Beautiful, the most loved soap opera turns 30 (in Italy) - Lifestyle

It was June 4, 1990 when the stories, intrigues and loves of the rich and powerful Forrester family entered the homes of the Italians, giving rise to a real custom phenomenon. Since then Ridge, Brooke, Eric and Stephanie have become familiar, quoted, and parodied characters: real icons in Italy and in the world. The broadcast on Rai2 , with episodes of 15 minutes, came three years after the debut of The Bold and the Beautiful on American TV where it is still on the air. In 1994 Berlusconi's coup at the time in the middle of the TV shopping campaign for the nascent Finivest: he ripped sensationally Beautiful from Raiat the Cannes TV market, the Miptv. Since then, seamlessly and with plots in which everything and more has happened - including 100 weddings celebrated, 22 children born and always 22 characters passed away, of which 3 resurrected and 3 "visiting" from the afterlife . 4160 hours of filming, 8300 episodes, over 374,000 pages of script, more than 1700 sets set up - the program airs at 13.40 on Canale 5 every day, from Monday to Saturday.
    The "most popular soap opera in the world" - thus defined by the Guinness Book of Records - celebrates its first thirty years of life.
    The passion, the attention and the loyalty with which the viewers follow, episode by episode, the script signed and created by William and Lee Phillip Bell have rewarded over the years - and still reward today - the plays. Broadcast in over 100 countries - including Botswana, Bulgaria, Fiji, Iran, Lithuania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - it is seen by 35 million daily viewers worldwide: it is the most viewed soap opera in absolute terms, award-winning, followed on average on Channel 5 by 2,846,000 spectators (15.1% share).
    Bradley Bell , executive producer and chief scriptwriter who picked up his parents' helm said: "I am very proud that the series has lasted for 30 years. I believe we have created a kind of extended family for our viewers . It is difficult to find things in life you can count on ".
    Together with the romantic family stories - imbued with glamor and fashion - the series has sensitized the public to important social issues. For example, in 2001, the character of Antonio Dominguez revealed his seropositivity; in 2015, "Beautiful" dealt with the transgender theme with the character of Maya Avant thus earning a GLAAD Award nomination.
    Not only that, there was also talk of euthanasia, child abuse, cancer and the problem of homelessness.