Caray, Caray!

Do you want number of gestures for any domestic shows we watch, as well as telenovelas?
 

WOW Julia that would be great. He does indeed!!!!
 

That would mean I would actually have to watch a domestic show, other than the news. I haven't seen much English language programming lately. I'll have to see if there's a new epsiode of Psych On Demand.
 

I read this post after I watched last night's shows but I'll keep track from now on.
 

I watched an episode of Acorralada, missed the first 10 minutes and counted 116 dramatic hand gestures.

I set up some basic guidelines for myself. I didn't count stuff like brushing hair out of the eyes if the scene was outside and windy, unless the gesture was specifically used to accentuate a point, such as barring a kiss. During a rant if the hand(s) dropped below the waist then I would count a new gesture each time the hand was raised. There were a couple of scantily clad chicks who got mad at each other and ended up mud wrestling. I counted the first couple of angry gestures and then gave up once they were rolling around in the puddle.

This was an interesting exercise. I noticed that the comic relief characters tended to have many more dramatic hand gestures, while the heroic male leads seemed to have much fewer.

I thought I was really taking one for the team by watching this rather dreary telenovela, but one of the last scenes was awesome. Some rotten guy had lured a sweet young thing to his apartment and was trying to rape her. For some reason her girlfriend, extremely skinny and dressed up as Wonder Woman (!), was locked outside but managed to break the door down. Then the guy's flatmate turned up, the guys chased the girls outside to the patio where the girls somehow managed to lock the guys IN. (Clearly the door was installed incorrectly, call the super!) The girls had to jump into a conveniently located swimming pool to escape. It was a hoot.
 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the apartment was several floors up. It was a long jump so of course the girls had to cross themselves and say a quick prayer before heaving themselves over the side.
 

Guys, I really appreciate this. You can look forwards to me as a regular blogger! Thanks!
 

Ezra, how soon do you need this? I can count dramatic gestures in a General Hospital episode, but probably not tonight.
 

@Julie (and all of the rest of you wonderful people):

I don't need it tonight, but the project is due a week from yesterday... General hospital would make a great comparison between Spanish- and English-language tv (controlling for innate drama of subject).

thanks again!
 

For this project I watched The Young And The Restless today. I counted 106 hand gestures in the 60 minutes of the show. So an average of 1.77 gestures per minute as compared with an average of 2.32 gestures in the telenovela. It seemed to me, however, that in the U.S. soap most of the hand gestures were at waist height or between the chest and the waist. Whereas in the Mexican soap the hand gestures were all over the place, up high, out wide, etc.
 

Sylvia, for the per-minute calculation are you using 60 minutes, or the actual number without commercials and credits? I've been meaning to compare the total lengths of commercial breaks between GH and Familia for a while - this might be the time to do it.
 

Julie, I've just been using the entire 60 minutes from the moment I start watching the show until the credits. I haven't been deducting time for commercial breaks or anything. It would be interesting to compare the breaks in Familia and GH. I didn't record GH yesterday because I thought you might. But I also recorded The Bold and the Beautiful (which I have never seen) and I have yet to watch that. I'll keep track of the commercial breaks in that and maybe go back and count the breaks in CME.
 

I just finished watching last night's CME and here are the numbers:
193 dramatic hand gestures.
Total of approximately 40 minutes of actual program. My DVR doesn't do seconds but it looks like the show allows 1 minute for the opening, stops at 57 minutes to allow for closing credits and previews, and I counted about 16 minutes worth of commercial breaks. So an average of 4.825 hand gestures per minute. (Or 3.22 per minute if you divide by the 60 minutes.)
 

Interesting project!

I'd be intrigued to learn about the reaults.

Sylvia: Acorralada is a telenovela from the US (although there are some Mexican actors in it). They have some of the funniest fights ever.

Jarocha
 

Oh wait, that link is for Valeria, not Acorralada (Both with Alejandra Lazcano). Still, that was a great fight lol.

Jarocha
 

During tonight's episode of Fuerza, I counted at least 103 hand gestures. I may have missed a few during the last 15 minutes due to distractions.
La Paloma
 

Okay, here's what I've counted.

Telenovelas: 173 in an episode of Cuando Me Enamoro, 146 in La Fuerza del Destino.

Domestic comedies: 59 in Community, 83 in Parks & Recreation (these are both 1/2 hour shows)

P&R is up there in telenovela-level dramatic gesturing!
 

Jarocha, that fight scene was awesome!! My, those girls are very limber. Thanks so much for sharing.
 

Ez called me to say he has enough data now - as usual he's rather behind in his assignments so will be wrapping this one up quickly. Thanks allk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are great!
 

Cool, now I don't have to watch The Bold and the Beautiful.

Thanks Ez!!
 

Well, I'll be catching up on GH this weekend regardless... but if I don't have to count anything, it'll go a lot faster!

Good luck, Ez!