The first episode of ‘You’ve Got Mail’ put, as always, the focus on stories of (im)possible family reunions and betrayed loves in search of forgiveness. Furthermore, he introduced the whole of Italy to a natural phenomenon, an Amatriciana-style Erinni named mamma Luisa. Guests Can Yaman and Raoul Bova. Let’s see together the pass and fail candidates of this new Marian debut.

The first evening can still start at 9.30pm (but only for Maria): rating 4

On the evening of Saturday 10 January, year of the Lord 2026, for the first time, Gerry Scotti was in a hurry. Hurry to close ‘Wheel of Fortune’ which, generally, overflows even beyond 10pm, condemning ‘prime time’ programs to be celebrated only in the hours of vampires and werewolves. This is the sad fate for ‘Big Brother’ and for any other show (or fiction) of the Biscione flagship: leaving already crippled, with the public ready to embrace Morpheus. By a coincidence, on the very evening in which the new edition of ‘C’è Posta per Te’ is due to debut, Uncle Gerry and Samira Lui say goodbye early, switching the line to Maria De Filippi’s envelopes at 9.28pm. Even early, sensational! And then on Saturday evenings, when you can tend to stay a little later because the next day is a holiday, no killer alarm clocks to go to work. The fact that prime time starts at human hours, however, cannot be just a royal Marian exception: it is she who brings millions of viewers to the network, of course, but in this way all the other network productions are nipped in the bud. And the public, perhaps even wanting to be passionate about it, falls asleep. Because of these Tafazzian – and Marian – Mediaset schedules.

We urgently need a talent spin-off of You’ve Got Mail with the casting of the surprise children: rating 8

Nowadays we take them for granted, but they are always there, every year. And they change, they change from edition to edition. Yes, we are talking about children who bring things into the ‘You’ve Got Mail’ studio to make surprises for the guests more ‘exciting’. In this episode, we saw a small group of them waving a white sheet, handing out smiles and flowers. Very good, but where do these angelic creatures come from? Is there any casting to get this specific television role? And, if so, why hasn’t Maria De Filippi done a talent show on it yet? Let’s imagine the competition between five-year-olds with baby teeth but convinced of breaking the screen, the one who is excluded because he doesn’t pass the balloon (transportation) test, the mothers behind the scenes with the broken dream of becoming Showgirls behind them and who today, as revenge, push the puppets towards the small screen. On paper, it would be a really great bestiary to investigate: the evil version of ‘The Voice Kids’!

Raoul Bova begins with a joke about ‘eyes’: rating 5-

First guest of this debut episode, Raoul Bova. Invited by Dario to surprise his mother-in-law Luisa, the actor finds himself involved in a truly emotionally tough story: son-in-law and mother-in-law have been raising his three children together since, four years ago, their mother, Monica, wife and daughter, just 34 years old, suddenly passed away. The eldest of the puppies is 9 today. Dario wants to give Luisa the gift of meeting her favorite actor to thank her: without her, he says, he would never have been able to face the terrible loss and move forward. The two have given each other strength and her son-in-law reminds her how she will ‘always be family’ as far as he is concerned. We cry a lot until Raoul Bova arrives. Ours, as soon as he approaches Mrs. Luisa, says to her: “They told me we have the same eyes.” And how are these eyes, we hear? “Full of light”. Ah, maybe we remembered something different. In the usual fair of pre-packaged banalities by the authors that Bova meows from then on, the parallel between him and Luisa continues. So, when he tells her: “You, with your energy, are one of those people who save the world” does he also include himself by transitive property? Maybe. After all, having such identical eyes, these eyes so… full of light…

If Mrs. Luisa loves you, she can tell you ‘Go and get killed!’: rating 10

Here we are faced with the classic story in which a son, the over 40 Massimiliano, leaves home to live with his partner and forgets his parents. In this case, there were eight years of silence between the mother and the growing child. But the ‘mother’ who takes the field here is Mrs. Luisa, an Amatriciana-style Erinni who may have ‘lost her head a little, sorry Maria’ but has no intention of sitting around gathering dust in oblivion. Also because the son lived in his mother’s house until he was 40 and was always served and revered like a little prince, the bell rang from my room and I went to ask him ‘What can I do for you, Maestro?'”. Such a (questionable?) balance is put into crisis, however, by Daniela, the woman with whom Massimiliano falls in love and then goes to live together. From that moment on, he stops visiting his parents, even missing the sacred Sunday lunch. excuse made to avoid mum, Luisa must have shouted on the phone a furious ‘Go and get killed!’ And from there, the relationships between them cooled to the point of a total absence of communication which has dragged on for eight years now. Luisa explains the obvious: that day she was furious, but she loves him, she would never seriously wish him a speedy passing (was there really a need to specify that?!, ed.). Massimiliano still seems very shaken, but begins to give in, provided that his mother learns to respect his partner Daniela as part of the family. “It’s probably because I adore you both – the woman blurts out enthusiastically – I’ll do the amatriciana to you when you come, but come! I’ve always been kind, but I’ll be even more so, I promise”. Maria De Filippi intervenes to ask: “But if Massimiliano were to ever break up with Daniela, would you mind?”. Mindful of what she just said (or maybe not), Luisa utters an explosive: “No!”. It will all be fine.

The ‘amazing’ timing of Can Yaman (who couldn’t say ‘Sandokan’?): vote 5

On the afternoon of Saturday 11 January 2026, shocking news arrives from Türkiye: the canine actor Can Yaman was arrested for drug consumption and dealing?! The news bounces around the main newspapers, social media talks about nothing else, it is rumored that, perhaps, the episode of ‘You’ve Got Mail’ will be broadcast revised and corrected, that is, without him. Recording months in advance, generally in the summer, can play nasty tricks. But here we are truly in a science fiction contingency, born from an engine of infinite improbability! In any case, the affair quickly collapsed: Yaman was apparently picked up by a police raid together with other celebrities stationed in a nightclub. Raids, apparently, rather usual on Turkish soil. Ours, however, with a clean drug test result, would have immediately regained his freedom. Truly ‘amazing’ timing, however, which soon turned into enormous media coverage for the start of the already very popular programme. While the most obsessed fans couldn’t find peace between by Erdoğan!, ed. – the alarm goes off and so, around 11.30pm we see Yaman storming into the studio of ‘You’ve Got Mail’ for a surprise for grandma Fina from her grandchildren. Already from the introductory clip, it is clear that one cannot name ‘Sandokan’, the immensely successful drama in which he is the protagonist on Rai 1. Therefore we hear him tell how he learned to fight with swords and to ride a horse. But without a precise reason. So, they seem to be just his new pastimes. To Mrs. Fina, our man gives a lion-shaped stuffed animal (then he will take out a check for her from the back of the puppet, ed.) and a bunch of lucky charms that he himself wore ‘on the set of my new series which I hope you will like!’ Aridaje, never say ‘Sandokan’!

Manuel was ‘only six steps away’ from his neighbor. Will he stumble? vote 0

‘This is the story of an interrupted love’, announces Maria De Filippi and (we presume) millions of Italians take popcorn. Manuel arrives, 25 years old, he wants to win back his girlfriend Assia with whom he has been with since they were in high school. It was the father who contacted the program’s editorial staff because he saw his son suffering too much. Son who, however, didn’t ‘suffer’ that much when he decided to start an affair with the neighbor who ‘was only six steps away from me’. What is this detail? Does he want us to believe he tripped?! ‘He really looks like a slap,’ comments Maria De Filippi as if to excuse him in the eyes of Assia, the betrayed partner who doesn’t know whether to take him back because she no longer trusts him. The ‘stumble’ in question, in fact, went on for several months (Manuel claims four, while the other party reveals that the affair would have lasted much longer). Manuel took the other to the seaside, went to dinner several times with another couple, managed to live two relationships in parallel for a long time without being discovered. Until a ‘fake profile’ on social media warned Assia of the betrayal, in great detail, also adding to immediately go to her beloved’s house to catch him in the act. The girl complies and, once there, shouts ‘You suck’ and slaps him twice, before leaving him behind while the cheater still stammers: “But it’s not as it seems: I was just talking to a friend!”. How can we still keep this one around? According to Maria De Filippi it would even be possible, provided that Assia develops her own ‘autonomy’, that is, a social life that goes outside of him, also to verify if Manuel is really the person she wants to be with forever – and if there really isn’t anything better around. Assia then opens the envelope. Sorry. It’s sad because they’re horns. And they will flourish.