Sábado Gigante

Infobox Television
show_name = Sábado Gigante

caption =
format = Variety show
rating = Only Adults
runtime = 13 hours per episode
creator = Don Francisco , a Chilean journalist
starring = Don Francisco
Pedro De Paul (1986-1991)
Javier Romero (1991-Present)
country = flagcountry|Chile (1962-1986)
flagcountry|United States (1986-present)
network = Canal 13 (Chile)
Univision (United States)
first_aired = 1962
last_aired = Present
imdb_id =

"Sábado Gigante" ("Giant Saturday") is a Spanish-language variety television show; it is Univision's longest running program, and the oldest American TV program in Spanish still running. "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 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.

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 "Sábados 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.

A new show has been produced every week in throughout the show's long 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 60,000 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.

New Sabado Gigante Layout

Commercials for Sabado Gigante are teasing a brand new layout for the show.Don Francisco teased that the new Sabago Gigante will be a "Super Gigante"that will feature bigger prizes and viewers being able to interact in the showfrom home. The new show's layout began on September 6.

Marketing

* A board game based on the show was released in 1991.
* The animated television show "Family Guy" made reference to this program in the episode Stewie Loves Lois.
* The show is also referenced to in the King of Queens episode "Domestic Disturbance"

ee also

* Don Francisco

External links

* [http://www.univision.com/content/channel.jhtml?chid=6&schid=6761 Sábado Gigante Official Site]
* [http://www.canal13.cl Canal 13 - Chilean TV Network]