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Out With The Old, In With The New
Milan, July 10: Grandmothers may have a preferential status in most families but one Italian television programme has taken things a step further. Scantily-clad teenage dancing girls are now being replaced by rather robust over 65-year-old grannies.
Milan, July 10: Grandmothers may have a preferential status in most families but one Italian television programme has taken things a step further. Scantily-clad teenage dancing girls are now being replaced by rather robust over 65-year-old grannies.
Italy`s most popular television show has decided to change its look. Sexy twenty-one-year-olds Georgia and Elena who shot to stardom last year in a competition to win prized places as showgirls, the Veline (copygirls), on the programme Striscia la Notizia (Strip the News) will soon be replaced.
The hit show which runs on Canale 5, one of the channels owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi`s Mediaset company has come up with another winning idea. Out with the new and in with the old. Tired of being referred to in the American press as fickle, the programme`s creator has replaced a vowel and using the same formula has launched another hit competition to find the Velone, showgirls over the age of 65.
And Italy`s grannies are not holding back. Pouting and flinging their hips around, the new showgirls are giving it their all on the catwalk, dancing to the latest disco sounds. For 88-year-old Felicia de Filippo, wearing a comfortable pair of bedroom slippers, the electronic music scene doesn`t seem to be really her thing. But despite arthritic hands and feet she goes through her paces at the rehearsal in order to be ready for competition night.
"I decided that the New York Times deserved to be severely punished because it`s just not right that these Americans go around dictating good taste and all things politically correct all around the world" said the show`s creator Antonio Ricci. "I beat them severely by replacing a vowel, instead of the Veline I made the Velone changing the criteria and using women over 65 years of age he said with a wry grin.
And he certainly has created another success. The Italian public were impressed when 91-year-old Fedora De Pra took to the stage on one of the competition nights. Weighing only 43 kilos, Fedora had asked permission from her priest to compete for the all important title of a Velone. "I made the same show, with the same success, the same presenter, the same production and the same segments of music. It worked - so my dear friends from the New York Times - you have to shut down, you are lousy" said Ricci.
Certainly the younger showgirls didn`t have to worry about their wrinkles or the fact that they are not so stable on their feet. But despite their advanced years the senior showgirls will continue to perform dance routines on the show, tell jokes and answer questions about their lives. But will the presenters be able to get a word in? 70-year-old Liafranca Pardelli has been sharing a room with 72-year-old Anna Assandri during the rehearsals. She snores at night Assandri said as Pardelli butted in: "We like each other, one will win and the other one will be happy for them It`s great to have participated in something like this", Assandri said at the same time.
The show has been a hit across all generations but maybe there is a bit more interest amongst the elderly men. "It is a bit strange, some of the women are a bit old...but I like it very much" said an elderly male spectator.
The competition to find the Velone will finish in September.
Bureau Report
The hit show which runs on Canale 5, one of the channels owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi`s Mediaset company has come up with another winning idea. Out with the new and in with the old. Tired of being referred to in the American press as fickle, the programme`s creator has replaced a vowel and using the same formula has launched another hit competition to find the Velone, showgirls over the age of 65.
And Italy`s grannies are not holding back. Pouting and flinging their hips around, the new showgirls are giving it their all on the catwalk, dancing to the latest disco sounds. For 88-year-old Felicia de Filippo, wearing a comfortable pair of bedroom slippers, the electronic music scene doesn`t seem to be really her thing. But despite arthritic hands and feet she goes through her paces at the rehearsal in order to be ready for competition night.
"I decided that the New York Times deserved to be severely punished because it`s just not right that these Americans go around dictating good taste and all things politically correct all around the world" said the show`s creator Antonio Ricci. "I beat them severely by replacing a vowel, instead of the Veline I made the Velone changing the criteria and using women over 65 years of age he said with a wry grin.
And he certainly has created another success. The Italian public were impressed when 91-year-old Fedora De Pra took to the stage on one of the competition nights. Weighing only 43 kilos, Fedora had asked permission from her priest to compete for the all important title of a Velone. "I made the same show, with the same success, the same presenter, the same production and the same segments of music. It worked - so my dear friends from the New York Times - you have to shut down, you are lousy" said Ricci.
Certainly the younger showgirls didn`t have to worry about their wrinkles or the fact that they are not so stable on their feet. But despite their advanced years the senior showgirls will continue to perform dance routines on the show, tell jokes and answer questions about their lives. But will the presenters be able to get a word in? 70-year-old Liafranca Pardelli has been sharing a room with 72-year-old Anna Assandri during the rehearsals. She snores at night Assandri said as Pardelli butted in: "We like each other, one will win and the other one will be happy for them It`s great to have participated in something like this", Assandri said at the same time.
The show has been a hit across all generations but maybe there is a bit more interest amongst the elderly men. "It is a bit strange, some of the women are a bit old...but I like it very much" said an elderly male spectator.
The competition to find the Velone will finish in September.
Bureau Report