TV Europa: Humour can vary across the European Community. Irish Times correspondents describe comedy in different countries. Today JaneWalker looks at Chronicas Marcianas
Occasionally a television programme emerges that captures the mind of a nation. The Spanish satirical comedy programme, Chronicas Marcianas (Martian Chronicles), is just one such show. An average of 1.8 million loyal viewers tune in to Tele Cinco every Monday night to be shocked, amused and often scandalised. Since it began in 1997, Chronicles has increased steadily in popularity, with an average of 32 per cent of viewers tuning in every week, and this figure has occasionally risen to over 50 per cent.
Director and presenter Javier Sardá describes his show as "a programme with a lot of freedom, a lot of tolerance, lots of amusement and imagination". It respects no one and frequently borders on the libellous.
He is not the only person to become a household name thanks to Martians. Carlos Latre was a virtual unknown when he made his debut appearance in the third series but today, thanks to his skills impersonating and parodying real and fictional characters, he is another household name.
Chronicles relies on enthusiastic audience participation and much of the programme is live. The participants, known as "martians", sit around a central table to make fun of their guests. It consists of a large amount of irony, satire, humour and controversy interspersed with music
Martian Chronicles features a team of regulars from the popular press, TV and showbiz, such a transsexual and would-be actress, or a former contestant from the Spanish version of Big Brother.
The "martians" conduct tongue-in-cheek interviews and debates with personalities well known to readers of Hola and other "magazines of the heart", which fill their pages with gossip on the births, love affairs, marriages and divorces of wannabes, who make a steady income from selling exclusives of their new houses, cars and children.
Chronicles has been described cynically as "sub-Hola"; and the majority of its victims are discarded husbands of ageing flamenco stars and actresses, or cast-offs from third- rate movies and not very successful singers and bullfighters.
One item that provides many hours of fascination to the Martian viewers is the current craze of ageing actresses to return from their Cuban holidays with a new trophy boyfriend in tow.
It is, without doubt, the most amusing programme on Spanish TV and its fans are eagerly awaiting its return to their screens next month after a summer break, when the team aims to bring its audience participation up to two million.
