An era is ending. At least for Ray. After 40 years of a respectable career – the last few years, in fact, a little tumultuous between promotions on Rai Uno, contemplation, a return to Rai Tre, and disputes over costs – Fabio Fazio leave Viale Mazzini and join the group Warner Bros. Discovery. Since autumn What’s the weather like there therefore it will not be broadcast on the third public network: judging by what is known so far, we will find it again on channel nine. Therefore, little will change for the public. For Paradise, this is rather a small but big revolution.

On the one hand, like all changes, Fazio’s farewell opens up possibilities: new is not necessarily pejorative, as long as you find another format that can work as What’s the weather like there. And herein lies the difficulty. The talk show, hosted by Fabio Fazio, boasted not only a tough core of viewers, but also a host of guests that are hard to find on other shows (let alone any other?). Zlobny argued that the lack of embarrassing questions contributed to the stalls: whoever goes to Fabio, Fabio can be sure that he will not be put in a difficult position. Which may well be: often the questions were too self-satisfied. However, the fact is that many big names went to Fazio, and only to him. Especially world stars. And this is not a trifling detail: if Paradise does not find a worthy heir What’s the weather like there risks losing both the ratings of this group and the format, which by now has boasted international appeal.

Let’s try to make an overview of the crowd of excellent guests, who, especially in recent years, have always been larger.

Great Lands

The first name at the top of the list is obviously Pope Francesco. The Holy Father recently went – for the first time in the presence of a television studio – to His image, but Fazio was ahead. Bergoglio is associated with What’s the weather like there in February 2022, answering all the questions of the conductor. It ranged from complex themes, such as war and greeting others, to more frivolous anecdotes, such as little Bergoglio’s secret dream: “As a child, I wanted to be a butcher,” the pontiff admitted with surprise.

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However, there are quite a few “great people of the world” who replaced Fazio in turn: how can one forget, for example, an interview with the last Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev or former American President Barack Obama: in 2021, this was his first and only appearance on Italian television (although it took place on streaming). The lever was the publication of the book Promised land: “Through this work, I wanted people to understand that all leaders are people who must make decisions, but who also make mistakes and must learn from these mistakes …,” Obama explained to Fazio, “I wanted to give young people feel that it is possible to engage in politics and public life while maintaining honesty, the value of doing good to others, but all this is impossible if you do not learn how to manage the contradictions, the difficulties that are inevitable. imperfect, like everything that people do, but even in its imperfection, one can and should act for the good. I would like to be an inspiration to young people who are interested in doing something in the world.”

The French premier also passed through the Rai Tre lounge. Manuel Macron as well as a computer guru Bill Gates and environmentalist badge Greta Thunberg.

Hollywood stars

Then the voice of a movie star, or even “Fazio calls, Hollywood answers.” Quentin Tarantino was almost at home What’s the weather like there and, among the coups committed, the intervention of Sean Penn: In March last year, the actor spoke about the documentary he is filming in Ukraine. “I don’t know whether people left the country with little, because they thought they could return, or they left everything at home in order to hurry on the road to save themselves and their children, but no one wanted to leave. Nobody wanted to leave. neither men nor women wanted to leave the country, ”said the American actor. “These outcomes began three days before my departure. Even in those early days, it was crazy to be able to get out of Kiev: it’s a 7-hour journey, but it took us 24 hours just to get out of the city, because there were lines of cars, people tried to stay in touch and told us something like “they demolished this bridge, so you need to take a different route.”

Fazio also spoke with the golden couple of Spanish cinema, namely with the director Pedro Almodovar and actress Penelope Cruz and she revealed that her hero is Raffaella Carra: “My grandmother used to take me to the park to sing Raffaella’s songs.” At his table were also Jodie Fosterunforgotten star Contact (and many other films…), diva Uma Thurman (who was touched by the Regeni family: “I hope there is justice, this is a great pain”), icon Susan Saradonwho claimed his Sicilian descent from Fazio (“Grandfather came from Ragusa, so I go when I can”), director Woody Allen and in 2019 John Travolta who spoke of his love for Fellini: “The movie that changed my life? At the age of 5 when I saw Street by Fellini. When Juliet Mazina dies, I asked my dad: “Why is she dying?!?” And he said, “She died because her heart was broken.” At these words, I was taken aback: a person can die because his heart is torn from love. There I changed forever because I thought, I don’t want to break anyone’s heart.” The last Hollywood star to be present on the June 28, 2023 final episode was Anthony Hopkins: Definitely a beautiful ending.

singers

No less well-fed is the category singers. Like the words still echo Bono Vox against Putin. He is Rai Tre, the leader U2 sharply criticized the ongoing war in Ukraine: “You know what the Italians don’t like and what I don’t like? Hooligans. Putin is actually a bully and mocks the whole nation, his targets are women and children, these popular neighborhoods.” He then added: “Ukrainians probably believe in freedom more than we do, and freedom is just that, for me, it’s everything. Look at Putin and his Belarusian friend Lukashenko, those old, gray, boring, murderers… freedom is sexier than all this goodness: don’t lose freedom, it’s the most beautiful word in the world, it binds you the most!”

Although he was sick with Covid and had a deep voice, Ed Sheeran he did not want to give up his connection with Fazio and even played the guitar for him. Then he returned a second time, in the presence. Besides, how can we forget a guest Madonna eight years ago, what brought Rai Tre a record audience of 4 million viewers and a share of 14.19%? In truth, the interview was a bit tedious: Madonna didn’t like that Fazio interrupted her (“I’m talking,” she clarified several times), and then, when asked, replied: “Sorry, what’s the question?” . The meeting in 2021 went more smoothly with Lady Gaga who took advantage of the notoriety to challenge the flooding of the Zan bill: “I would like to say one thing to the Italian LGBTQ+ community: you are really brave, you are the kindest, you are an inspiration. You must be protected at all costs, like all people living on the planet. I will continue to write songs for you and I will continue to fight for you.”

And one more thing: he also stands out among the stars surveyed Adele. The singer was a guest in 2015 where she spoke about the “surprise success” of 25 and her decision not to air her songs. “I consider myself not a singer, but a singing lady,” she assured.

Italians

Finally, the introduction: national guests. Brief summary: everyone went to Fazio. Therefore, it would be impossible to list individual names, so it is enough to know that, as far as politicians are concerned, they all came from Fazio. It’s the same with the entertainment world. Anyone who promoted a movie, book, or program stopped at Rai Tre. However, among the great ones, one cannot fail to mention the mourners Piero Angela, Mike Bongiorno, Maurizio Costanzo, Raffaella Carra and Gigi Proietti. Then there were the invasions Roberto Benigni as well as the hosts Adriano Celentano AND Goofy Baudo.

Here it will not be easy to restore all this from scratch. Not impossible, of course, but still difficult…