Cavalieri, dame e il dating show per un pubblico maturo. Il caso Uomini e donne (Trono over)

This chapter deals with a long-lived program with constant success in the landscape of Italian television, Uomini e donne (1996-in production, Canale 5). The paper investigates in particular its incarnation which we identify with the subtitle Cavalieri e dame (Trono over), which features men and women with an age from forty years up. The chapter will focus in particular on the outline of the program and on the evolutions that it has undergone over the years, favouring the inclusion of a more mature category of competitors compared to the regulars of the classical version of the show. In order to do so the analysis of the program will also focus on the media ecosystem created by Maria De Filippi as author and producer. Furthermore, the role of women in the program will be explored, with the intention of highlighting some stereotypes and clichés about the female universe that the show tends to perpetuate. I will also focus on some peculiar effects of the health emergency due to the Sars-CoV-2 virus on the program and on the curious and very recent case of the courtship between a well-known protagonist of the show, Gemma Galgani, an elegant seventy-year-old lady and the new entry Nicola Vivarelli, a handsome twenty-six year old model. The relationship between the two will finally allow us to make some reflections on how the theme of female aging is perceived on television, in the popular press and by the audience of the program.