1982 in Italian television

• Che fai, ridi? (What are you doing? Are you laughing?) – cycle of mockumentaries or documentaries in a humorous key about the Italian comic actors, from Monica Vitti to Diego Abatantuono, sometimes works by famous directors as Carlo Vanzina or Pupi Avati.[2]

• La pietra di Marco Polo (Marco Polo’s stone) – by Aldo Lado; for children. Five Venetian kids make up a gang, searing allegiance upon the stone of the title.[3]
• Pimpa – cartoon, by Francesco Tullio Altan.[4]

• Maurizio Costanzo show (Rete 4, later Canale 5) – talks show hosted by Maurzio Costanzo, again on air (with a break-up from 2009 to 2015). The most long-living, popular and controversial Italian talk show, during the years sometimes has faced social questions with commendable commitment, more often has given in to sensationalism and trash.[5]

• 22 September - Voltron (Canale 5) (1984-1985)
• Marine Boy (1969-1971)

• La veritaaaà (The truth) – the renowned screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, 80 years old, debuts as director and actor in a medium length film about the dreamlike adventures of a madman escaped from the asylum.[6]

• Panagulis vive (1981) (Panagoullis lives) – biopic by Giuseppe Ferrara, with Stathis Giallelis; 4 episodes.
• Storia d’amore e d’amicizia (Love and friendship story) – by Franco Rossi, with Claudio Amendola (introducing), Massimo Bonetti and Barbara De Rossi; 6 episodes. In the Thirties, two young boxers, a Jew and an antifascist, are friend and love rivals; both will be victims of the fascism and of the war.[7]

RAI answers to the spread of American fictions on the private networks with three miniseries of prestige, realized in international coproduction and trusted to renowned movie directors.

• La certosa di Parma (The charterhouse of Parma) – by Mauro Bolognini, from the Stendahl’s novel, with Andrea Occhipinti, Marthe Keller and Gian Maria Volontè; in 6 episodes.[8]
• Marco Polo – by Giuliano Montaldo, with Ken Marshall in the title role, Denhom Elliott and Burt Lancaster as Pope Gregory X; 8 episodes. It’s one of the most sumptuous RAI serials, realized in collaboration with NBC and the Chinese TV, that, for the first time, takes part to a Western production; the productive effort is repaid by an extraordinary public success in Italy and abroad. The serial is broadcast in 47 countries and wins three Emmy Awards.[9]
• The life of Verdi – by Renato Castellani; with Ronald Pickup in the title role and Carla Fracci as Giuseppina Strepponi; 9 episodes. The serial is appreciated for the accurate historical reconstruction but criticized for the miscasting of the protagonist.[10]

• L’indizio- 5 inchieste per un commissario (The clue – Five enquiries for a superintendent) – by Andrea Camilleri, with Lino Troisi, as a Neapolitan police superintendent in service in Turin, and Ida Di Benedetto.[11]

• Attore, amore mio (Actor, my love) – Gigi Proietti’s one-man show, directed by Antonello Falqui.[12]