“Now or never”: a revival without the atmosphere of cheerful reunion
Here’s “Now or Never” again. The Rai 1 show, which returned to the air last Saturday six years after the last time, plays on the revival effect and, as in a sort of “Back to the Future”, attempts the fascinating experiment of jumping in eras, with all the consequences of the case.
The idea fascinates, attracts, involves, as it stimulates our youth, our memories. It brings back faces and songs that you had stored in a memory drawer, but never definitively archived.
Nothing totally new, it must be said: in this program there is a lot of “Music Farm” (with the difference that this time there are no physiotherapists, masseurs and hairdressers on the horizon), to which a sprinkling of “Meteors” is added. But if the Italia 1 program winked at the past with a view to a cheerful reunion and celebration of times gone by, in “Now or Never” a perennial and constant sense of restlessness is perceivable.
The format focuses above all on evaporated fame and that After which most of the time proved to be tiring and uphill. It is no coincidence that on the eve of the restart Marco Liorni openly spoke of a “great opportunity for the competitors to regain their lost success”.
In the presentation clips there is a constant reference to money and it is precisely this factor that does not make the smile of the viewer at home complete, who enjoys the show without being able to help but feel at least a little uncomfortable. A feeling that, for example, divides “Now or Never” from “The Voice Senior”. Here too, often, old glories resurface to aspire to a new chance. However, they do it with the joy and serenity of mind of someone who is at peace with his conscience, satisfied with his alternative path, albeit with the sweet desire to put his head back out the door.
Yes, because expectation is not a secondary concept at all. “Now or never” – a title that is already severe in itself, but which however suggests a relaunch – should actually be renamed Now and here. In fact, no one has ever crossed the fence of the broadcast, despite Amadeus – host of the first and second edition – hoping for an automatic landing in Sanremo for the winner. “The ideal would be to allow the winner to rightfully participate in the next Festival – declared the former artistic director of the event to Vanity Fair – it would be the perfect path, a closing circle”.
Result? Neither Lisa nor Paolo Vallesi, winners in 2018 and 2019 respectively, have ever seen the Ariston stage again. And the same argument could be extended to the other fifteen colleagues who supported them in the two seasons already archived.
Here then it is above all the sweet cynicism of the authors that manifests itself, almost vindicated and blurted out with absolute enjoyment in the promotional spots: “They lived at the top of the charts, then they were forgotten”. A message that would be flawless if “Now or Never” served as a springboard. The perception, or even belief, is that once again the castle is built to remain standing until March 1st, the day on which this adventure will mark its epilogue.