Federico Ladrón de Guevara
08/07/2020 - 7:15
- Clarín.com
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- TV
Pelé, Roberto Gómez Bolaños, Raffaella Carrá, Mike Tyson, Lionel Messi, Fidel Castro… Who could have these characters as guests on your television program? Yes, only he and no one but him: Diego Armando Maradona , cosmic skipjack. He did it 15 years ago, in La noche del 10 , by El Trece. A volcanic show, intense, strident, Diego-style. All that remained was for the driver to enter the studio aboard a Scania truck .
The cycle premiered on August 15, 2005 and lasted 13 episodes. It was basically a talk show. But soccer-tennis was also played and there were musicals. And it was a success: among other high-impact moments, it reached 40.3 rating points when Diego kicked a penalty to his friend and teammate Sergio Goycochea. Yes, from hero to hero: the one from the 86 World Cup and the one from the 90 World Cup.
The experts awarded him: that year, on the night of the 10th , Martín Fierro won the category "best program of general interest". And the most important ones that Clarín Espectáculos delivered , including the Golden Show, with a ceremony at the Colón Theater. Shortly after he debuted, Maradó, Maradó ..., Rodrigo would sing with his hair painted light blue.
The idea for Diego to become a television host was from an experienced trident: Adrián Suar, Pablo Codevilla and Coco Fernández .
Pablo Codevilla, Diego Maradona and Adrián Suar.
Gonzalo Mozes accompanied them as “executive producer”, another “key piece”.
Maradona, who would turn 45 that year, was at his weight, fast, lucid, as if he had proposed to go back out on the field to play against the English . Razor sharp. And always smiling.
In general, he wore jeans, a shirt and a jacket, as if he were a DT. She wore her two watches, one on each wrist, and a cross hung on her chest.
The humor segment was in charge of Eber Ludueña, the famous personage of Luis Rubio, who, in this case, faithful to his style of “trunk tip marker”, “ lose r”, “with more conditions to fracture partitions than for go out with a dominated ball ”, was doing The night of the 4 .
Well-cut and with tight shorcitos, one of the dancers was Silvina Escudero. A bomb. The brunette was starting her media career. Over time, he said that Diego had thrown the dogs at him: "Diego was always shooting, ahead of Claudia," said Escudero. “Diego was the best, he was always in a good mood. We dancers were the Diegotas, "added Vanina's sister.
The program was broadcast live. The studio was like a mini stadium: it had stands. To avoid any detail escaping, the driver was followed by 12 cameras. The back of the white armchairs where the guests sat had Maradona's face stamped on it. And, from time to time, smoke came out of the apartment, a lot of smoke, which had nothing to do with Caruso Lombardi.
There was plenty of euphoria. And what was so much requested now is missing: distancing. Among guests, attendees, public and casts, in the studio there were almost, almost, a million people.
The music was loud. The hits were Maradonean themed: Forever, Diego , from Los Ratones Paranoicos, or Maradó , from Los Piojos.
In the first row, Diego was always accompanied by his family: Doña Tota and Don Diego, his deceased parents; Claudia, from whom she had divorced two years earlier but was still in a tender relationship; and the girls, Dalma and Gianinna ...
Claudia Villafañe had already separated from Maradona but accompanied him in the studio where the program was being held.
"The idea that Diego was leading a program was from Adrián (by Suar)," says Coco Fernández, luxury producer, a true specialist, to Clarín .
And he adds: “He had recovered from his health problems. And, to stay fit, you didn't have to travel. Then, the planets aligned. And it could be done. "
On the night of the 10th
For The Thirteen
The first "stellar" visit to the program was that of Pelé . That night full of adrenaline, that of the premiere, Diego put aside old disputes with the Brazilian and treated him simply as "O'Rei".
Gabriel Batistuta, Ricardo Darín, Gabriela Sabatini and María Grazia Cucinotta were also on the floor.
"If you allow me to tutor you, which is not the same as fucking you, I'm going to ask you to make a head," closed the talk on Ten, more mischievous than ever.
And Pelé accepted. And they began to pass the ball as if they were on the beach, in Mar del Plata or Ipanema.
"It was not easy to convince Pelé to come to Diego's program," recalls Fernández, still agitated by that titanic task.
“There was tension between them, they did not speak… So, I started the negotiation with a friend of mine, Guillermo Basignani, who also represented Pelé. Guillermo told me: 'Pelé is not going to want to come ... You have to convince him to Brazil.' ”
Coco did not hesitate: without wasting time, he put together a handbag, one of those used for short trips, and took the first plane he found available.
"With Pelé we met at his house in San Pablo," continues the producer. "He told me that surely Diego was going to treat him badly, that they had never sat together on a television program, that he needed a gesture from Diego to convince himself that everything was fine ...".
Without hesitation, Fernández played a strong, heavy card: “'If you like, we call Diego right away and talk to him. You're going to see that everything is fine '”, he proposed.
Pelé agreed. "With great fear," the producer dialed Diego's number. And activated the hands free.
"'Hello Diego, I'm Coco,' I said to Maradona. 'I am here, in Brazil, with Pelé at my side ... You can say hello ... He is listening to you ...' ”.
The producer recalls that "there was an eternal pause."
And he continues: “It seemed that the world had frozen. There we were with Pelé, Guillermo, two friends of Pelé, Pepe and Pepito, all still looking at the phone ... It was as if we were waiting for Diego to kick a penalty kick, which could be a goal at the angle or go straight to the rostrum ... And there he entered Diego's voice: 'Hello, dear Negro, how are you? Are you coming? I want to see you!' . With that, everything loosened. And Diego and Pelé started talking in a very fun and friendly way. ”
Coco Fernández, with Pelé.
Codevilla also remembers the visit of Xuxa's ex-boyfriend as a “milestone”. "All the guests on the show were important," he tells this newspaper. “But the one that shocked me the most, without a doubt, was Pelé. Putting it together with Maradona, after everything that had happened between them, was great, unforgettable ”.
Somehow, before, during and after the programs, Pablo followed Maradona as the Peruvian Reyna had done in the Qualifiers 85 . Of course: he did not kick his ankles, but rather the opposite: he gave him a letter, he brought the glass of water to him, he gave him Argentina National Team shirts for Diego to sign and throw them on the rostrum ...
Pablo Codevilla, always close to Diez.
Another of the "top" guests was Roberto Gómez Bolaños, the great Mexican actor. "You are my idol, Master," Diego confessed to him. “I had very hard times in my life. And when I saw Chavo, I would relax, it would give me great peace of mind ”.
Roberto Gómez Bolaños, along with his wife Florinda Meza, with Diego.
With Mirtha Legrand, in turn, Maradona was also very affectionate. "What an emotion, my God! I put everything on to entertain you," said the diva at lunch. "What is the secret of so many years of success?" Asked Fluff. "I don't know, I work for success."
At the end gifts were exchanged: he gave her some silverware with the initials ML, and she a golf club.
To Messi, Maradona presented him as “the future of Argentine soccer”. It was still a few months before the crack of Barcelona played its first World Cup, that of Germany 2006 (and remained sitting on the bench of substitutes in the decisive match, against the local team).
"How are you?" Asked Maradona. And Messi, 18, still very tender, replied: "Everything trembles, but I'm fine."
Diego and Messi, a few months after Leo played his first World Cup.
The last program of the cycle was held at Luna Park, the same stadium where Diego had married Claudia in 1989, the night Carlos Bilardo sent Oscar Ruggeri to dance next to Careca to see how tall the forward was. Brazilian.
To say goodbye to television, Maradona threw, as they say, the house out the window.
The main guest, it is said, was Mike Tyson. "You and I are good people, some say we are a little eccentric," said the boxer to the former captain of the Selection.
"Easy, Mike," Diego replied, after Tyson greeted him with such force that he almost ripped his hand off.
As it had happened with Pelé, the interview ended with a "head" between the two. And Mike took Diego to upa. Hilarious.
Diego Maradona, in the arms of Mike Tyson. Behind, one of the dancers, Silvina Escudero.
Coco Fernández also has great memories of that evening. "The best guest for a stadium like Luna Park, the temple of boxing, was Tyson," he says.
The producer contacted Monica Turner, former wife of the heavyweight champion, and Darryl Francis, who at the time was his representative.
"I signed the contract with them," says Coco.
The show was on a Monday night. Tyson was due to arrive in Argentina the previous Saturday. But on the stopover in New York he went down for a walk and lost the plane.
“For 12 hours I had no news of him. His manager, who came from Las Vegas, also knew nothing of Mike. Luckily, Tyson appeared. He took a flight the next day and landed in Ezeiza on the same Monday, "says Fernández.
And he continues: “Thanks to the people at the airport, who were very kind, we had been able to put together a VIP to wait for him. At one point, Tyson appeared: he was very obfuscated. The trip had caused him a migraine and he couldn't bear it ... Then, at one point, he got up from the chair he had been sitting on and began to ask: 'Who is the boss? ('Who is the boss?'), Who is Coco? ' ('Who is Coco?'). And he repeated: 'Who is the boss?' ” .
Coco, without ruling out the possibility that he himself could end up as Holyfield, with his ear plucked out by Mike, replied: “'I'm Coco, I'm the boss'… (“ I'm Coco, I'm the boss ” ). I thought he was killing me… ”
The situation was getting increasingly difficult. “Tyson asked me to give him his payment… So I told him that we had arranged that he was going to send the money to his wife… There, sign, he said: 'Mike Tyson, it's me. It is my money. Give it to me. '”
Desperate, Coco called Tyson's wife and told her what was happening: "Mike asks me to pay him here and he is angry," I said. And she asked me, 'Are you very angry?' 'Yes,' I replied. 'Then, better, give him the money now ...' ”.
They all went to the hotel where Tyson was going to settle.
"I gave the money to his manager," continues Coco. "There was Tyson, his manager and I ... With a towel around his waist after taking a shower, Tyson watched as his manager counted the silver ... After that, Mike said to me, 'Come with me.' He took me to the dressing room. I didn't know what was wrong with him. There he took out two suits and told me: 'My managers, my friends, some women were stolen from me ... But you fulfilled everything for me, so you are my friend. Tell me what you want me to do on the show and what outfit I have to wear ... '. From then on, the relationship was spectacular. We ended up laughing a lot until I said goodbye at the airport ... Over the years, he returned to Argentina and we met again. With Tyson something like an express friendship was generated. ”
Coco Fernández with Tyson. The relationship started tense and they ended up being friends.
" The night of the 10th was one of the most beautiful programs in which I participated as a producer , " said Adrian Suar in has the floor , TN.
And he told a very complicated moment that he had to go through before the start: “The program was going to start on a Monday. The previous Friday Claudia called me and said: 'Diego is not going to do it'. How? It was very strong. I said that he couldn't tell me that. So I asked him what was the reason for Diego's decision. And she said to me: 'There is no reason. Ehhh ... It doesn't go, it doesn't go. '"
To convince him that he could not abandon them at that point in the circumstances, Suar got into his car and went to see Maradona at his parents' house in Devoto. Adrián was accompanied by Codevilla.
"Neither Pablo nor I dared to get out of the car ... Finally, I got out, rang the bell and they didn't answer me. I played again ... and nothing. Then I saw that the blind was slightly open. When I bent down to look around, they took it down… Diego wanted to hide! ”Suar described, laughing.
And he detailed: “In 2005, I had failed with all the programs, all had gone wrong. And with Diego we had everything to turn it around. The thing was that, from the car, we kept calling him on the phone and he didn't answer us ... We stayed there for about two hours standing guard. Until we saw him: Diego got out crouched and ran to his car. He got in and went at full speed. We lost it. He escaped…".
What happened to him? "We don't know ... I think it was stage fright . I was scared. Then, luckily, it passed. ”
Already in his dressing room, minutes before going on the air for the first time, Maradona confessed to Clarín : "I am not afraid, but I have a knot here ...", and he pointed to the pit of his stomach.
Perspired without having run, and while having a double coffee, he added: "Many times I dreamed of this party. I remember that the day we started to shape it with Adrián (for Suar), I imagined it like this: a program with a lot of deployment, with a lot of people in the studio, with my family close by and luxurious guests. But beware, I never wanted to do a formal cycle ... I want this, I want a club of friends ... ".
And he concluded: “This party is like a goal for the English: everyone wants to do it. But I did it. "
WD
