Reaction in Italy The series, whose first episode was screened on 11 March 1984, triggered intensive journalistic examination of the phenomenon of the Mafia. Several outlets published cover stories on the topic. The discussion engendered by the show included widows of murdered police officers and bankers from Palermo. Comparable programs were also shown in connection with later seasons, and these continued to be accompanied by great national interest. One of the debates centered around whether the series glorified the mafia or whether it contributed to Italians' no longer accepting organized crime as a normal part of life. An analysis of audience ratings during season 4 was revealing. Viewership and audience response in the south, the actual area of origin of the Mafia, was lowest, at only 12%. The largest group of viewers was demographically similar to the figure of Corrado Cattani himself: "a man of average age from the big cities of northwestern Italy", especially Milan and Turin. Political reactions and criticism were rife as well, and though several politicians praised the show for the way it exposed the Mafia's connections to Italian politics and the corridors of power, critical voices were vocal in their opposition to the storyline. Conservative politician Silvio Berlusconi and others from Forza Italia as well as representatives from Democrazia Cristiana claimed that shows like La Piovra were responsible for "Italy's negative image abroad" and demanded that it cease filming. DC officials argued that the South was being criminalized, that the State was being depicted as a loser, and that public confidence in government institutions was being undermined. Due partly to this type of pressure, production work on the 5th and 6th seasons was temporarily halted. After the 7th season, political controversy came to a head again. Seven Sicilian bishops protested what they perceived as discrimination against Sicily. Luigi Perelli replied that a culture of silence would benefit no one. Clashes before the broadcast of the 10th and last season reached a new climax. The cause of the conflict was an interview with leading actor Remo Girone, who explicitly made a connection between the final season's plotline, in which the boss of a secret criminal organization is acquitted of his crimes, and the pressure exerted in Italy on judges in mafia trials. In 2009, during his party's youth convention in the city of Olbia, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lashed out at authors of books