625 Lineas

625 Lineas was a program broadcast on Spanish Television (RTVE) on Sunday afternoons for an hour each week. The show aired from 18 November, 1976 to 5 April, 1981, and provided interviews with television celebrities and reviewed television shows airing on RTVE. It also included musical numbers and humour. The program's name is a reference to the 625 lines that make up the television image used in most of Europe and parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania under the Pal system (as opposed to the 525 lines used in North, Central and parts of South America and Asia under the NTSC system).

History

The show was created by Jose Antonio Plaza, a Spanish journalist and television director. Plaza directed, and hosted with Paca Gabaldon and, later, with Mayra Gomez Kemp. The show aired from 18 November, 1976 to 5 April, 1981, and achieved a solid level of success. It provided interviews with television celebrities and reviewed television shows airing on RTVE. It also included musical numbers and humour. In 1977 Plaza gave up his hosting duties to Juan Santamaria in order to focus on directing.

Two years later, Plaza added a new dimension to the program and hired Tony Saez, a young Canadian of Spanish descent, to coordinate interviews with actors on American television shows airing on RTVE. Among those who appeared during this phase of the program's history were stars from Michael Landon's popular NBC series, Little House on the Prairie, Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary Ingalls) and Katherine MacGregor (Harriet Oleson).

From 1979 until 1981 the show was hosted by Marisa Abad, Isabel Borondo, Eva Gloria, Marisa Medina, Elena Gutiérrez and Santiago Peláez.

References

El País, 23 November, 1998 http://elpais.com/diario/1998/11/23/agenda/911775601_850215.html