Crónicas marcianas

This is one of those shows you either really like or really hate. Originally it was an exciting new spin on the typical weeknight chat show, but gradually worsened into Telecinco's go-to option to discuss its new reality shows and have live arguments on TV.

So, why the appeal? There's the brilliant production values - the amazing very first opening sequence and spot-on music changes never fail to grab your attention. The set is interesting too - themed on an alien spacecraft, it features a globe with googly eyes tracking Sardà wherever he goes. Galindo (rest in peace) was also very funny.

Crónicas launched the careers of some of Spain's biggest TV celebrities, including Boris Izaguirre, Xavier Sardà and - sadly - the awful Matamoros brothers. After its cancellation, many of the production crew used their experience here to move to Cuatro to give rise to the phenomenon that is "El Hormiguero".

The gradual decline of Telecinco from engaging general entertainment to endless reality shows no-one cares about, is both represented by and arguably down to Crónicas... a poisoned chalice.

I was a Spanish viewer of this talk-show, still very famous here today indeed, until the late 90's, when I decided not to watch it again. This was in the beginning a brand new style for late night TV in Spain at that time, but gradually was degrading into what here it's called "trash TV". I still find myself very surprised to have found out this kind of stuff at the Internet MOVIES DataBase, when a friend told me I just couldn't believe it. I think it would be interesting for readers around the world to know that Spain since the 90's is suffering a very shocking effect for not previously warned viewers, TV is infested with reality-shows, big-brothers, beautiful people, jet-sets, and a very wide range of strange people, most of them remind me of the 70's. Even more funny is that their audience, in many cases, is very very high, that's another point, if you have been here years ago, and come back again, you'll find that the average cultural level of the population has gone straight down, year after year. Obviously, these shows coupe most of the TV time, so documentaries, culture or science have been wiped away from TV. I have discovered at the IMDb other "trash" shows (I will not mention them, the last thing I would like to do is promotion), but, I must say, one thinks "ok, let's switch off my TV set, and escape from all that stuff", when you find out you still have to suffer them again here. Please, just ignore them, let's keep the IMDb clean!