Once upon a time there was “Pressing”. There was, because what was broadcast the other evening – and which risks reappearing on video in the coming weeks as well – is a kind of spin off, half the length of the original, with a starting time that would make even Gigi Marzullo shudder.

On Sunday the program hosted by Alberto Brandi and Monica Bertini started at ten past one, with the chatter lasting for ‘just’ 51 minutes. In fact, woe is it to go beyond 2 o’clock, the moment in which the Auditel ends its daily count.

But if the closing time is well established, the same cannot be said for the starting time, which is totally conditioned by who occupies prime time. In this sense, for months Canale 5 proposed “La notte nel cuore”, yet another Turkish production that handed over the baton close to midnight. In this way, “Pressing” had a wide scope of action, with events capable of extending beyond 100 minutes flat. This was the case on November 30th, with the start at 11.44pm, and the previous week, with the launch at 11.52pm. A trend that can be infinitely replicated if you go backwards and which, on the contrary, changes if you take into consideration the scenarios of 7 and 14 December.

On the eve of the Immaculate Conception, thanks to the premiere at La Scala, Canale 5 had limited the duration of “Wheel of Fortune” leaving the line for the return of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” at 9.40pm, in order to allow the game to close at 12.40am. However, seven days later “La Ruota” expanded again to 10pm, in turn pushing “Il Milionario” well beyond 1am. A chain reaction that ‘crushed’ “Pressing”, with the commentary on the championship day reduced to the bare bones.

True, thanks to the late hour, the audience enjoyed the broadcast (the last show was close to a 19% audience share), but the effective performance of the program suffers, showing itself to be increasingly disconnected from very current events (there is inevitably a lack of connections from the postponement fields) and it doesn’t even come close to overlapping with the “Domenica Sportiva”.

The only late evening offering, yet he is “mistreated”

“Pressing”, which to date is the only effective late evening offer proposed by the Cologno Monzese company, is increasingly at the mercy of the moods of the early evening and, above all, of access. At this point, we don’t really understand the meaning of his stay on Canale 5, the network he landed on at the start of last season. A promotion on paper, unfortunately only theoretical.

Italia 1 represented – and would represent – ​​the best home, also for the type of content. What is certain is that “Pressing” does not deserve such treatment. Such a strong and ‘historic’ title, dusted off for the first time in 2018 after years of storage and relaunched in September through the addition of Brandi and the extensive renewal of the parterre, cannot be reduced to a waste for night owls.