--- title: Sabado Gigante's Last Days: See Mario Kreutzberger Sign Off description: Mario Kreutzberger hosted 'Sabado Gigante' every Saturday for 53 years canonical: https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/ author: Adam Perez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-22T19:06:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:39:36.738Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Witness the Last Days of the Longest Running TV Show in History og:description: Mario Kreutzberger hosted 'Sabado Gigante' every Saturday for 53 years og:url: https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fb7561b06abc752/698869605f570f581ab1df85/large-tout_v2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: BTS Don Francisco og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Witness the Last Days of the Longest Running TV Show in History twitter:description: Mario Kreutzberger hosted 'Sabado Gigante' every Saturday for 53 years twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fb7561b06abc752/698869605f570f581ab1df85/large-tout_v2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Witness the Last Days of the Longest Running TV Show in History > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Why Univision ended the biggest show on TV [Watch (HLS stream): Why Univision ended the biggest show on TV](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vCI6MU5m.m3u8) (7:45)  _Published 2015-10-22. Sabado Gigante aired for 53 years reaching about 40 countries._ by [Adam Perez](https://time.com/author/adam-perez/) and [Stephen Valdivia](https://time.com/author/stephen-valdivia/) Oct 22, 2015 7:06 PM UTC Sabado Gigante aired for 53 years reaching about 40 countries. by [Adam Perez](https://time.com/author/adam-perez/) and [Stephen Valdivia](https://time.com/author/stephen-valdivia/) Oct 22, 2015 7:06 PM UTC Every Saturday for 53 years, Mario Kreutzberger has been a presence in Latino living rooms across America. The star? of Univision’s flagship show “Sabado Gigante,” Kreutzberger, age 74, hosted 2,800 consecutive weekly shows, only missing one episode of the live variety show in 1974, when his mother passed away. Assuming an outrageous persona — “Don Francisco” — Kreutzberger built a loyal audience that made the three-hour live show win the Guinness World Record for the longest running TV show in history. It could be described as a fusion of The Price is Right, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show and many more. Sabado Gigante didn’t reach an American audience until the 1980’s when production moved from Chile to Miami to air exclusively on Univision, then known as the Spanish International Network. That move led the network and Don Francisco to become the household names they are today among the latino community. It also became hugely profitable for Kreutzberger and Univision. According to one of the network’s TV hosts, at one point in its history, Sabado Gigante was worth 30% of Univision’s profits. The network denied that number, passing it off as a rumor but wouldn’t release the actual number. The fact remains, Sabado Gigante was vital to Univision’s bottom line. Kreutzberger says the secret behind keeping the show profitable was the extensive product placement. Between segments, models and long-time co-host Javier Romero would dance and sing jingles for companies like Domino’s Pizza, Walmart, and American Airlines. But in the last few episodes, products like fungus cream were the most dominant advertisements; a few car commercials still made the cut. “We had advertisers lining up for 25 years. But no longer. Television has changed,” Kreutzberger said. The man became victim of the very thing he had survived for years: Time. Sabado Gigante aired for the last time this past September. In 2012, Kreutzberger signed a 3-year contract, thinking that he’d pass the baton to a younger host. Although the show still ranks highly with young viewers, it has seen a 43% drop in the 18-34 demographic since March 2011. Millennials were looking for a new type of entertainment and Univision was willing and ready to give it to them, even if it meant retiring a television legend. At the end, Kreutzberger thought it was the right decision. “Mario is getting older and older and Don francisco still needs the same fuel,” Kretuzberger said, “the last years, I couldn’t give him the complete fuel Don Francisco needs.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ FOREIGN ] [00:07] It was a phenomenon [ FOREIGN ] is going to stay in [00:11] the books as the most incredible show ever [00:16] in hispanic television. [ FOREIGN ] We work [00:20] in a business that is it's like one day you're here, the [00:22] next day, maybe you're not. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:24] [ SOUND ] What [00:31] was the real idea of [ FOREIGN ]? The first, doing the [00:34] show on the side of the audience. It was a show that [00:37] had a little bit of everything. And it was actually the [00:39] beginning of Hispanic television. Second was the [00:42] mixture, about games, music, [ MUSIC ] Interviews. [00:46] Thank you very much for having me. Some [00:51] dramatic moments. [ MUSIC ] And some very [00:55] funny moments. [ LAUGH ] Sábado [01:00] Gigante compiles game shows, Price is Right, The [01:03] Treasure Hunt, Let's Make a Deal. And we put in [01:07] camera a group of people that never was in camera. [01:11] That was the Hispanic audience. [ APPLAUSE ] For 53 [01:16] years, Sabado Gigante has been a fixture in living [01:20] rooms across America. Don Francisco, congratulations [01:23] on an extraordinary career. [ FOREIGN ] [01:39] [ LAUGH ] [ FOREIGN ] He's very quiet, observing But [01:41] when the lights turn [01:46] on and he's on stage he [01:52] was another person totally another person, that was [01:55] Don Francisco. [ MUSIC ] Well [02:02] at the beginning we're the fake people but after awhile [02:06] There is a separation, a television host [02:10] doesn't sweat, doesn't have problems with his wife, [02:16] he does need to pay bills. He is always happy ready [02:20] to entertain. [ MUSIC ] When [02:31] the television came out in Chile, he went and he asked [02:34] for a job. And he got the worst day of the week. [02:37] Saturday was for cleaning up the equipments. So they [02:40] said, okay, we have eight hours. Take it, do whatever [02:43] you want. That's how Sabado Gigante started. [02:44] [ SOUND ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] And [02:55] it was the integration of the product why they made so [02:59] much money. What we did is the integration in the [03:02] middle of the segment. We had sponsors in line [03:06] for more than 25 years. [ MUSIC ] [03:10] No more in line. The television has changed. [03:13] [ FOREIGN ] [03:17] [ APPLAUSE ] [03:21] [ FOREIGN ] when I start, there were record nights, [03:24] nine million Hispanic people in the United States. [03:28] Today, there are 55 million; that's the biggest minority [03:32] in the country. And every Saturday, everybody would [03:36] turn on their TV and would get something from their [03:39] country. It was something very special. [ MUSIC ] [03:44] The first international appearance of Shakira [03:49] Were here. Enrique Iglesias started on Sábado Gigante. [03:53] There again, that was the only platform [04:03] for a singer. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] I think that two [04:05] particular parts of the show that always be [04:08] remembered. [ FOREIGN ] Manny Via. I remember [04:13] when the firs time when they tell me dance like Lolita. [04:16] When I was facing the camera. I was okay with that. [04:19] When they tell me turn around. I move like Lolita to the [04:20] I'm like oh no no wait a minute. I'm not doing this. [04:25] I didn't come here to move like Lolita. [04:35] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] When I hear [04:42] that La Colita was what people liked the most, I was [04:46] like, wow. I was [ INAUDIBLE ] And we are [04:50] proud about the beauty of our women. Why to [04:55] hide that? It's our opinion. But [05:00] during this business you have to be surrounded with [05:02] young people. But Mario is getting older. [05:07] And older. And older. A San Francisco film meaning the [05:10] same film. And I think of the last [05:15] year I couldn't give them very complete [05:20] fuel that San Francisco need. This decision of ending [05:24] [ UNKNOWN ] is not a decision that we took two [05:27] months ago, three months ago. Marty and I personally [05:30] have been talking about it the past three years. In [05:34] 2012 when I reached the 50 years of Sábado [05:38] Gigante, the company called me and they said, we [05:42] will do another three years contract with you. But the [05:47] last three years was the a big change of television. At [05:50] the end, the company said, you know we won't take [05:53] the format. The show will end. [06:03] [ APPLAUSE ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] Green. [06:03] [ INAUDIBLE ] Red and [06:25] we're up on it. [ FOREIGN ] [06:35] [ APPLAUSE ] [ FOREIGN ] I have to say [06:42] to you, to our viewers, that [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I'm gonna [06:42] miss them very much. We did everything [06:47] that was in our Capacity to do [06:51] the best of our knowledge with a big respect [06:56] to our audience. [07:04] [ FOREIGN ] I don't know if television will go back to [07:08] doing that kind of show. But we have to move on. [07:11] That's television, you know? That television. This will [07:14] never happen. This history will never repeat again. [07:16] And it's all [ UNKNOWN ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/"},"headline":"Witness the Last Days of the Longest Running TV Show in History","datePublished":"2015-10-22T19:06:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:39:36.738Z","description":"Time and Fortune collaborate to show you the final days of Sabado Gigante, the longest running TV show in history","url":"https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fb7561b06abc752/698869605f570f581ab1df85/large-tout_v2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam Perez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/adam-perez/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Stephen Valdivia","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/stephen-valdivia/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fb7561b06abc752/698869605f570f581ab1df85/large-tout_v2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BTS Don Francisco","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/","name":"Witness the Last Days of the Longest Running TV Show in History"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Univision ended the biggest show on TV","description":"Sabado Gigante aired for 53 years reaching about 40 countries.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vCI6MU5m/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-22T13:15:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vCI6MU5m.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/","duration":"PT7M45S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4083077/sabado-gigante-mario-kreutzberger-univision-don-francisco/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```