Last Monday on TG1 Carlo Conti made an announcement whose content, to be honest, we were already aware of. A few weeks earlier, in fact, the usual well-informed people who work for Dagospia had published the news that Alessandro Cattelan would host Sanremo Giovani and the Dopofestival, a program which after many years would return to the air in its original location after the Sanremo Festival.

It was in the air that something big was building around Alessandro Cattelan: after the disappointing results of his arrival on Rai with the one man show Growing upthe host had managed to carve out a dimension more congenial to him Cattelan is here tonight on Rai 2, a late evening talk show built along the lines of the American ones. Moreover, Cattelan has never made a secret of being inspired by the light-hearted and naïve style of Jimmy Fallon, who for years has hosted one of the most followed (and least politicised) late nights in North America.

Rai is finally getting younger (maybe)

At the same time as Carlo Conti’s announcement, Cattelan published a thank you to the host on his highly followed social networks: their harmony seems to presage a sort of generational pact between old and new schools and, perhaps also thanks to the excellent results of Affari Tuoi hosted by Stefano De Martino, it could also be the beginning of the long-awaited modernization of Rai at least in terms of management.

The much feared “Amadeus effect” didn’t happen and while I soliti ignoti is struggling to conquer the Nove audience, Stefano De Martino is managing the heavy legacy of Affari Tuoi with great professionalism and competence; on Rai 2 the duo of The Jackal composed of Ciro Priello and Fabio Balsamo is doing well with the game show The Flor and while waiting for the debut of Andrea Delogu’s new program, all eyes are now on Alessandro Cattelan called once again to give proof of his abilities during the most followed and commented event of the television season, that of the Sanremo Festival.

Cattelan’s generation is often spoken of as that of the “young”, of those who must demonstrate their abilities, who must show the general public what they are truly capable of. Yet in most cases we are talking about people who have been making videos for fifteen or even twenty years, as in the case of Cattelan who at 44 has a very respectable career behind him. We always expect something more from him, a big leap, the entry into the world of adults. Why does all this happen to an experienced professional like him?

The answer has to do with what we mean by “young people” in Italy. We are an old country, this is what all the surveys tell us, the same ones that tell us that no change of course is foreseen on the horizon. If on the one hand fewer and fewer people become parents – due to too low salaries, precarious work and the chronic lack of childcare services – on the other our national health system guarantees more and more people to live long and well all in all decent, unlike what happens in countries where there is no access to free healthcare services and local doctors. Television reflects all this, especially generalist television which must speak to a very wide audience.

Carlo Conti is 63 years old like Paolo Bonolis, Amadeus is a year older than them, Gerry Scotti is 68 years old, Linus is 66. We are talking about that generation that took its first steps in private radio and shortly thereafter , except for Linus, made the big leap to the small screen. Of the veejays who raged on MTV at the beginning of the noughties, only Cattelan managed to remain on the crest of the wave; immediately afterwards came talents from reality shows such as De Martino, Flavio Montrucchio, Filippo Bisciglia. Among women, the name of Andrea Delogu has been circulating for years and he wisely and with a lot of irony built a highly successful theater show around his forties.

Alessandro Cattelan must host Sanremo according to Today readers

Promising young people at the age of 40

Alessandro Cattelan is the perfect example of the consideration this country has for young people. Meanwhile, one is considered “young” and “promising” at the age of forty, often with children and spouse in tow, with a mortgage on their shoulders, qualifications, master’s degrees, long CVs to testify to years of apprenticeship and experience gained in the field. A generation waiting for some venerated master to leave their place or for a seniority increase to promptly arrive to unlock a next level, a salary increase, any bonus.

At this rate, i.e. when maturity is reached after the age of sixty, when will the moment of retirement arrive for the so-called “young” people? Let’s hope that in the meantime the dismantling of our national health system does not continue, otherwise we eternal promises will not have enough salaries to pay for the treatments that will allow us to perform well until we are eighty, when we will still have to work to prove that we are worth something.