Today Univision airs its final episode of El Show de Cristina, the 21-year-old talk show of Cristina Saralegui, AKA Spanish Oprah. Despite initial reports that the popular show's cancellation was a mutual decision, Saralegui has since said she was more or less forced out by the network. She won't be off the air for long. She already has a new network lined up and will premier a new show in March. The exact details will remain secret until next year, but our bet is that she'll land at Telemundo.
That won't stop today's show from being any less emotional. Stars like Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Don Francisco and other Univision personalities will stop by to bid their fairwell.
Saralegui may be leaving her on-air Univision colleagues in good graces, but does not have nice words for those behind the scenes.
"This isn't a joke. Not just for me and my husband and my children but for my staff and their children. After 21 years, they called me up and asked me to come in, and in 20 minutes they threw away 21 years," she tells The Los Angeles Times.
Saralegui promises to work until "she rots," and after being unceremoniously fired she's apparently pulling a Conan O'Brien and taking her show to a new network.
Her contract with Univision runs until December 31, so plans will not be revealed until then. Though, it doesn't take a genius to figure out where she's going.
"Pretty much every company with the syllable 'tele' in it has contacted me," she tells The Times. "I'm considering doing radio again. I've been offered two book deals, which I'm going to do. There are even some magazine offers. But I already have a new job -- and much better than the last one."
We're just making an educated guess here, but can that quote be read any other way than assuming she'll end up at Univision rival Telemundo? The only other Spanish language network that airs in America with the capacity to handle a star like Saralequi is Telefutura, and that's owned by Univision.
Like Univision, Telemundo is based in Miami-Dade, so it's easy to imagine that Saralegui will continue taping in the city.
[LATimes: Farewell for 'El Show de Cristina']
