedro de Pool (1986–1991) Javier Romero (1991–2015) |
Country of origin |
Chile (1962–1986) United States (1986–2015) |
Original language(s) | Spanish |
No. of seasons | 53 |
Production | |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | Approx. 2 hours, 15 minutes (without commercials) 3 hours (with commercials) |
Release | |
Original network |
Canal 13 (Chile) Univision (USA) |
Picture format |
480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
Original release | August 8, 1962 | – September 19, 2015
Chronology | |
Related shows | Siempre Niños |
External links | |
Website |
Sábado Gigante (English translation: "Giant Saturday" or "Gigantic Saturday"; known officially as Sábado Gigante Internacional outside Chile) is a Spanish-language television program that was broadcast by Univision in the United States. It was also Univision's longest-running program and the longest-running television variety series in history.Sábado Gigante is an eclectic and frenetic mix of various contests, human-interest stories, and live entertainment. From its start in 1962, it was hosted by Chilean TV star Mario Kreutzberger under the stage name of Don Francisco. Pedro de Pool and Rolando Barral began serving as co-hosts in 1986; that role was taken over by Javier Romero in 1991.
The three-hour program aired on Univision each Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. A new episode was produced every week throughout the show's history, with no reruns and only rare pre-emptions 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" or "Gigantic Saturday: Forever") airing on September 19, 2015. For the first time during the show's run, the final episode aired live in Chile, Mexico and the U.S. After the finale, Univision replaced it with a prerecorded Mexican show, Sabadazo, which premiered on October 30, 2010 on Televisa and September 2012 on Univision. It was later replaced with Crónicas de Sábado and Sal y Pimienta on Univision as Sabadazo was moved back to its original afternoon time slot on Univision (both shows were later replaced by 2-3 Liga MX football matches broadcast on the network under the name Sábado Futbolero broadcast during that league's season).