This article analyzes the recuperation of images from the network TV archive for the realization of programs. It is taken by subject of enquiry the program from La 2 TVE, Cachitos de hierro y cromo, and it is used as an example of how an historic file, the RTVE one, becomes a TV program created under a story thread and with economical profits. To analyze the program is taken into account his history, the documentation work which is carried out itself, like Aplauso, Popgrama o Luces en la noche, and finally it is assessed why the program has succeeded from the first time it was issued in October 2013, to the fifth season, issued along the last months of 2017 and May of 2018. With this survey I pretend to demonstrate the importance of the job accomplished by the TV network documentation team in the program production. This article is a summary of the author’s TFM.