Spanish-language television legend Mario Kreutzberger, better known under the stage name Don Francisco, is reuniting with his longtime broadcasting partner Univision.
TelevisaUnivision — the parent company of Univision — announced the news Tuesday morning as part of its annual “Upfront” presentation to advertisers.
Kreutzberger, 85, who hosted the three-hourlong weekly variety show “Sábado Gigante” on the network for 29 years, will be hosting a new limited event series.
According to the presentation, he will be interviewing “major personalities from the Hispanic world” in a format that “blends the intimacy of a close conversation with the scale and emotion of a major television event.”
No date for the series’ premiere was given, but it should kick off within the next year.
The television personality hosted “Sábado Gigante” for 53 years, first beginning in 1962 in his native Chile on Canal 13 before switching over to the Miami-based studios of Univision in 1986.
The program was a Saturday-night fixture in millions of Latino households and was known for its zany sketches, scantily-clad women, bizarre TV characters such as El Chacal — and Kreutzberger’s own raucous stage persona.
The final episode of “Sábado Gigante” aired Sept. 19, 2015. The star-studded send-off included in-studio appearances from recording artists such as Juanes and Luis Fonsi, as well as former Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos. It also included recorded messages from Shakira, Marc Anthony and political luminaries such as former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
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