Rome, Aug 07: Italy's TV viewers have been captivated this summer by wisecracking, dancing grannies in a hit show that aims to find the country's coolest woman over 65 -- but they could be deprived of a nail-biting grand finale. The founder of the "Miss Over" beauty pageant for older women says the TV program stole his idea and on Tuesday asked a Milan court to stop the show's decider going on air.
"The format is almost exactly the same as the 'grannies' category in our event. We came up with this concept 11 years ago," Elio Pari told Reuters, saying potential candidates had been seduced away from his annual pageant by the lure of TV lights.
TV station Canale 5 created a sensation when it launched the "Velone" show, which replaces the sexy girls in skimpy bikinis Italians are used to with fully-dressed grandmothers.
The station, owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset company, said the program was an original idea and had nothing to do with Miss Over.
Velone is a twist on Italy's standard TV filler of semi-clad girls shimmying about the set between celebrity interviews. But the senior showgirls have a fuller repertoire -- dancing, telling jokes and answering questions about their lives. Bureau Report