Paolo Bonolis and his no to RAI, that's how Pier Silvio convinced him to stay. But maybe it was a mistake... Behind the scenes

There was a moment in recent months when Paolo Bonolis was on the verge of returning to Rai . Then Pier Silvio Berlusconi 's advances convinced him to stay at Mediaset for another season. The one that recently began, which sees him starring in the usual Avanti un altro on Canale 5's early evening program, Avanti un altro, was significantly outperformed by Pino Insegno's Reazione a catena , which won the ratings race by seven points, to the great delight of the 8 p.m. news program Tg1 and Rai Pubblicità .

Paolo Bonolis , undoubtedly one of the best TV hosts on the scene, is now terribly—if you'll pardon the expression—trapped in the very television format Mediaset demands of him. A format tied to programs like Avanti un altro, or Ciao Darwin , which Mediaset has stubbornly rerun on Saturday evenings this summer, naturally without Bonolis complaining. Or even as a judge on the new edition of Tu si que vales starting this Saturday on Canale 5.

Well, this indolence, let's call it, typical of many Romans, is perhaps one of the distinguishing traits of a talent now imprisoned in the format that his employers, at least the current ones, want from him. There has been frequent talk in the past, during the renewal of his contract with Mediaset , of new programs, of the return of The Meaning of Life , announced again recently by Bonolis himself, naturally revised and corrected, but in the end none of this ever came.

Bonolis at Mediaset is only used for that ultra-light entertainment, to use no other term, which, while highly respectable, has now largely overflowed the glass of his decades-long experience on the small screen. Bonolis is much more. That's why, given all this, it's a shame that the deal between Rai and Bonolis ultimately didn't materialize.

According to our understanding, Rai wanted to reimagine Paolo Bonolis's television work, updating it and allowing him to create a product that reflects his capabilities, far beyond the ultra-light and somewhat dated entertainment that Mediaset currently demands of him. It's a shame this couldn't be achieved, and we're not saying this so much for Rai's sake, which would have benefited from all this, but for Bonolis himself, for his professionalism and his qualities, currently confined to the dark side of the moon, to put it in Pink Floyd's terms.