La vita in diretta today: caught in controversy, an enforced break, and that curious crossover with BJ Alex and Captain Marvel

Rome. Here we go again, or maybe not. In this business, when it comes to La vita in diretta today, you always need to keep an eye on two things: the remote control and the mood in the newsroom. Yesterday, for instance, the show didn't air. A journalists' strike meant the episode was pulled, leaving those waiting for their usual 3pm slot on Rai1 to find a reshuffled schedule and a quieter-than-usual lineup. But as someone once said, if you stand still, you're left behind. And no one here has any intention of being left behind.

While Alberto Matano and the team are gearing up to pick up the threads, stories that feel like they've come from parallel universes are doing the rounds on social media and beyond. And the beauty of it is that, in a way, they have. Because while La vita in diretta is off air for a day, the storytelling continues, perhaps in unexpected forms. Take a title like The Life of Captain Marvel. I'm not talking about the programme, obviously, but that graphic novel from a certain creative duo that landed in Italy a few years back with a specialist publisher. Carol Danvers goes home to Maine to confront her past, her father's letters, and a mother harbouring secrets. A superhero who stops, much like today's show, to rediscover herself. It might look like a coincidence, but in the world of storytelling, there are no accidents.

Then there's the other story, one that comes from far away and yet somehow intersects with this strange Tuesday of enforced downtime. I'm talking about BJ Alex. If you're not familiar with it, it's a manhwa – a Korean comic – that became a global phenomenon. The story of Ahn Jiwon, a model student by day and a popular broadcast jockey by night, who wears a mask to hide his true self. And Nam Dong-Gyun, the guy who secretly follows him, until he uncovers the truth. It might seem a world away from Italian current affairs, but it actually speaks to what happens here every day. To the lives we show on air and the ones we keep to ourselves.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that while La vita in diretta today took a break, the debate shifted to another front. A well-known afternoon presenter, in fact, stirred up his own controversy: "We're always punctual, we play by the rules." A dig that, in the current tense climate, didn't go unnoticed. And I get it, I understand the pressure of working in TV, knowing that every minute of airtime is gold. But there's one thing that makes me smile in all of this: La vita in diretta has been on air for decades, since 1991 to be precise, and anyone with a decent memory knows it's weathered every storm. Today it's off for a strike, tomorrow it'll be back stronger, as it always has been.

If I had to sum up the essence of this strange afternoon without the show, I'd do it in three points:

• The strength in pressing pause. Carol Danvers does it in The Life of Captain Marvel, to figure out who she truly is. Sometimes television needs a break too, to remember its own path.
• The masks we wear. Ahn Jiwon in BJ Alex wears one to protect himself, to be loved without being judged. How many of the stories we follow daily hide truths we never see?
• The resilience of a format. La vita in diretta today is off for a day, but the machine doesn't shut down. The reporters are ready, the cameras are rolling, and there's no shortage of stories to tell. And tomorrow, when it's back on air, the audience will be there as always.

In the meantime, if you missed yesterday's episode, you can catch up on the state broadcaster's online platform. And if you fancy checking out those other stories, Carol Danvers flying among the stars or Ahn Jiwon taking off his mask, go ahead. We all know the truth: real stories never take a holiday. Even when live TV takes one.