There have been few things on television more difficult than filling the gap left Save me. When Mediaset eliminated the legendary program from its schedule and handed over its afternoons to Ana Rosa, a year ago, it decided to broadcast a bridge program between one and the other to cover the summer. Three months on the air and goodbye. That’s how it was born This is lifea magazine that started with an expiration date, remained amidst continuous rumors of cancellation and finally, Has survived to the point that on June 26th it will be one year on Telecinco.
The program they present Sandra Barneda y César Muñoz occupies the chain’s table. Only one hour, yes, although in that time it has had enough capacity to generate its own content that has nourished other programs in the house. The soap opera of Carmen Borrego and her son, who curiously works on the same program, but behind the cameras, It has been his great success and has given him days of glory. She is the star collaborator of a program that also has another Campos, Alejandra Rubio, another content generator, sitting in her chairs.
Although the public only sees what is broadcast between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., the work in This is life It begins first thing in the morning, as we have been able to experience firsthand an Informalia team that has gotten into the guts of this program of TV. At 09:00 the day begins for the 30 people who carry out this space that produces Quartz (Survivors, The island of temptations). It is at that moment when the content proposals, the distribution of topics, and the distribution of topics begin to circulate. the design of a list that takes shape throughout the morning and that varies depending on what current events dictate or the content that the program itself achieves.
3:00 p.m.: The ‘dome’ meets with Sandra Barneda and César Muñoz
Those responsible for This is life They are in contact with the presenters during those first hours so that they are aware of the content they are preparing and arrive at the meeting with an outline of what they are going to tell the viewers. At 3:00 p.m. sharp, the director, Lorraine Riveraand the executive producer of Cuarzo, Silvia Fonsecathey meet Sandra Barneda and César Muñoz in one of Mediaset’s VIP rooms to review the list and do a script reading with their ‘steps to video’.
It is time to raise all your doubts and ask all the details of the content. that will be broadcast during the program. There are also some red lines drawn there that management does not want to address for one reason or another.
And it is striking how precisely both Barneda and Muñoz are interested in understanding all the topics well, the intra-history of soap operas. hearts or the origin of the information, so that they can have all the necessary weapons to then address the issues on set with sufficient resources. In other words: they leave the meeting with the lesson learned so as not to get their fingers caught live. Let no one think that they are talking heads that read an entry mechanically like someone reviewing a shopping list. They ask and re-ask as many times as necessary. to the two top people responsible for the program. And when they disagree, they say so.
In parallel, the program’s deputy directors speak with the day’s collaborators to hold a prior meeting, but it is important to indicate that The presenters and the panelists never see each other before the program nor do they prepare the content together. It is a way for the magazine to gain naturalness and spontaneity.
3:40 p.m.: presenters and collaborators enter the set
The most vibrant moments of the program are experienced when the team enters the studio, the same one from where it is made. Fiesta. At 3:40 p.m., everyone takes positions: presenters and collaborators microfonanthe audience takes their seats and the director arrives at her position to receive the latest instructions from her colleagues and to know which videos are prepared and which are still in progress.
“It is a current affairs program, things happen live and the normal thing is that they continue editing and tell me if there is something new,” Rivera tells us minutes before the broadcast begins. “They are telling me that there is still one who is not there. He will arrive. Peace of mind,” she points out. At these times, staying calm is essential, while communicating with Realization and also with the presenters through the earpieces. “I am the one who speaks to you.”
Upstairs, in Realización, a dozen people work, between technical staff from the production company and the network, filmmakers, script managers and the deputy director, Luis Troya, who communicates with the director, who is still below, on site, with helmets on her head. The pace in Production is always ahead of the broadcast: orders to introduce videos, notices about their duration, indications about who has to be prepared to resume later…
3:00 p.m.: The live show of ‘This is Life’ begins
When the program begins, the director communicates with the presenters through the earpiece and makes some important notes that they replicate with that art that only good communicators master: speaking while receiving orders without making it obvious that they have a voice in their ear. Some collaborators also wear it. “The most rebellious is Avilés, but they usually pay attention. They are well ordered. And the presenters too”the director explains to us.
The day we sneaked in This is life We agree with Alejandra Rubio, Carmen Alcayde, Almudena del Pozo, Gema Fernández and Antonio Sánchez Casado. They talk about Edmundo, Carmen Borrego, his son José María and the possibility that the breakup with Paola is a setup, although they have not discussed the topic directly for several afternoons.
“We have had good content but I think we have exploited it well and have set the limit”Sandra Barneda tells us about this matter. “As much as it worked in terms of audience, we have not crossed any limits,” she adds. “It could have been told in many ways and we have chosen one because it was the one that seemed correct to us and it was: that’s it,” says César Muñoz, for his part.
There is little time and everyone wants to intervene. When there is a video being broadcast or they see that they are not on camera, the collaborators begin to raise their hands looking at the presenters or the director to get them to let them give their opinion. “I love that we kill each other to talk, because otherwise it would be a furniture show”explains Almudena del Pozo. “The favorites are Gema and Almudena, because they are the ones with the most serious data. Then the rest of us enter to chafardear“comments Carmen Alcayde, one of the survivors of the extinct Save me that has remained in the chain.
The truth is that there is a good atmosphere among the team. “I have not worked on a program with better vibes than here. We started with enthusiasm, They wanted to take us away every week, we were always going to fall off the grid… and we put so much effort into it that I think that’s why we’re still here“, says Gema Fernández about the survival of a program that was often considered dead.
The commercial breaks, two in each program, are usually a good reflection of the spirit of the program. Some chat with others, some comment on the play, prepare their next interventions, eat chocolate palm trees and, above all, take endless photos to feed their social networks. “We all respect each other even if we don’t agree on opinions. We get a little angry but we get along well. We have achieved that balance, which is difficult because we are making television,” explains Sandra Barneda.
“We are a small but tough program”
The program time passes at breakneck speed. “I wish it were a little longer”asks the presenter, who highlights the good chemistry she has achieved with César Muñoz – “he is the The Boy Next Doorthe boy from the house next door, the one that every mother wants for her son or daughter” – and the collaborators. “They come comfortable and that means that they bring information, because being a small program we have given big topics,” he boasts. Sandra Barneda. “We are a small but tough program,” says César Muñoz.
Are the 17.00 and it is time to hand over the baton to Ana Rosa Quintanawhich pilots the rest of Telecinco’s new afternoons.
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