The irreplaceable Mercedes Milá (Esplugas de Llobregat, Barcelona, 72 years old) says that her new project came about after chatting with her niece. She did not know Lola Flores. “What have they been taught in schools?” jokes the presenter, who returns to TVE’s La 1 three decades later with ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’, an interview format that delves into our recent past through testimonies and the experiences of young people.
-What feelings have you had upon returning to TVE?
-To begin with, the feeling of being with all the journalists again is like life has not happened. There is a point that this set is already my home. I know what happens here, and since I know it, I hope for it. I am calm. I hope the audience follows it, is interested in it and is entertained by it. We are going to explain things that many people do not know. The young people, and also Inés Hernand, are going to give me many lessons.
-What have you learned with the first recorded deliveries?
-Not much, I have to say. It’s a kind of television that takes from here and there and, therefore, I have done it before in a way. I have learned that it is very difficult to work without a table in front of me because there I always had a script written by me and now I have nothing. I’m going full hair.
-Many of the young people who are on set do not know great personalities that they interviewed in the past, such as Adolfo Suárez.
-I am very impressed. The program is born from a small seed, which is very important, but with a lot of power. It’s something that happened to me and that I passed on to the production company. There was a program there, in which we should fill the set with young people. My niece Marina asked me one day who Lola Flores was. I replied: “Don’t fuck with me, you don’t know who she is.” She is 25 years old and she can’t go through life like that. What have they been taught in schools? And I sent him to Google. She liked the idea and we have been enriching it. We show them interviews that I did and many don’t know what character she was. And one thing is very important: in this program you listen.
-Why do you think there is such a big generation gap?
-There is no time for everything. I have asked and they have told me that history ends in the Civil War in schools. There is nothing about the Transition, and look how important it was and even more so in these moments, that everyone takes ownership of the Transition as they want. All those who never signed the Constitution and didn’t give a damn, now it turns out that they are all breaking the Constitution. Because? It is also true that in the houses before, perhaps there was some conversation, but I think there is a moment when one throws in the towel. Don’t you know who Lola Flores is? Well it doesn’t matter. It seems a shame to me.
-Now he returns to TVE and will have to be more aware of the audience. How are you going to handle it?
-I’m going to live like hell. I come from Movistar Plus+ where I have been in peace for four years, without looking at whether they were going to see it or not. That has nothing to do with the open hearing. It has nothing to do with the whim of people at home whether they put it on or not, which I respect. The remote control is sacred and seems to me to be the great sign of the result of our work. I just can’t understand people who say they don’t care about the audience.
Politics on TV
-Have you seen Marta Flich as the presenter of ‘Big Brother VIP’?
-Very little. I haven’t seen her interviewing a guy leaving the house, so I can’t say. Otherwise, she seems to me to be a prepared, pretty and friendly aunt.
-Do you think that now you could do the interview that you did with the general director of RTVE, José María Calviño, in 1986?
-Let’s try. When I try it, I’ll tell you. It makes me very angry that in this program they don’t let us do politics, just like what happened in Movistar Plus+. The reason is very clear: political groups measure their appearances on television. Back in the day, I interviewed them on the set and we weren’t aware of whether it was balanced or not.
-Alfonso Guerra now says that in Spain there is censorship because you cannot make jokes about homosexuals and dwarfs. What is your opinion?
-If they gave me permission, which they won’t give me, I did an interview with Alfonso Guerra who rolled him on the floor. The other day I was remembering the interview I did with his brother Juan de el, whom I would like to even call to apologize, because I asked him a tax questionnaire. But listening to and seeing Alfonso Guerra today makes me ashamed. And besides, I think he hurts us all.
#interview #Alfonso #Guerra #roll #floor