Elena Sofia Ricci slams Italian TV for pushing fiction to 10 PM: 'Scandalous, I'm furious'
Actress Elena Sofia Ricci, speaking at the Italian Global Series in Rimini, launched a fierce attack on Italian broadcasters for scheduling fiction series as late as 10 PM, calling it disrespectful to crews and damaging to ratings.
The scheduling protest
Elena Sofia Ricci did not hold back at the Italian Global Series festival in Rimini. Presenting the third season of her Rai 1 crime series I casi di Teresa Battaglia, she turned her fire on the networks' habit of pushing prime-time fiction to ever later slots. "Airing at 10 PM is scandalous, I'm furious and I oppose programming that late," she said. She traced the slide: once fiction started at 8:30 PM, then 9:15 PM, and now 10 PM. The shift, she argued, makes it impossible for series to achieve the success they would with an earlier slot.
They have to stop airing us at ten in the evening. Enough. It's shameful.
A personal transformation
Ricci credits her character, the abrasive profiler Teresa Battaglia, with changing her own approach to conflict. "From Teresa Battaglia I learned to say no, to be more assertive, not to be afraid of conflict, whereas in the past I always tried to avoid it," she told journalists. The actress, winner of three David di Donatello awards, said she used to apologise even when she was the one hurt; now she speaks out. She also recalled advice from family friend Marcello Mastroianni early in her career: accept every job because the craft is learned by doing it.
Before, if I was wounded I thought it was my fault, I almost apologised to the person who hurt me. Now I've learned to say no, now I get angry.
Impact on workers and viewers
Ricci stressed that the late scheduling is not just an actors' grievance. "We have all worked like killers," she said, "and to see our products treated so badly is unacceptable." She listed the machinists working in 32-degree heat, the set designers, the costume designers doing overtime until 2 a.m. "Why should we pay the price for the logic of counter-programming? The sweat and toil of hundreds of people are at stake." Viewers, too, are forced to stay up late, and the quality of the series cannot make up for the lost audience.
All series are penalised by the scheduling. We have to protest.
The new season of Teresa Battaglia
The third season, titled Figlia della cenere and directed by Kiko Rosati, is based on Ilaria Tuti's novel published by Longanesi. Ricci described Teresa as a courageous woman who fights serial killers while battling her own inner monster, Alzheimer's. This season will also explore her past, including violence she suffered and the loss of her son. Rosati noted that Rai gave the production freedom to depict difficult material.
Calls for a TV truce
The controversy echoes the recent flop of I Cesaroni, a series Ricci starred in for years, which suffered from a 10 PM start on Canale 5. Quiz shows La ruota della fortuna and Affari Tuoi, hosted by Gerry Scotti and Stefano De Martino, often run long, pushing fiction later. Both hosts have said they would be willing to end by 9:30 PM, but Rai and Mediaset have yet to agree. Ricci urged the networks to find another way to win the ratings battle without sacrificing scripted programming.
