Another new address I would like to inaugurate is that related to radio broadcasts. I would like to inaugurate it with a program of a purely trashy nature, or supposedly so, like "Lo Zoo di 105." This flagship broadcast on Radio 105 in the afternoon slot (from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM) has paved its way into the (ass) hearts of Italian radio listeners (especially among the age group of 16 to 35 years old).
Indeed, talking about such a show is not easy at all. It’s not easy because it’s out of the usual schemes. It stands out from the norms of common sense and defies any comparison with any other radio broadcast. Musically speaking, the genres and new releases are the standard radio fare, akin to toilet paper or first-rate excrement, and certainly do not represent the Zoo's strength or quality. However, the mixings with skits and phrases taken verbatim from listeners or from Leon can almost always be entertaining and/or well integrated into the musical background. Speaking objectively about the Zoo is truly very arduous because you either love it or wish it would get out of your hair. For a longtime fan like me, it’s even harder. It’s difficult because you’re faced with an evolution of this program that verges on devolution. You find yourself listening to it again after a few years with the usual jokes, vulgarities, or skits that inflate one’s patience to the extreme. On the other hand, sometimes you come across real gems of genius in jokes and unprecedented ideas. What disappoints or excites is that much depends, in the case of "La bastardata del giorno" or prank calls in general, on the reactions of the people victimized by them.
The tendency of the program is to go against the general opinion of people or to harshly criticize the many facets and aspects of people with borderline humor and quips. Indeed, there are numerous lawsuits against them, yet they persist undeterred with a language that (fortunately or unfortunately) grazes the bottom. Returning to the evolution of the program, elements like "La bastard inside line," which provides listeners the chance to vent in a more or less dignified manner regarding whatever crosses their minds, have injected additional originality and humor. Needless to say, the jokes in the long run descend into the heard-before or the predictable, yet are sometimes amusing. The "cast" is the seasoned one from the early days (Mazzoli, Leone, Alisei) with some delightful additions. The characters portrayed verge on the ridiculous yet effectively amplify society’s flaws (see Scrocchignolo and Franco Immobiliare), while other times they content themselves with making allusions or caricatures of famous people.
In short, for better or worse, this program is one you either love or hate. It oscillates between very high peaks of humor and mostly declines in others. It consistently cruises on almost always gratuitous vulgarity amidst highs and lows, but... I love it. Unfortunately, such a serious review doesn’t do justice to a program that doesn’t take even itself seriously, yet perhaps it can help to highlight the limits and/or flaws of it (though its popularity will precede it). In these cases, the comments will be more useful than the review itself.
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