100 Million Viewers — But Do You Know Him?

Oct. 4 -- For 100 million viewers in more than 40 nations, Saturday night means one thing: Don Francisco.

Don Francisco is Latin America's best-known TV personality. As host of the variety show Sábado Gigante, the longest continuously running entertainment program in television history, he is a cultural icon for Spanish-speaking viewers across the Americas. His show has launched the careers of countless Latin stars, and helped fuel the tremendous success of Spanish-language television in the United States.

The three-hour show, whose name means "Giant Saturday," is a wild mix of comedy, music, games, reports and interviews, all held together by the oomph of Don Francisco's boundless energy. The dapper Latin swagger of the often silly, shiny-suited Don — who is in reality a quiet, German-speaking Jew named Mario Kreutzberger — carries his program through goofy, Apollo-style talent segments and audience sing-alongs.

But he also tackles serious subjects that touch on the lives of his viewers. In one segment of the show, Don Francisco pressed New York's Gov. George Pataki to increase the aid given families of Latino workers who died in the Sept. 11 attacks. In another, he discussed illegal immigration with President Bush.

Power of a Cultural Icon

Kreutzberger pioneered the show in Chile in the 1960s, and moved it to the Miami studios of Univision in 1986. The show has helped make Univision the fifth most-watched network in the United States.

"Don Francisco represents 40 million people in this country, and if you don't know who he is, you might not understand what kind of country it is that you're living in," said Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos.

"Every Saturday they tune in and there he is: 'That's the man of Sábado,'" said the show's director, Vincente Riesgo. "Don Francisco gives them the sense of security that they lack as immigrants in a new country."

"It's a bridge between your new world, the United States, and your old world," Ramos explained.