Entrega Premio Don Francisco
Mario Kreutzberger, better known as “Don Francisco”, has never felt like an idol. “I think of me as someone who works for the entertainment industry”, he said in an interview with María Celeste Arrarás during the PRODU 2021 Awards Gala where he received the Honorary Award for a Life of Artistic Dedication that celebrates his almost 60 years of trajectory.
His career began at age 22 on Channel 13 in Chile. First on Sundays and then on Saturdays. ‟I started from 5 to 6pm on Saturdays. It was an experiment and in the end, I spent 20 years with 8 hours every Saturday, which became the most important day of Chilean TV,” he recalls.
He added that he owes a lot to Channel 13 in Chile, “there I became a professional.”
He said that his secret to staying on the wave was reinventing himself. “One of the things that differentiate Sábado Gigante from other shows is that it was done from the audience, not from the stage,” he said.
About his book “Con Ganas de Vivir,” which he wrote during the pandemic he said: “There I tell the most important things that happened to me in the last 20 years, from the end of the Sábado Gigante, to how I married got marry for the second time.” Also wrote about his time in Univisión.
He has recently been working on a program about the history of Sábado Gigante for a platform, and on a cycle for CNN en Español. Cynthia Hudson, SVP and general director of the channel, sent him a message in which she recalled the friendship that has united them for years.
He mentioned that he has been in therapy in order to reconcile his character Don Francisco with himself, Mario Kreutzberger.
Regarding the future of open TV, he said that it will continue, it will adapt, it will have many live programs, news, sports, and entertainment, while fiction will go to the platforms. “What I do have doubts about is whether open TV can survive with the type of commercialization it has now, which interrupts programming, commercialization should be incorporated.”
Upon receiving his award, he referred to PRODU as a very necessary space for the Spanish TV business. Among PRODU’s accomplishments he mentioned the internationalization of TV, providing all kinds of information, products, and services, “it is very good for TV and for those of us who work on it. They are the first to know what’s going on in the industry internally.”
TV celebrities such as Susana Giménez, Angélica Vale, Angélica María, and Marco Antonio Regil joined the tribute and expressed their congratulations, admiration, and respect for all these years he has given to TV.
His daughter, Vivi Kreutzberger, was present to offer her congratulations. José Luis Rodríguez, El Puma; Cristian Castro, and Emilio and Gloria Estefan, were there to honor Don Francisco.
