Univision giant takes his final bow
For Don Francisco and ‘Sábado Gigante,’ half a century is enough
After 53 years and more than 2,800 episodes, Univision’s Spanish-language variety smash Sábado Gigante drops the curtain Saturday. It’s a bittersweet sign-off for ebullient host Don Francisco, who ends his historic run with only one regret.
“I have a last dream that I won’t be able to accomplish, which is doing an interview with (Pope Francis),” he says. “Before I leave this world, I want to interview this pope. He is different, and I respect him very much.”
Since TV’s longest-running prime-time show started in Chile in 1962, Francisco has overseen the three-hour circus of madcap sketches, sponsored games, celebrity sit-downs and performances. In Sábado’s five-decade run, the host, 74, estimates he has interviewed 55,000 people, including presidents (Barack Obama, George W. Bush), entrepreneurs (Bill Gates) and actors (Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Sofia Vergara).
The show (whose title translates to “Giant Saturday”) also has helped break emerging Latin artists such as Shakira, Enrique Iglesias and Prince Royce, who will return for this weekend’s finale with Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony. Chilean Francisco (real name: Mario Kreutzberger) fondly remembers Iglesias’s 1995 visit. “When he gave me his hand, he almost broke it, he was so nervous,” he says. “That was the first time he was performing, and he brought a big church choir.”
Francisco first approached Univision three years ago about leaving Sábado, a consistent ratings performer. He suggested grooming a replacement, but the network chose to retire the format entirely.
“It was so difficult to find another Mario,” says Alberto Ciurana, Univision’s president of programming and content. “We just decided that the best thing to do was to end the cycle of Sábado on a very high note.”
But Francisco won’t be leaving TV for good. Aside from taking some time to travel and picking up hobbies such as fishing, he’d like to write a book and develop talk and reality shows with Univision.
“I’m not prepared to retire,” he says. “It’s very difficult after so many years and so much work — spending 15, 16 hours every day doing this one thing that’s your passion. You have to accept the end of something that you love. I knew that day would come, but when the day arrives, that’s the day.”
Harking back to old-school hosts such as Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen, Francisco believes
Sábado has had longevity because it was fun entertainment that generations of families could enjoy together every week, and offered variety not often seen in prime time, with current late-night shows more focused on viral hits and celebrity interviews.
As for the latest late-night crop, “They’re very good, each one. Now, there’s a new fellow — he does that impression of me.” Stephen Colbert, who parodied Francisco’s antics in a “Colberto Reporto Gigante” segment? “He’s a funny guy,” Francisco says. “What do you think, is he going to beat Jimmy Fallon?”