After departure, Berlusconi clout remains

ROME -- While Silvio Berlusconi is no more Italy's pm, he is not going to leave the spotlight.A week ago saw the first kind PM to produce record album, defend themself against numerous charges in the court watching his holdings sink within the wake of his ouster.The 4th Compact disc of Berlusconi-composed Neapolitan love tunes, "Vero Amore" (Real Love), crooned by close friend Mariano Apicella, went on independent Italo label Artist First. It offers tunes entitled "Stick With Me," which smacks of unrealistic, and "Come What May," which, using the three tests -- recommencing since Berlusconi has lost immunity because the country's leader -- sounds appropriate.Court cases turning around Berlusconi quickly started again November. 23, with one trial including charges he taken care of sex having a Moroccan dancer who at that time would be a minor, another lengthy-standing situation focused on allegedly fraudulent Mediaset TV privileges deals, along with a third, separate trial regarding an alleged ring to obtain hookers for Berlusconi, who isn't a defendant for the reason that situation.Berlusconi, who attended the Mediaset trial, keeps his innocence within the tests by which he's a defendant.Meanwhile, the Milan stock market ongoing to batter Mediaset, using its share cost sinking a week ago to below 2 ($2.70) the very first time ever. The business's outlook could even be worse with part of the anti-Berlusconi opposition in energy, rather than the nonpolitical government headed by Mario Monti.Italians are starting to question whether or not they are seeing the nation's TV landscape already starting to change.A week ago, small funnel La7, possessed by telco giant Telecom Italia Media, introduced it had bending daytime rankings to some still small but significant 4.7% share, and vowed to forge up with ambitious new shows, including one by standup comic and noted anti-Berlusconi helmer Sabina Guzzanti ("Draquila -- Italia Trembles").Pubcaster RAI obtained an astonishing 42% primetime share November. 21 by having an entertainment spectacle located by greatly popular Sicilian showman Rosario Fiorello, which not just featured live performances by Coldplay and Michael Buble but additionally a satirical monologue waxing nostalgic concerning the Berlusconi government. It had been "folkloristic, type of happy," Fiorello reminisced within the show. "Now all things have transformed, and nobody discusses sex any longer."While it's too soon to gauge the impact of the approaching publish-Berlusconi era on Italy's entertainment industry and popular culture, it is a safe wager Italians continues to find solace using their crisis in laughs.Italo film figures for that first 1 / 2 of 2011 show six homegrown comedies one of the top ten box office draws. More lately, expletive-packed laffer "I Soliti Idioti" (The Typical Idiots), a watered-lower movie adaptation of the abrasive MTV-Italia show, continues to be scoring mightily: $13.5 million in three days. It had been created and launched by Berlusconi's Medusa Cinema.When a media mogul, always a media mogul. Contact Nick Vivarelli at nvivarelli@gmail.com