A televised earthquake. “La Ruota della Fortuna” redesigned Canale 5’s access, giving the Mediaset flagship numbers that it hadn’t achieved for centuries and, consequently, partially downsized the exploit of “Affari Tuoi”, which in recent years had evidently walked on velvet.

But Gerry Scotti’s game caused the real shock to the so-called ‘minor networks’, called to equip themselves with a shield to dive into a war where emerging unscathed is a feat.

The defense has the appearance of the preview, or presentation. It changes little. This is a heading that is given to a first segment of the program so as not to reveal to Auditel the overlap with the Canale 5 and Rai 1 games.

“Wheel” and ‘packages’ together attract an average of over ten million viewers, with “Affari Tuoi” deciding to leave a few minutes before the competitor, who on the contrary pushes up to the 10pm mark. And when Gerry reveals the contents of the envelopes coming out of the ‘Wheel of Wonders’, there are more than 6 million fans.

Mind-boggling numbers that leave crumbs to others. Here then is the strategic separation which, magically, stops around ten in the evening, when the road is free of traffic.

On Mondays, for example, “Lo Spaesato” by Teo Mammucari has a 35-minute introductory block that goes from 9.30pm to 10.05pm. The same goes for Massimo Giletti, who extends the practice to 42 minutes, starting at 9.22pm and officially becoming “The State of Things” at 10.04pm. On Rete 4, “Quarta Repubblica” is no exception, entering the field at 9.52pm, after an 18-minute preview.

On Tuesdays, “Belve” isolates the start which goes from 9.42pm to 9.57pm, “E’ semper Cartabianca” downloads the 25 minutes between 9.30pm and 9.55pm, “Le Iene” even dismembers the opening 44 minutes to set the start at 9.59pm and “Amore Criminale” on Rai 3 renounces the count of 48 minutes, limiting itself to the remaining 63, with starts at 10.06pm.

During the week the game involves “Who has seen it?” on Rai 3, “Real Politik” on Rete 4 and “La Corrida” on Nove, starting at 9.42pm, 9.52pm and 10pm respectively, following a ‘waiting’ of 25, 20 and 21 minutes

Thursday is the turn of “2pm”, “Splendida Cornice” and “Dritto e rovescio” which begin at 9.49pm, 9.42pm and 8.50pm, after 17, 25 and 18 minutes of presentation. We continue on Friday with “Far West” which comes on stage at 10pm for the Auditel, “Inside” which appears at 9.58pm and “Quarto gradino” which embarks at 9.53pm. The times are also fake here, because on Rai 3 Salvo Sottile was on air from 9.27pm, on Italia 1 the spin-off of “Le Iene” was on from 9.15pm and on Rete 4 Gianluigi Nuzzi told crime news episodes from 9.32pm.

As for Saturday, in this case only Rai 3 is taking action, given that “Guess who’s coming to dinner” starts the clock at 9.47pm, or 18 minutes after getting on the line.

Finally, on Sunday the mega stew launched by both “Report” and “Che tempo che fa” must be recorded, both cut into five portions. And in this chaos on Rai 3 the presentation – which goes against “Ruota” and “Affari Tuoi” – is extended from 8.58pm to 9.50pm, while on Nove from 8.15pm to 9.50pm. Less unscrupulous, but still prudent, “Zelig On”, which created the “Warm Up” from 9.35pm to 9.55pm, and “Fuori dal coro”, which isolates the 23 minutes from 9.32pm to 9.55pm.

The only one to survive is La7

In short, who is safe from all this? Quickly said: the films and series – on which no one tries any tricks – and, surprisingly, La7. That’s right: Andrea Salerno’s goal doesn’t matter and already at 9.25pm ​​it shows up at the starting line, more often than not without suffering any repercussions. In this sense, it is worth mentioning the excellent performance of “In altre parole” which on Saturday in the first part had a full impact against Scotti and De Martino, still achieving a miraculous 6% share.

From the series: there can be life without “previews”.