Mélodie en sous-sol

"Colpo grosso", Italian for "big shot", brought strip-tease to Italian television. It was a game show, but the quizzes were mostly the occasion for comedic relief by host Umberto Smaila - a well-know face in the Eighties, formerly a member of the cabaret group "I gatti di vicolo Miracoli". Naturally, the "main course" of the show were the exhibitions of the strippers. A bunch of pretty ladies from all over Europe, called "ragazze Cin Cin" ("cheers" girls), or "Bandierine" ("small flag" girls) or by other funny names, danced to the music unveiling their breasts. They took off all their clothes except for underpants and stockings, generally. The cheerful ladies also sang songs, chatted with the host and took part in some quizzes as contestants. Normal contestants, including lads, had to dance and strip too, in order to gain points for the game, but it was a mild type of strip-tease, they kept their underpants on. The whole thing was indeed silly and not exactly family friendly, but it was somewhat entertaining, yes... erotic, but more "for laughs" than sleazy. Think of a burlesque show or of wet T-shirt contest being televised in a late evening show, sort of.

Although originally aired on a minor network, the Italia7 syndication, "Colpo grosso" soon became quite popular and around 1,000 installments of the show were produced in five years. For better or for worse, it was groundbreaking. Like it or not, it was a landmark of Italian television in the late Eighties.