A new episode was produced every week throughout the show's history, with no reruns and only rare preemptions due to special programming (most notably by Teletón USA, an annual 24-hour telethon held each December, which Kreutzberger has hosted since its inception in 2012).

[3] Present at the show were former members of "Clan Infantil" and the current host of the Univision magazine "Primer Impacto" Pamela Silva Conde, the soap opera actress Sherlyn, the Univision Radio host José Felipe Padrón, "Primer Impacto" correspondent Tony Dandrades, actor and singer Eduardo Antonio, the Venezuelan singer Karolina con K and Zuleyka Rivera, Miss Universe 2006 and current presenter of the UniMás program "La Revista de Zuleyka", among others.

It was later replaced with Crónicas de Sábado and Sal y Pimienta on Univision as Sabadazo was moved back to its original afternoon time slot (both shows were later replaced by 2-3 Liga MX association football games broadcast on the network under the name Sábado Futbolero broadcast during that league's season; Sabadazo was then canceled in 2015).

The program's broadcasts were subsequently moved to Saturdays, and henceforth, was renamed Sábados Gigantes in 1963 and quickly developed a loyal following in Chile, and then throughout Latin America.

For several years, two programs were recorded each week from identical sets: In 2000, the show was remotely broadcast from Los Angeles to coincide with the Mexican Independence Day celebrations.

In June 2010, the final hour of the show was again remotely broadcast at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California to celebrate the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

In 2011, the show aired a special three-hour telethon benefiting the American Red Cross' efforts to aid the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

From 2000 to 2006, the eliminated performer would also be "fed" to a lion in his cave, with Don Francisco chanting "A los leones" (in addition to the usual "y....fuera!"

El Chacal's name translates to "the Jackal" in English, and his antics are more in line with such, similar to a laughing hyena.

He actually has more similarities to an "Executioner" or a "Hooded Hatchetman", who used to kill people on the gallows or guillotine while wearing such a mask.

In November 2013, Leonardo Núñez Guerrero, the man who played El Chacal for more than 20 years, was fired from the show by Don Francisco.

[6][7] A parody of beauty pageants, six women compete in swimsuits or other revealing attire for the title of Miss Colita.

It is also well known for the song "Mueve la colita", where the idea of the contest was conceived from; it has been an unofficial hymn of Sábado Gigante.

Don Francisco had stated that the popularity of the song and its accompanying dance saved the program from an early cancellation in 1987, although this was not publicly revealed until 2012, during the show's 50th anniversary celebration.

This segment has been criticized by several former Miss Universe delegates including Alicia Machado, Justine Pasek, Mónica Spear, and Taliana Vargas due to the main focus of the contest being the buttocks.

This segment involved a group of children (usually regular attendees of the program with rotations every year) participating in a round table discussion with Don Francisco regarding various topics.

Cap'n Crunch was a sponsor of this segment from 1997 to 2001 in the Univision version, with the children (and one member, usually female, holding a box of the cereal) often singing along with its jingle.

Every hour of the show, recording artists and bands (usually from Latin America) perform songs live in front of the audience.

Notable non-Spanish language artists/groups that performed in Sábado Gigante have included Pitbull, SkyBlu (of the group LMFAO), No Mercy, Eden's Crush, i5, Dream, Kiley Dean, Tony Bennett and Psy.

Whenever someone is accused of infidelity, Don Francisco puts that person to a lie detector test, conducted by retired police officer (and licensed polygraph) Joe Harper.

While this is a serious segment, there is some humor, whenever Harper mispronounces the words in the questions since he is not fluent in Spanish, only to be criticized (and corrected) by Don Francisco.

There have been several instances where infidelity was not involved in this segment, when a woman believed to have had an encounter with extraterrestrial life in Battle Ground, Washington, as well as a man being suspected by his wife of being gay.

Some of the starring actors include Frank Falcon, Miguel "El Flaco", Gloria Ordonez, Carlos Justis, Juanito and Zulema Salazar.

During the show's early years in the U.S. and during the final episode, the cars were provided by Miami-based dealership Gus Machado Ford.

The final episode in September 2015 had a guaranteed winner of a car, as five members of the audience were allowed to pick a key from a bowl and try it in the door lock.

A basic version has contestants choose one of 12 slots which contain either a wheel, a strike (represented by an El Chacal icon from 1999 onwards) or the Sabado Gigante logo.

A variant of this game uses people holding large cards containing El Chacal, the Wheel and the Sábado Gigante logo.

La Cámara Viajera ("The Traveling Camera") is the show's travelogue segment – which only appeared occasionally (regularly until 2004) – where Don Francisco visits a selected country where he mainly talks about the culture and its attractions.

Several products advertised on the Univision-produced Sabado Gigante (during segments) have included the following: Additionally, other brands advertised in the program outside of segments included AARP, Cafe Bustelo, Claritin, DirecTV, Ferrero Rocher, Ford, Goya, The Home Depot, Orville Redenbacher's, Pam, State Farm, Walgreens and Walmart.

In September 2009, comedian Adonis Losada, who played Doña Concha on the show, was arrested and subsequently charged with 30 counts of possession of child pornography after detectives in Boynton Beach, Florida alleged that he uploaded one of the images to a social networking site.