After another year full of comings and goings between El Trece and the StoryLab production company led by her grandson Nacho Viale, finally, Mirtha Legrand will return to television to face her 55th season. The diva’s greatest wish, which is to host her program and be on screen, it will be finalized after, as in 2022, the negotiations between her grandson and the channel were prolonged to the point of handling other options: moving to América TV or Mirtha not hosting any program directly this year.
After the delays, the new season will be even more limited than the previous year, when it started in September, since this year the debut will only be in October. As if it were déjá vu, crossings and chicanes occurred throughout the year between Nacho Viale and the authorities of El Trece, in the same way that had happened in 2022. The negotiations seemed to stall and Mirtha’s desire to be on TV, something she repeats in each of her public appearances, seemed to get complicated. However, both she and her granddaughter will be doing their shows again this year. Mirtha will once again be in charge of Saturday nights while Juana will return with the lunches that she inherited from her grandmother on Sundays at noon.
Despite how difficult the start-up was, the first “Noche de Mirtha” will have special guests, since as confirmed to NOTICIAS the diners will be none other than one of the couples of the moment: Javier Milei and Fátima Florez, who As they explained, they met once they were guests on the program.
Quarrel
Legrand’s return to the El Trece screen meant that for a moment both his grandson and the channel authorities buried the hatchet and reached points of agreement, something that is becoming increasingly difficult.
“The relationship between the parties does not exist. “Everything is wrong,” someone who knows the behind-the-scenes relationship between the producer and the channel’s production manager, Adrián Suar, explains to NOTICIAS. Furthermore, as they explain to NOTICIAS, every day away from the screen is a torment for Mirtha who, in private, states that her only desire is to be on TV because it does her good.
This year, during the presentation of the Martín Fierro, Suar’s meeting with Nacho Viale took place, when the priest of El Trece approached to greet the diva, who was accompanied by her entire family. And although in that meeting he sought to iron out differences, the truth is that it was of little use and both parties remained firm in their positions.
There are several reasons that explain this dispute. Firstly, the economic one. As in the previous year, the budget required by StoryLab turned out to be excessive for the channel and therein lay the main focus of conflict. In fact, as this media learned, there are some points of the contract that have not yet been completely clarified. Furthermore, unlike previous years, on this occasion the diva did not sign a contract with the channel, but rather with the production company, which, in turn, did sign her relationship with El Trece. “Some issues regarding the distribution of advertising and PNT (non-traditional advertising) and some other things still need to be defined,” detailed those who followed the negotiation closely.
Another reason that explains the delay in the negotiations and the crossovers between the channel and the production company have Juana Viale as their axis. Her granddaughter inherited the program from her grandmother during the pandemic since Mirtha complied with strict isolation that prevented her from going to the studio. Thus, the traditional midday program was renamed “Having lunch with Juana” and Viale became a revelation in hosting, to the point that she ended up winning a Martín Fierro for her work. However, in El Trece her presence does not arouse the same interest as her grandmother. “The channel only wants Mirtha. If it were up to them, they would be left alone with her at the time she prefers, but Nacho includes Juana in the negotiations and that complicates everything because the channel does not also want to invest in Juana,” they explain.
The presence of the diva’s granddaughter on screen generates a double dispute. On the one hand because the cachet demanded by StoryLab exceeds what El Trece claims and on the other because to ensure its presence, the production company demands, just like last year, that the program that precedes it leave it with a good rating floor, something difficult to achieve on a Sunday morning. “Not only is the channel less interested in her, but they are making more demands for the broadcast of her program,” they summarize to NOTICIAS. “Nacho speculates between the channel’s interest in having Mirtha on screen and her desire and how comfortable she is there. And she wins, demanding the money that he believes is fair and necessarily including his sister in the negotiation,” they add.
Another element of pressure that the producer uses to win the fight is to speculate on taking both programs to another screen. Although Legrand does not want to leave El Trece, a channel she joined in 2014 and in which she always claims to feel “very comfortable,” the tension in the negotiations gives rise to flirtations with other channels. On this occasion, not only was there speculation that Mirtha could take her program to Telefe, the only air channel where she never worked as a host, but even Marcelo Tinelli, the new artistic director of America, mentioned that he liked the idea of incorporating the diva into the signal and that there would always be a place on the programming grid for it.
Debut
In addition to all these delays, Mirtha’s presence on screen will be extended for another week. The reason responds purely and exclusively to what, they hope, will be a bomb in the debut. The presence of the presidential candidate Javier Milei along with his new girlfriend, Fátima Florez, having dinner with the diva. The couple met when they were guests on the program and recognize Legrand as their matchmaker. Her first public appearance together will be with her.
As confirmed to NEWS, the return that was scheduled for September 30 will be delayed a week to be able to have the presence of the imitator. “The original idea was to record on the 29th so that it would air on the 30th, but that weekend Fátima is going to be on tour. That’s why it was decided to spend it a week so that she would be available. It was an agreement between the channel and the production company,” they explain.
Thus, the diva ensures that she has the most sought-after joint interview on her program since it was announced that Milei and Florez are a couple. However, the libertarian will not be the only candidate who attends the program. For some other programs before the October 22 elections, the presence of Patricia Bullrich is taken for granted, while the invitation to Sergio Massa exists although there is less interest from both the production of the program and the Minister of Economy in carrying out this interview. “The program is going to have political flavor, because it is Mirtha’s seal and at the moment pre-elections. Juana’s may have a ‘lighter’ content,” they detailed.
The one-week extension will also help production get everything ready for the start of the cycle. Nacho Viale closed an agreement with Marcelo Tinelli, Mirtha and Juana’s set will be subdivided, since Bailando 2023 (América) was set up in that same place.
The dimensions of the studio, one of the largest in Argentine television, allows both sets to be placed. Tinelli will continue to respect his live appearance from Monday to Thursday and will record the Friday program in advance, since that day, from noon, “Lunching with Juana” will begin to be recorded. Starting at 3:30 p.m., the lighting on the set will be modified to generate the nighttime atmosphere that the recording of “Mirtha’s Night” requires.
The countdown to Mirtha’s return to TV has already begun. The small screen will recover one of its greatest divas whose continuity was questioned by others and never by her. The truce between her grandson’s production company and the channel will make it possible for the televised meals to remain on the air at least until December. The future, meanwhile, is more uncertain and it is not ruled out that in 2024 old wounds and resentments that have been put aside today will worsen.
