Belve is no longer what it used to be. But that’s fine too

It often happens that a program starts one way and ends another. It happens because needs change, registers are tamed and new paths are attempted, while retaining traces of the original project. Beaststhe interview program produced by Fremantle and hosted by Francesca Fagnaniwent through all the phases: from the one in which it was difficult to recruit guests ready to answer the most uncomfortable questions without being able to read them first to the one in which Beasts has become Beasts, the subject of a thousand parodies which could only benefit both the reputation of the program and that of the presenter, who went from being an elite face to a pop name recognizable by all. Fans of the first Beaststhose who, so to speak, they followed him first on Nove and then in the late evening on Rai2, they cannot fail to have noticed, however, a change of pace and scratchbecause the interviews leaned towards a type of alternative rituality.

Of course, there are always the pivotal questions Beasts – «What a beast he feels», «Tell me a beautiful beast that you have done and that you claim» -, but Francesca Fagnani’s way of pressing the interviewee has changed. If before her, knowing he was in the presence of a real beast, he tried not to give her a break until she got an answer, today he is satisfied with a half sentence, however satisfied at the thought that some prominent guests agreed to sit on that stool. It wasn’t like this before: Beasts he selected the guests because they were truly wild names like the Morgane described by Michela Murgia and Chiara Tagliaferri – so much so that they were almost exclusively women -. Over the years we have seen, among others, Annamaria Bernardini De PaceGiuliana De Sio, Marina Cicogna, Simona Ventura, Giorgia Meloni, Mara Carfagna, Daniela Santanché: all strong names that have earned a Beasts the fame of a relentless and outspoken program.

Things changed in 2023 with the landing in prime time: that’s when Beasts he transforms and decides to welcome into his ranks not only real beasts, but gods names that appeal to the general public, like Giacomo Urtis, Bianca Balti and Gabriel Garko. To become pop and meet popular taste, Francesca Fagnani records cleaner and less biting interviews, choosing, also due to the contracts with the guests, not to delve as deeply as he would have done in the past. It happens, therefore, that the questions to Anna Oxa stop at the surface, but also that a Stefano De Martino, that gives Beasts came out like a giant, were spared questions on many thorny issues that the Beasts once upon a time he would not have been afraid to face, like the gossip about an alleged flirtation with Alessia Marcuzzi and the relationship with Luna Marì, the daughter that Belén Rodriguez had with Antonino Spinalbese. It is undeniable that Beasts has sacrificed part of its original spirit for pop consecration but, given that we are always talking about a professional like Francesca Fagnani and a formula that still strives to break the ritual of well-groomed and accommodating television salons, that’s fine with us too.