Popolitica
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Popolitica (Hebrew: פּוֹפּוֹלִיטִיקָה lit. pop-politics) was an Israeli Television program, in which the public agenda was debated on in a round table. The participants included a regular "panel" that appeared regularly on the show, and an additional guest participants related to the specific debate of each show. The show was canceled, but was inscribed in the Israeli public memory, following a unique Israeli outright-blatant style of debate that has evolved among the regular participants. The show is a milestone program, having formulated a new political-Talk show format.
The show was first aired in 1992, on the Israeli public Channel 1, formulated by producer Aaron Goldfinger, who envisioned a show in which political debates are taking place, and in the midst of these debates, small breaks that will include pop music, in an in-studio playing, that will be conducted by various singers and bands – and so the show was granted its name Popolitica (Pop+Politics). Within a short period of time, the show developed its characteristic format, and was regularly hosted by two veteran news and political show hosts, Nissim Mishal and later, Dan Margalit, and included the regular following "panel": journalist Tommy Lapid (later made a political career out of his "stardom" as "panelist" of the show), journalist Amnon Dankner, and Haredi journalist Yisrael Eichler (also later made a political career out of his "panelist" role). The pop songs were gradually thinned out until they were completely removed, in a way that only the political-debates format remained, the debates that had granted the show its fame.
The show was aired on Israeli channel 1 until 1998, when the "panelists" and the host left channel 1, and the show and its format were moved to the commercial Channel 2.
'Popolitica' style
The panel team, who are known for their argumentative abilities and sharp tongues, have made waves among the Israeli public. The Israeli secular-right and conservative voice was represented by then Journalist Tommy Lapid, Journalist Amnon Dankner expressed the secular-liberal left, and Haredi Journalist Yisrael Eichler raised the voice of the Haredi sector. The characters of the panel team, as was reflected on the show, and other additional special guests with an argumentative style, that were brought for the purpose of each show's specific debate, have all together created a fermenting atmosphere, full of inflammation, while the host was not always able to control either the debate or sometimes even the panel or its special guests. Occasionally, at the hype of the argument, one participant would even leave the studio angrily, a "live" departure on television. In other occasions, the arguments came close to a skirmish event.