Caray, Caray!

Excellent topic and pardon me while I ramble incoherently....

1. We do have "new young stars", but maybe we don't see enough of them. Perhaps they are overshadowed by the "veterans"? Livia Brito, Esmeralda Pimentel and Juan Diego Covarrubias are up and coming. I really hope we here stateside get to see DQTQTQ. Sofia Castro is also great and luckily she will be our adult Dafne. Oh, add Pablo Lyle to the list.

2. I also think that the more mature actors are sometimes cast all kinds of wrong. Fernando Colunga in PEAM? Puh-lease. It makes the over 35 set look ridiculous when they are in situations more suited for the under 30 set. I include Mayrin and DZ in this, too. They are good in MPV....but the dialogue makes them look stupid. Their relationship should be played as it is: A woman with a six year old and an older suitor who just hasn't found the right gal. I wasn't a fan of Lucero in PESE, either...I might as well throw in that while I enjoyed STuD, that was another one where the leads were a little to old for the situations. One of the reasons I am enjoying PSMA so much is that the dialogue and situations are age appropriate...not to mention the acting is superb.

3. For me the problem isn't so much story/age of leads...it's ability. Fabian Robles and Susana Gonzalez ruled LQNPA as did Jorge Salinas because they are great actors. Ana Brenda was good in LQNPA, but after CI I have my doubts (that may be more the fault of direction/script.)

I enjoyed Amores Verdaderos because you had decent acting (I'm talking about Lalo, Erika, Anibal and Ana Martin among others...Eiza and Sebastian Rulli not so much.) Cythia Klitbo is another great performer (I had never seen her before Cachito and now I am a huge fan.)

4. The saddest part of all is that shows like MPV and PSMA are really, really good and they don't have the ratings, so in the future we will see more CI type travesties.

I am sure I will be back with more ramblings as I ruminate throughout the day.
 

Urban:

Thanks for this great weekend topic.

I really think they should do newer stories and not so many remakes of remakes. I know these producers want to put their own spin on stories, but sometimes it spins way out of control.

Better writers are also needed. I think that is what went wrong on CI. It just went to the ridiculous. The extensions on these TNs also don't help. You can tell a whole story in about 130 episodes. They shouldn't be any longer than that. Otherwise they get loaded down with fluff no one wants to see.

As far as the younger actors go, I do like Pablo Lyle, Osvaldo de Leon, Daniel Arenas, Sebastian Rulli, William Levy, Livia Brito, Zuria Vega, Angelique Boyer, Ximena Navarrette. I also like Ana Brenda she was great in LQNPA, but she was also in Teresa, which I didn't really watch, and Sortilego as a villiana. She is very good, she just didn't have a good script for CI.

I like the charm of the older actors. Jorge Salinas, Eduardo Yanez, Fernando Colunga, Cesar Evora. They are all loaded with charm and draw one into a story. And I agree about Fernando Colunga but I blame that on the script he got for PEAM. He did a comedy play and was fantastic in that.

I too enjoyed Amores Verdaderos, it was well written and it too was loaded down with fluff. Mentir and Siempre are also well written. Robo is also very good, even though it is a remake of a remake. I like the twists it keeps giving.

And the copy and paste also needs to go. If you are doing a remake, stick to the basic story, but don't completely use it. Put your own spin onto it and go with it. Update it, so to speak. That was the gripe with CI, it was a copy and paste job and not much new, until the extension, which didn't work out very well.
 

I think there are shows that shouldn't be remade because they have become iconic. AdP, TdA and CI were probably doomed from the beginning. Oh and though I have not seen it, CS2009 was also doomed. AV was a remake and so is PSMA, but I haven't seen many grumbles about it.
 

PS- I feel like Wiliam Levy, Senastian Rulli and Anquelique are overhyped. WL especially. Ximena N has potential.
 

I read that there is a new TN coming in 2014 that will be different. It is called "La Malquerida"(sp) and is based on a play by Jacinto Benavente. It stars Jorge Salinas, Victoria Ruffo, and Osvaldo de Leon. This will be something new and no remake of a remake. It will be something fresh and looking forward to it.
 

Let see the females: I think there are many oppotunites: esmeralda pimentel, thelma madrigal, geraldine galvan, livia brito (she developed a lot from Tda), renata notni, mariana van rankin. They are attractive and talented actresses.

But in the heroes sector is in trouble in Televisa. I do not see many valueable potencial galan, only Osvaldo de leon. Mane de la parra, pablo lyle and the others don't function for me.

Now I like that, Televisa make Tn-s with two generation, it's a good idea. For example amores verdaderos, mentir para vivir or por siempre mi amor. I like better than only juvenil novelas, I am not old, 23 years old, but I feel these novelas are too childish for me. I am not interested in novelas like sonadoras, amigas y rivales or muchachitas como tu or rebelde.

Finally I like the methods of Rosy Ocampo, in her novelas there are many new faces. Look at Mpv, or Qptr. :)

ALEJOP.
 

Madlaine 5.

ODL is the only totally sure actor in Castro's novel, Victoria Ruffo denies her presence in the TN (the gossips says there are money problems with actress), now Castro told her idea Lucero, and Jorge Salinas is sure but not 100percent.

For me Victoria Ruffo and Jorge Salinas would be a morbid pair.
 

I saw that about La Malquerida too, Mads!! I want to see that. BUT Ms Mejilla has also confirmed La Gata for 2014 with Daniel Arenas and Maite Perroni and it sounds like a combination of CI and CCEA. Caigamos en oración!

Daniel Arenas is very talented but I don't think Teresa or CI were is best work. William Guillermo Pinzon all the way. He's got good comic skills.

Like AlejoP I also enjoy TNs with several age groups represented.
 

seventh commenter was I, AlejoP.
 

Also- I can see AlejoP 's point of view too. I don't see Pablo, ODP or Mane as LEAD galans either but I like them. Whatever happened to Eugenio Siller?
 

Sara- Eugenio Siller (Mi Pecado, Diablos) and Sebastian Zurita (En Nombre del Amor, CS2009) have moved over to Telemundo. Eugenio starred in Telemundo's Aurora and Maid in Manhattan, and Sebastian will star in the upcoming La Impostora (Jan 14th).
 

La gata will be an old remake, these story has 12 version until now. It will be the 13th, the last was in 2009 by Tv azteca Pobre Diabla, and also Televisa made from it a remake in 2000, it was Por un beso.
MRS Mejia's favourite actor is Daniel Arenas now, she said in an interview, he want to make a third Tn with Arenas after La gata, like a trilogy.

I think WL and SR is well-known faces, they aren't in new star category.

AlejoP.
 

Thanks Vivi! Even more reason to check out La Impostora! (But am I the only one who thinks Eugenio and Sebastian look alike?)
 

I think there is a certain rift in "charm," if you will, between the incoming generation of novela actors and the old guard. No doubt it's influenced to varying levels by the material that they're given (or not) to work with, and that's definitely its own issue, but still. Maybe we're just long spoiled by the likes of Susana Gonzalez, or Guy Ecker, or the mighty Daniela Romo and Cesar Evora, I don't know, but going from them to the likes of Angelique Boyer and Jose Ron and so on still feels like a downgrade. They may be younger and prettier, but very few of them are able to just carry things like the vets can (Silvia Navarro, for instance).

OTOH, that probably brings us right back to the question of material. Everybody's remake-happy these days, regardless of language, but even my still somewhat novela-clueless self picks up that a lot of projects seem to be going through the motions more than anything else...and that's not exactly reassuring. Take some risks, powers-that-be...go further off the reservation than usual, try to be more original. What's the worst that can happen? You end up with another Corazon Salvaje '09?
 

Well said, Bill C!!!!!
 

WL is only 33, but he is not aging well. He looks tired, not young and fresh. But perhaps that reflects his boredom with telenovelas in general. It doesn't seem to be where his longer-term ambitions lie, so we likely cannot count him among the faces we will continue to see. But who knows. If he US career is a total flop, he may see the benefits of telenovela work.

At age 38, SR really could start playing fathers, but he has aged well and can still pull off playing the part of a man in his early 30s or even late 20s, if needed.

Among the young guys, I also like Pablo Lyle and Osvaldo Leon. I also like Brandon Peniche-- I saw bits of him playing a villain in Ni Contingo..., and his role in Refugio stole the show from the galan (Gabriel Soto). I won't even talk about the lame part in had in the final chapter of CI. Blech!
 

eugenio siller also have a protagonic role in Reina de corazones with paola nunez. It will be make in 2014. He is a main face of Telemundo. And the main villana will be catherine siachoque, and the villano will be Juan soler

AlejoP.
 

Having seen bits and pieces of old tns of Cesar Evora and Fernando Colugna, I would have to say that some actors have always had certain screen presence since they were young (CE), and others did not start out that way, but grew into it (FC, and I'd also put Susana Gozanlez in this category). So we shouldn't judge these 20-something actors too harshly. By the time they hit their 30s, some of them could likely bloom into really great actors. Just in the past few years, I've seen a huge difference in SR from the first role I saw him in, Gancho. Of the guys, I think that Pablo, Osvaldo, and Brandon have that potential. And note that none of them are beefcake or traditional pretty boys.
 

Yes Vivi, I have forgotten about Brandon Peniche, she would deserve a protagonic role. He had opportunity for Dqtqtq, but the winner was JDC. JDC is good at negative roles (Amor bravio), but in positive role, I think he is not the real, but he is young and he can develop.
Back to BP. I think he is already now better actor than his father.

Alejop.
 

I also have to wonder if it's the nature of the galan role to be somewhat one dimensional. I always seem to find myself more drawn to the secondary characters. Ferdinando Valencia is very charasmatic as are Fabian Robles, Marco Mendez and Osvaldo Benavides.

And Jaime Camil is delicious but I think he will always be in comedies.
 

Sara C. I also like these not-galan actors, but in this year Marco Mendez had a protagonic role in Las Bandidas, a tn co-production of Televisa and Rti.

Has anybody seen it? I haven't. What was Mendez like in a protagonic role?

Alejop.
 

I personally enjoy Mentir Para Vivir (and novelas in general) because one of the main characters with spunk is an elderly lady. She's not sitting in the rocking chair moaning, she's telling it like it is, scheming/conspiring, willing to go toe to toe with the bad guy, all while rocking her pearls.

I agree with the age of the actors being a problem. Santos/Jorge Alfredo looked all of 45 years old...were we to believe he had never been in love before? I guess that's why they had flashbacks later in the story to establish he had been with women. Same with Eduardo in MEPS...the character should have been at least 27 years old...were we to believe he had never been with a woman until Fernanda?

Livia Brito was great in Triunfo Del Amor, but terrible in Abismo de Pasion. I enjoyed Esmeralda Pimentel in AdP as well.

I don't think David Zepeda works as a totally good guy. I liked him best as Alfonso in STuD...he was bad but he turned good. He needs to be a good guy with an edge.

I'd like to see Margarita Magana & Altair Jarabo as something other than b!tches on these shows.
 

Altair has just announced that she's retiring from tns to concentrate on her business. She has a jewelry line. The nice thing about her bad girls, is that they are always redeemed. Let's see if her MPV character will be redeemed at the end. It would have been nice to see her play a good girl, and perhaps a lead, before she left tns.
 

Margarita M. is currently not playing a beyotch in Robo. Just a exotic dancer and good time girl. In Gancho, she was the bff of the heroine, and a good person, who was also a sexy actress. I think these roles suit her. I don't think I could buy her as a sweet innocent. She should always plays roles with some bite and sass. She's the female David Zapeda that way. They are good at playing gray characters. Sweetness and light don't suit them.
 

I liked Margarita M. in La Verdad Oculta. She was a total beyotch in the beginning, but redeemed at the end. She is very good at playing gray characters.

David Zepeda is great at being a villain. He has that face and that look for it. For me he just isn't the romantic lead type of guy. I too liked him in STUD and Sortilego. He was great in those.

About CS 2009, I personally really liked it, it got me watching TNs. EY drew me in and I have been watching them ever since. I watched before I knew Caray Caray existed. It was way after the fact that I found this blog. It was a shorter TN and I loved the romance in that one.

AlejoP.

I looked at Wiki for La Malquerida. It is an interesting storyline and I'm with you, I can't see Jorge Salinas and Victoria Ruffo either. He'd be better suited with someone else. I hope he is the lead though, and I'm glad that OdL will be in that one.

For me, I don't look at age so much in the actors. They are not old at 45 I have to say. It's the storylines they get. I think, personally, these actors look mighty fine at the ages they are. There really is nothing wrong with a leading man that is 50, it's all in the script they are given. That's my point of view and I'm stickin' to it ; )
 

Morbid? Hey, nobody says that about my main man!

Sebastian Rulli definitely rocks as a galan and he can do one with an edge (as in Teresa) but typecasting is a sad reality in television. I thought until the last few years that the US was the main issue with that but I see we're not.

Remakes upon remakes with no risks being taken is a big issue with me. I am also annoyed with Sweetness and Light, like Aracely Arambula in her early days. She is the only negative for me in Las Vias del Amor, which is otherwise not a traditional story.
 

I agree with everyone else here, the older galans and galanas have wrong parts in novelas. I dont think Colunga is young enough anymore to play a part like in PEAM. I love him,but they should have given the parts to younger actors.
Though there arent that many younger stars who would shine and bring such an audience as Colunga.
I really like Brandon Peniche and Livia Brito.I think they have a huge future ahead of them,but im not so sure on the other new faces.
Renata Notni is very sweet,but not leading lady material.
Boyer is a good actress but she isn't THAT good and I doubt that she will become a novela veteran (aka Castro and Romo).
I never had a soft spot for Levy until Tempestad and I think he has become much better with his acting but yet again,it seems like he wants to go on to bigger things and we wont see him much in the future.
He could be the next Evora imo,but I dont think thats what he wants.

 

If Televisa is going to stick with the same (tried and true) actors then get some original stories that make sense for these actors. Give Eduardo Yanez a role like Guy Ecker in PSMA or Lucero a mom role like Myrin in MPV. Give the actors projects closer to their age and stop remaking novelas were older actors put ribbons in their hair and act like they're 17 (looking at you Victoria Ruffo).

If they want to stick with the remakes, time to give the younger actors a chance cause I can't stand another novela where Jorge Salinas is playing a 25 year old man, that's not fooling anyone anymore.

Just my two cents.
 

Or give them villain roles and pin them against young actors who will have to prove their worth and maybe that'll work.

Leticia Calderon and Daniela Castro are cases in point. Started out as protagonists but have had no problem getting into the villain role and showing the newbies how it's done (the newbies have held their own as well).

Change up the scheme a little and stop the typecasting. Audiences help out a little too, they give us MPV and PSMA and no one watches in Mexico but then complain that there's no original stories left. Help out a little too!
 

Superalfie, I agree with everything you said!
Typecasting is the worst and I dont get why people watch c*ap like CI and then MPV which is really good (as much as ive seen both of them) isnt received well.
 

Alert

We're going to have a new discussion type next weekend on novelas that either didn't work at all or had some major flaws. It should be lots of fun.
 

A perfect time to discuss about filler moments in ADP and CI. Lol
 

Sounds fun UA!!

Superalfie I agree!! Let older actors evolve and cast them with the younger ones and force the younger ones to really push themselves.

Wasn't it Carla Estrada who made a similar observation about the audience wanting original stories but then rejecting them?
 

Urban, not is Jorge Salinas morbid, but the pairing is.
Can you imagine your favourite boy with VicRuffo in one bed? I don't want. Ruffo is ok with Evora or Peniche, but not with Salinas.

Madleine, wikipedia is often sure source, but not always. :-) yesterday i saw Kika edgar among the Mpv-actresses on Wiki, and this isn´t true, absolutely false.

ALEJOP.
 

Sara, it was Carla Estrada and I couldn't agree more! Was Pasion the best novela ever…no IMHO but it was original, out of the norm, and had great protagonists who weren't wishy washy like the ones that seem to annoy viewers so much but they continue watching (CI, CCEA).

I respect Carla for always trying to be different and pushing new and old actors to do their best and bringing out the best in her production team. She'll really missed in novelas. At least I miss her a lot, hope she comes back.
 

SuperAlfie:

Carla Estrada is doing a spoof of some of her telenovelas on "Hoy". She is also a producer of that show. Sometime back there was a problem with her and the Telvisia execs. I don't know what exactly it was, but she hasn't done a telenovela since. It's a shame. I really like her and also Monica Miguel. They can really do a story right.
 

Ms Estrada is very right. I know it frustrates me to see good shows ignored while drek like CI gets ridiculously high numbers.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

This comment has been removed by the author.
 

I heard it was Carla and Mejia fighting over the twin aspects of their stories (which Mejia seems to think he has a monopoly on) and how Sortilegio had to get rid of the twin aspect so that Corazon Salvaje could come out on top (FYI: it was never going to come out on top because it was BAD).

That's part of the reason Sortilegio fell apart, it needed to develop the twin storyline, especially because it built it up slowly and organically throughout the first few months that there needed to be a pay off.

WHen the story had to be changed, it crumpled under the weight of a bad scifi storyline and it never recovered. It's almost as if there is a Sortilegio before and after the twins, and the after wasn't as great or logical as the before.

Carla hasn't done a novela since then.
 

So Mejia, as her boss at Televisa, forced Carla to terminate her twins storyline in Sorti (one raised with love; the other an addict raised with no love), and then later used the exact same storyline in La Tempestad, where the addict twin gets rehabilitated and integrated into the storyline? Hmmmm....
 

That is douchebaggery 101 by the beloved Mejia.
Ive never seen Sorti so is it okay if I ask what exactly happened there? Was there a twin storyline or not?
 

Great topic of discussion UA.

I don't really like the new prospects for Televisa's galanes either.

What I liked about teen novelas back then was that they allowed the younger actors to interact together without veterans always overshadowing them during their scenes and producers could scout the ones with the acting and the presence to later pick their newer galanes, heroines and villains. Many of those who were popular among the teens fade away because they can't bring that charm to adult roles but some used to stick around.

Sebastián Rulli, Valentino Lanús, Eugenio Siller, Aarón Díaz, Ferdinando Valencia and others started out in teen novelas and their generations were the last ones to bring galanes and important villains to the adult telenovela world.

The Rebelde crop was weird, none of them have what it takes to be an adult galán although maybe Eddy Vilard will surprise one day. On the women's side from that novela Televisa kept Maité Perroni and Angelique Boyer and for a while it looked like Allisson Lozz would be the biggest new heroine from that group but she retired, then that title went to Angelique Boyer after Teresa.

I'm convinced that most of the galanes don't get to shine after 30 for some reason, maybe it's the confidance they earn with time. Now that the teen novelas are over it gets harder to guess who will be the next galán because young men get overshadow all the time since the current generation of galanes have decades on them.

Jarocha
 

yes, yes, I know the same version that Superalfie wrote, and this drove to argument with Maria Zarattini. After all the writer woman searched new producer for her historias.
Mejia is an old, big toad in Televisa San Angel.

AlejoP.
 

Carla Estrada tried to make a new novela after Sortilegio but she never got the support for it because the storyline took place in the 20's and Televisa had no money for a period story.

Jarocha
 

TomBoy, there was but it was mostly in the background the whole novela, like a good mystery that you can't put your finger on and you don't really know the whole story but it will make sense in the future.

When the twin finally came out and everything was out in the open they killed off the addict twin and replaced her with the protagonist. Instead of a bump on the head, the stepfather of the drug addict twin did some science something that replaced her memories and they kidnapped and then the end of the novela was trying to get her memories back but it didn't work.

I sense it was supposed to be something like La Tempestad but Mejia wouldn't have it. He's such a hypocrite.
 

TomBoy- Like in La Tempestad, the heroine in Sorti was unaware that she had a twin. In Sorti, it was even a mystery to the audience at first, which was cool, because they built in these little clues throughout-- a villain meeting the heroine and giving her a strange look and asking her about her background. Later we see him trying to track down an old girlfriend. Even later we learn that old girlfriend was a party girl and a drug addict he knew in Spain, who happens to look just like the heroine-- except with a Spanish accent, tattoos, piercings, and short dyed hair. The info was introduced slowly, along with another set of characters, who fit into the universe of the addict twin. The writers did a lot of work to create a very distinct character from the heroine, and it looked like she would become a major character. But then they killed the twin off, and instead went with a storyline of the heroine being forced to impersonate the sister she never knew she had (via mind altering drugs). In the end, the storyline basically worked because it allowed us to see the galan having to woo the heroine all over again, and in a different setting. But we felt the loss of a character that could have been, but wasn't allowed to develop to fruition.
 

Superalfie- Jinks! :)
 

Jarocha, you have right about teen novels. :) Thinking back, then I wouldn't have thought Rulli and Lanus will be important protagonicos after Primer amor. They were good decisions.

And I remembered the plan of coming back Carla Estrada, it had a worktitle, and a logo plan: A la luz del angel. They said Seba Rulli will the protagonico, and Cecilia Suarez will be the heroine in the past.

ALEJOP.
 

Vivi, great minds think alike :) Personally, I don't think the wooing worked at all and then the time spent on it had no pay off since the heroine remembered in the first ten minutes of the last episode so we didn't get a real scene where she remembered everything and the villains slowly got what was coming to them.

I wanted her to remember sooner and make the ending more exciting. In the end her remembering and the protagonists re-romance (whatever lol) was just a footnote and not worth all the trouble it caused.

I'm with you though, the loss of Sandra as a character was very sad. It would've been great to see her interact with Maria Jose.
 

Thank you Superalfie and Vivi :)
Seems like it turned out alright but one still wonders how they originally planned to end that story,if the twin would have become an important character.

What was the last Teen Novela by Televisa? Maybe it had bad raitings? And since there are no good teen novela stories around they just havent been brought back to life?

Some freshfaces wouldnt be such a bad thing though.
 

I think that last night's super fabulous and completely entertaining chapters of Lo Que A Vida Me Robo demonstrate that the trick is always in good writing and strong actors, no matter what the age in years.

I haven't given Mentir para Vivir much of a chance. If I don't get hooked quickly, I don't come back because there are only so many hours in the day but, when I gave up on it, it had far less to do with the age of the players than with the story itself and the dialogue. Perhaps I hit it on some off nights -- all novelas suffer through episodes that are kind of Meh.

I enjoy the older actors, being older myself, and am always amazed by the wonderful, strong faces on both Televisa and Univision.


 

Tomboy, I don't know exactly what was the last teen novel, but muchachitas como tu in 2007, atrevete a sonar, nina mi de corazon (i am not sure if it is the right title) about 2010 and esperanza del corazon in 2012 were low ratings.

AlejoP.
 

But now Pedro Damian is planning his return to Canal de las estrellas in the 18:00 timeslot, and his style is juvenil/music novelas. But it is likely only after Roberto Gomez Fernandez, who has an original Blanco-Pena story.
 

So sad they cancelled Madre Sustituta with Giselle Gonzalez. I found it strange they would even permit the making of that kind of story in Televisa (theyre against remakes of out of the norm novelas).

I'm excited about Roberto Gomez Fernandez and about Pedro Damian (for the first time) because his novela, thus far, has Valentino Lanus and Silvia Navarro, and I'll follow Navarro anywhere. Her work is always above and beyond.
 

I thought of two more actors that would be great as leading men. Pedro Moreno, yowsa, that guy has presence last seen as "Transetti" in Una Familia con Suerte, and Lucas Valazquez who played "Alex" in the same novella above and also "Cesar" in MPV. Oh, and how about Marcelo Cordoba? That guy has presence too. I have always liked his characters, most of them gray but in PESE totally evil. I also liked him in Amores Verdaderos but they brought him in so late, I wish he'd had more of a storyline there. He was a fine, I mean fine galan ; )
 

Tomboy: The 7 pm timeslot was the teen timeslot, the last teen novela they showed there I think was Verano de Amor. It had terrible ratings.

Brandon Peniche, Pablo Lyle, Esmeralda Pimentel, Cristina Mason, Natasha Dupeyrón and others were in it.

Then they moved them to the 5 pm timeslot and finally stopped showing them and they had La Rosa de Guadalupe instead. I can't remember which novela was the last there.

Another thing that teen and children tenelovelas brought was experience for the producers in their beginings or during earlier periods of their careers: Carla Estrada (Pobre Juventud, Quinceañera), Rosi Ocampo (several children's novelas and Camaleones), Nicandro Díaz (produced many children novelas and co-produced several teen novelas), Ignacio Sada Madero from PSMA and Refugio (co-produced Alma Rebelde), Roberto Gomez from PVAA (Locura de Amor and El Juego de la Vida), Jose Alberto Castro from Teresa and LQNPA (Serafín, Codigo Postal), Angelli Nesma from LQLVMR (co-produced Carrusel and Mi Pequeña Soledad), etc.

Pedro Damián has mostly done teen novelas but I always likes when he branches out to adult stories (Si Dios Me Quita la Vida, Amor Gitano).

Jarocha
 

Mads- Marcelo Cordoba is one of my top telenovios, but he's no spring chicken any longer. I would love to see him get the lead, but only if it were an interesting galan-- not a typical stupid, bland galan.
 

I wonder if Juan Diego Covarrubias will stay as a galán. De Que Te Quiero Te Quiero has given him a good start but I think his villain was much more interesting than his galán, which was very much the bland type.

Esmeralda Pimentel is getting a lead (yay) but her galán is José Ron (buuu). I wish the role had gone to Brandon Peniche instead.

Jarocha
 

Marcelo Cordoba is in Dqtqtq, with Cynthia Klitbo they are the either elder pair in the telenovela, and I read that their pair is more interesting and they have better scenes than Livia and JCD.
 

I think that's true anonymous. I don't care much for the main pairing in DQTQTQ and Marcelo Córdoba and Cinthia Klitbo are very charming (although they do get tiring sometimes with their will they, won't they).

But Juan Diego Covarrubias plays twins in the novela, the galán and the villain and his villain has been very well received.

As for Livia Brito I think the success of the novela will be great for her but I find Cinthya Klitbo and Marisol del Olmo to be the female actresses who truly anchor the story.

Jarocha
 

Bummer that they aren't doing the younger shows anymore. I'm not a teen myself, but I really liked Camaleones and Niña de mi Corazón. Especially Camaleones; it was different from any others I had seen and very entertaining to me.

I think Osvaldo de León, Brandon Peniche, and Lucas Velazquez are all totally galán-quality young actors. Loved Aaron Diaz and Eugenio Siller, too, but they bailed to a channel I don't get.

Among the ladies, I really like Mariana van Rankin and I thought Ximena Navarrete did a great job in her debut. I love Margarita Magaña, too. She isn't really THAT young, but she still looks very young. Ale Garcia is quite good. I really liked her in UFCS and I look forward to her getting more story time in LQLVMR.
 

Thank you Jarocha,AlejoP and others for answering :)
It seems that teen novela ratings arent as great,so why bother right?
At least thats what the networks are thinking i guess.

I hope Ferdinando Valencia gets his lead soon,he's old enough,guapo enough and definitely experienced.
But I dont think he'd be best as a bland galan,but more of a baddie galan.

 

I always appreciate your insights Jarocha. :)

I am not a Jose Ron fan. It's yet another issue I had with LQNPA.

I repeat that would rather see an actor in a fascinating second fiddle role or as a villain than as lead bland galan. When I first started watching TNs (only 3 years ago) I was a sucker for the FC or WL type galan, but the more I watch the more I prefer the Marcelo, Fabian and Ferdinando types. Oh and weird romantic castings like Pedro Fernandez or Richard Fastlicht.
 

I have difficulty picturing Juan Diego Covarrubias as a galan; he just doesn't look alpha enough.

And this whole thing with twins having one good and one evil gets on my last nerve.
 

There should be more twins raised together and being each others best friends yadda yadda yadda.

It would be fun to finally see a pair of twins just being there for each other,maybe some rivalry but nothing like a bad twin or a druggie/alcoholic twin and then the protagonist aka angellic twin.

That gets boring after a while.And it has been a while.
 

The twins in Sorti and La Tempestad weren't bad or evil, just troubled due to the circumstances they were raised in. That makes more sense to me than the twins in CS2009, who were raised together under the same circustances, and one turns into satan and the other into an angel. That was ridiculous.

It would be nice to see normal twins raised together (or even apart), but that wouldn't really provide much drama.
 

Vivi,the drama would surely suffer but it would be fun to see some twins having fun together and so on.

The troubled twins dont bother me or anything,but there has been a lot of that.

There can be some way,surely,that close twins could create some drama.


 

Not much more ridiculous than two sisters two years apart. What was ridiculous was the idea that Aracely Arambula could credibly do those two characters. Especially after a 7-year gap in her career.

Twins raised apart in a contemporary story wouldn't be very believable because no social worker would separate a pair of twins anymore. Gabriel and Damien in Mundo de Fieras was the last credible possibility of that.
 

Lucero played triplets in Lazos de Amor.

They were separated from one during early childhood during a car crash provoked when one of the triplets covered her fathers eyes while he was driving. The parents died and one of the triplets was left unconcious while the other fell into a river and was lost.

Maria Paula, the one who provoked the accident was alone with her unconscious sister, Maria Fernanda, for days before they were rescued. Maria Fernanda ended up blind and they both were taken in and raised by their grandma. Their grandma was a good person but her grief for her daughter's death and the time spent looking for her missing grandaughter and taking care of the one who went blind made her to neglect Maria Paula, who was consumed by guilt after the accident which led her to a deterioration of her mental health.

I thought that was a good way to explain why two sisters raised together would turn out so differently, as Maria Fernanda was very nice and sweet and Maria Paula was cruel and crazy.

The third one, Maria Guadalupe, was found by a nice woman who kept her as her own and raised her in poverty but she was good hearted and nice too.

Jarocha


 

I was just reading about twins who were separated and adopted by different families in NY. One girl was raised by a Jewish mom and dad, the other by a Catholic mom and dad. They had been told by people over the years that they looked like another girl that they know. But it was at the 19th bday party of one girl that someone said there is something odd here. It was the ex boyfriend of one of the twins, who had been brought to the bday party of the other twin by a friend who thought she was just "his type." He knew his ex's bday was the same day, so he started to ask the girl some questions about her background. When he found out she was adopted, he knew the girls had to be twins. The girls were raised just miles from each other in NY. They both went to NY colleges just miles from each other. The Jewish twin had just lost her father to cancer a few days before. The Catholic twin had lost her father to cancer a few years before. They video chatted for the first time with their college friends looking on in their dorm rooms. Then they met in person, and later met each other's moms. The Catholic mom had known all along her daughter had a twin. The Jewish mom had not. At the time of the adoption, the birth mom had changed her mind and run off with one of the twins. Some time later she gave up the other. Even though the Catholic family had wanted to adopt both girls, the confusion resulted in the other couple adopting her first, and they never were able to learn much about the other family. The girls were shocked by how similar they are in personality, and they share a love for dance. They now audition together for dance gigs.
 

Anonymous, there is only one reason why that story made sense, or had enough backstory to support good and bad twins: Carla Estrada.

Any producer is content with offering what Mejia has offered, a good twin and a bad/drug addict one and call it a day. That's why Liliana Abud excelled with Ernesto Alonso and fails miserably with Mejia. Alonso pushed her boundaries and forced her to create a great, believable story instead of a mediocre one and calling it a day.

We all need an extra push from someone now and then, if the producer is willing to make that leap, the novela is doomed (mostly) from the start.
 

Well said superalfie! I really wish I understood how Mr. and Mrs. Mejia continue to be given projects. But I guess just because something isn't my cup of tea....
 

Sara, Mejia is the head of "something important" at Televisa and the butcher of Delia Fiallo novelas is his wife…that's how they keep on getting all the projects.

It also explains why (barely) anything good gets pass them these days.

Someone mentioned the novela starring Esmeralda Pimentel and Jose Ron (yeah that got cancelled). I'm surprised it made it as far as announcing it was "in the works."

It was too original for Televisa, that's for sure. It sounded more like a RCN or Telemundo novela.
 

Mejia is the General Director of Telenovelas for Televisa. He is the boss of the other tn producers.
 

Well said Superalfie,and what was the Ron/Pimentel novela even about?

I think the absurdity of some novelas grabs viewers attention.You keep watching to make fun of it and see what crazy thing comes next aka CI. Thats the only reasonable explanation to why it had good raitings imo.
 

Vivi, thanks for the information! It definitely explains a lot about the current state of Televisa.
 

TomBoy, it was supposed to be a remake of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_You_a_Thousand_Times. It sounds like a mix of Juana la Virgen and a traditional novela.

It sounded interesting that is, until cancellation. Hopefully, they cancel El Manantial remake before they butcher that too or worse, turn it into CI the sequel :(
 

I would hope that Televisa has some smart folks working on the issue of what they will do to hook an audience in 5-10 years, when that audience hasn't already been raised on a steady diet of telenovelas, starting with the kiddie and teen novelas. If they have never been indoctrinated into the world of tns, as fans (not just watching their uncool moms and grannies watch them), then how likely is it that they'll become fans later.

I see that Unimas just showed Gossip Girl Acapulco, and I recognized some familiar young tn stars in that, like Diego Amozurrutia (Amorcito, Llena de Amor, Mi Pecado). Perhaps 15-25 episode series, with multiple seasons, is the way Telvisa will choose to go because that's what its young audience is becoming used to. They can't commit to 5 nights a week for 6-9 months.
 

I do think that shorter series with shows coming on weekly instead of five nights a week would be more successful for the youth market.

Speaking of Diego Amozurrutia, he's another young one with great acting skills. I know some people don't think he has galán looks, though. I think he's handsome enough. I also don't think Abercrombie model looks are an essential part of the charisma that makes a lead character, plus people just have different tastes.
 

Too bad the Pimentel/Ron novela was cancelled.The story seems very good.

El Manantial was fairly good novela and I dont think a remake would give it justice.

Vivi,good topic there.Im fairly young myself and its hard fitting a novela into a busy schedual,even though im watching something already finished.

All the other 'youngsters' I know would never be able to watch something five times a week.So the season thing is good thinking.
 

I don't think I have any original thoughts to add here, but I have noticed the "charm" issue that Bill mentioned regarding some of the young'uns.

As for whether or not this (aging galans and overworked storylines) is a dual problem, well, I think it's two separate problems, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be taken as a dual challenge/opportunity that might be solved by getting some FRESH BRAINS in the offices of Televisa.
 

I don't consider myself part of the "youth" market, but I would certainly prefer weekly episodes. Five hours a week is a lot of time to devote to a show that isn't five times better than the one-hour weekly shows we watch.

I think, typically, that there is about as much plot movement in one hour of a weekly show as there is in five hours of a TN. In fact, sometimes the weekly shows cram MORE plot movement into their one hour.

Granted, it takes longer to recap an action-packed show. And there have been a few TNs where I savored the slower pace. But unless the TN is AWESOME, I'd rather spend that time doing something else.
 

Yes. I think stories that are age appropriate would be great for keeping our older galans and heroines in the spotlight. I don't think they are too old, I just think they are too old for their parts.

At the same time, they are taking away opportunities from the 20-somethings to sharpen their skills in these roles that are more age appropriate for them. Perhaps there needs to be equal effort put into developing the older couple storylines, as well as the younger couple storyline-- one wouldn't treated better than the other. There are some basic themes that we would see in each generation:

Late teens- 20s: First real love. First sexual experiences. Deciding what they want to do with their lives; what they want to study in college. Defying parents and society. First jobs. Making REALLY dumb mistakes based on inexperience.

30s: Spent last decade focused on career and hasn't given priority to love. Well established professionally, but dealing with major work pressures and challenges. Already had great first love, and/or first marriage. A divorce/failed major relationship under their belt. Perhaps a young child. Maybe a young widow or widower.

40-50s: Teen and 20-something kids. Kids with major issues, like drugs or eating disorders. Empty nest syndrome. Infidelity and betrayal by spouses. Divorce or widowhood. Professional rivals trying to undermine business. Regrets about choices made or opportunities not taken, and desire to change life path. Relationships with younger man or woman, cause friction within family. Woman who put own career on hold to be housewife, now having to strike out on her own. Financial ruin. Having to start over at a late age, but with lots of experience.
 

But please, just don't show me another 40-something galan, playing a 20-something who has never had sex, ever again! (I'm looking at you, FC.)
 

Superalfie: Siliva Navarro is my fav and I heard she might be doing a TN in 2014. Is it a sure thing, then?
 

Superalfi, it is more than likely El manantial remake will be deleted, because of RFG's original story. Both of them the writers are same: Blanco-Pena. And they have general style. Places are hick towns or villages, there are haciendas et cetera. I say rather titles and you will understand. El manantial, Laberintos de pasion, Mi pecado, Angela, Canaveral de pasiones (Adp). You feel the similarity, am I right?
And two alike tn isn't possible at once time.

ALEJOP
 

Nanette, nothing is confirmed until we see the promos and even then until we see the first episode lol but *fingers crossed*

Anonymous, all they're stories are the same but similar. It's a weird thing that they are all alike but are each so different in some aspects the stories change completely.

I've seen CDP, EM and MP and I can still say EM > CDP > MP. It's as if to say they refined the original story they began in CDP and refined it with EM then took it down a few pegs with Mi Pecado.

They're stories never get on my nerves and that's saying something with all the garbage I see these days.
 

But DIFFERENT*
 

Love your ideas, Vivi! After reading comments all day I'm becoming convinced that the fault lies with the stories, not the actors. It's 2013 and even in the 90s some stories were outdated (I'm looking at you Marimar.)

That being said, I have to say that I hope that narconovelas don't become a regular thing...but I fear they already have.

MPV and PSMA give me hope. Yeah, PSMA is a remake but it seems to be rooted in good storytelling and characters. MPV maybe needs to work a little more on the romance aspect, but again there seems to be a focus on storytelling.
 

Of curse, intrigue, secrets, lies, and crazy villains can be part of all those plot points. I'm just talking about where the galan and heroine are in their lives at the moment that the story kicks into gear.
 

Thanks Superalfie. I had heard she was in talks with some well-known producer--whose name escapes me--for a TN that will start (filming I think) in March.
 

Vivi, that was one of the reasons I liked Bajo la Misma Piel so much. On top of a fast paced storyline, it had something for each generation of women in the family and the trials and tribulations every generation goes through at some point or another.

It wasn't a popular novela, or the best, but it had some great aspects. It's like a shorter, better paced Tres Mujeres.

I definitely recommend to everyone,
 

Sara C, narconovelas on Tm start to be regular. In 2014, they want two narconovelas, one of them after Santa Diabla, it's Camelia la tejana with Sara Maldonado and Erick Hayser. And the second will be El senor de los cielos 2nd parte with the same team in the end of the year.
AlejoP.
 

I'm watching La Reina del Sur on TM and really loving it. I actually like it a little better than Robo--but that may be because it's my first narco, so a different kind of storytelling.
 

I don't like El Manantial all that much, it's the one Blanco - Peña novela I could never get into. Alot of it is a remake of Cañaveral and it has Adela Noriega in it. Though I did enjoy Karyme Lozano as a bad girl and Mauricio Islas is a great galán.

Speaking of, Mauricio Islas is doing great as a galán for TV Azteca. All his novelas have good numbers for that network. He always brings a very noble and caring side to his roles and I feel that's an aspect that is absolutely needed for a galán and something that many of our current ones lack.

Jarocha


 

Bajo la Misma Piel would have killed our dear Carlos. Kate del Castillo, Diana Bracho, Laisha Wilkins, Susana Zabaleta and Azela Robinson all together. Produced by Carlos Moreno, the galán was Juan Soler and the late Marga López was in it too.


Jarocha
 

AlejoP-I really wish the narco novelas weren't so popular, but they are. Wasn't Reina del Sur the first to get English captioning? I seem to remember it really gave Univision a run for its money and it was soon after that Uni started offering English CCs.

I wish too that I has access to more Spanish channels (by that I mean on the TV where I can watch from my couch.) I really only know Televisa TNs and the little bit of DyO and Santa Diabla that I saw. I'll admit there is something about Telemundo TNs that capture my attention...no matter how crazy they get.

Poking around on Hulu yesterday I found this drama from Spain about the Isabella's rise to power. It had that TN sort of feel (a serial story you have to follow) but it was fabulous quality. I assume it was not an every day of the week show since there was more than one season...

Anyhoo, I would gladly give up my every day of the week TN addiction for a fabulous and well done once or twice a week TN. I wonder if production costs would be more or less and if that would revive the period TN.
 

Sara, does your cable company offer a tier where you can get Latele Novela Network? That one offers South American novelas and a few from other countries (although the Romanian one I tried was not to my liking).

The narco novelas also bother me. Gratuitous violence, misogyny, and any glorification of that class of crime makes me physically ill.
 

Sadly, no. There's another cable company whose Latin tier offers telemundo, discovery en espanol and a few other channels, but really nothing else interesting.
 

Until today I loved only one narconovela, it was Rosario Tijeras by RCN with Maria Fernanda Yepes. Very, very fantastic. For me unknown talented young actors and actresses, moving and exciting history and not happy ending but I was satisfied. It was perfect for me. After I started La mariposa, but I didn't like, so I gave up trying with it after 2 episode. And now I started to watch La reina del sur, but I stopped after 15 episode, it isn't bad, but I am not totally interested in it. I might continue later.

So I am not also a big fan of narconovelas.

AlejoP.
 

Perhaps switching around typical roles could help.VR never played a villian role before.Imagine WL getting the main male villian role,that would spice things up! But its just wet dreaming i guess.. And we all want new stories without remakes but what original story could they write so it wont look too silly?
 

Demetrios,I was just thinking of that last night.

Levy,Colunga,Soto,Perroni,Yanez - all as villains and the usual villains aka Altair Jarabo,Enrique Rocha,Julian Gil as the good guys.

That would at least spice things up and make people watch something.I would definitely tune in to see how my favorites are doing in role reversal.

Ive been reading fanfiction,webnovelas all sorts of things and most of them have a pretty original plot,or at least something you can build a TN on.

Remakes of movies,theatre plays,operas - so many opportunities.
 

As for me, I want interesting stories with talented actors. It's ok if it will be a remake, but well adopted remake. No more copypast stories, please!!!
And I want to see actors in different roles. Even if they are good I don't want to see them with the same tip of roles. I cant understand, why Televisa decided to put Arenas in the same role in La gata. He had 3 options and they chose for him La Gata. And with Maite the same story. Danna Garcia is always the same. Please, let someone play other roles.
And some actors are not good enough to be leads. I don't like Sepeda and Ron, so no novelas with them as galans. I dont like Blanca Soto or Mayrin, so no novelas with them too. They all can be pretty, bun acting is awful.

talking about stories, it's sad, that they cancelled Madre sustituta. I watched Korean original and it's realy good. Now I'm watching Turkish stories. Acting is great, stories are great. My problem with turkish novelas is that I cant learn turkish. It's too hard for me. And I want to learn spanish, so I hope that Castro will make once again an interesting story.
Alegria
 

I think Castro is making another novela, Alegria. He's the one doing Malquerida.


 

Here's my question--Is it really so hard to come up with an original story? I hear Brazil can do it (though I've never seen a Brazilian TN) and Alegria has mentioned Korean and Turkish...Why does Televisa just pull out scripts from the last 15-20 years?? (Some of which were already remakes.)
 

Sara C. Cuz original stories in nowadays has low ratings in Mexico. Look at Mpv, Lt or Cachito, DH, they have low audience, while CI, AV, ADP have higher or boom datas. So they go sure, and a remake within house is more safer. Last time what was original - LFDD - has enough good numbers only.

I saw a new pattern by Caracol. Thy bought laws of Nip/Tuck american series, and they are remaking in TN form. I think it is cool idea, american or other foreign country's seasonal series in TN form.

AlEJOp.
 

That is a good idea. I thought I read somewhere that Juan Osorio (UFCS) was doing an adaptation of a show from Spain. I can't remember what it's about and I'm not sure how I feel about his work.
 

PS sorry if this is repetitive, but how do the ratings of shows like MPV compare in the States. It hasn't done well in Mexico, but is it doing better here? Are there cases of things doing badly there and being huge here and vice versa?

MPV is really good (that is if you lower your expectations for romance and steamy scenes) and then I see snippets of LQLVMR and I am disturbed by how old fashioned the treatment of women seems to be (and really I am ony basing this on commercials and recap lurking, so maybe I'm being unfair.) Yet it seems really popular.
 

I think Jose Ron does a good job in some novelas. I don't if it's the story or the fact that he has great, intense chemistry with Ariadne Diaz, but I'm loving his role in La Mujer del Vendaval.

There are always going to be stronger actors than others but it also depends on the role they're given. Is he doing an excellent job, no, but the role is a good one and he's acting the hell out of it.

Ariadne Diaz is demonstrating that she has the chops to carry a vulnerable yet kicka** protagonist.

Needless to say, in some aspects, sometimes remakes surpass the originals. Is LMDV an excellent novela, no, but it mixed comedy and drama really well, all the stories have to do with the main one in some way or another and the central characters are people you can root for.

Sometimes it's more the story fitting the actor. If that can happen, then I'm sure more novelas would come out better. If Zepeda and Olivera would switch roles, for example, MPV would've probably fared better in the romance department.
 

I don't see MPV as a total failure in Mexico. The problem is that it started with very low ratings and that affected its average but its ratings were acceptable towards the end. And since La Tempestad and Libre Para Amarte had such lousy ratings there were a couple of days where it got the best ratings of the Televisa lineup in its last weeks.

I know it is doing badly in the US. But who knows what will happen later, the episodes where the ratings got better in Mexico are yet to air, I think.

Superalfie the only thing I remember from La Mujer del Vendaval now is Florencia de Saracho. She was fun.

I've liked José Ron the best in Los Exitosos Pérez. I thought he was really good there.


Jarocha


 

Enrique actually did play a good guy once,as captain Solis in Tormenta en El Paraiso but seeing him in an protangoist role again would be pleasant. And i want Guilerrmo Garcia Cantu back,he was such an creepy villian!
 

I just wanted to post this somewhere but in 2014 Ma Pat (writer of LMDV) is coming up with a refrito of El Manatial and the lovely Ana Brenda Contreras is to star as the protagonist. I for sure know this refrito will not go stale as Ma Pat's novelas usually are worthy of prime time and much more but girl is given the shaft. I for one enjoyed Juro Que te Amo (Alexis Ayala was the ideal villain in that one as the rapist and murderer and champion in prison where he kills the lovely Leoncio from Amor Bravio)Oh yeah ABC was also JQTA and she did a good job. We also will have something from Nicandro Diaz-Gzlez with Pedro Fernandez and Marjorie de Sousa as the protagonists. These novelas are just getting crazier by the year. I can't wait for these and pray for the EM refrito to be prime time.
 

I never seen Pedro Fernadez act,who is he?
 

@Demetrios He was in Hasta Que el Dinero nos Separe and is a singer. He was also in the recently concluded Cachito de Cielo.
 

It's strange, but now Televisa is quite about new novelas. A lot of rumours but nothing is in production. They confirmed Madre sustituta and then cancelled it. So now I don't believe in any novela until I see a first promo.
Also want to add, that sometimes Televisa choose actors famous for foreign countries. They can help to sell novelas. For example, for a long time there were no novelas from Televisa in Russia. But few months ago one channel choose Corona de Lagrimas. Because we all remember Ruffo from her old novelas. All new stars are no one for this public. So novela can be very popular in Mexico, but actors are not very famous in Europe. It's a problem.
Alegria
 

MPV's promedio is not the worst but it is low. Similar the others: Mar de amor, 17,5 CME 18,9 LFDD 18,2 LQNPA 19,6 AB, 18 QBA 18,1 MPV 16,5. This is true there were more worse in the past in this timeslot, for example verano de amor or muchachitas como tu. I know so there are minimum levels in every timeslot, these are from 4pm to 9pm the followings. 15, 16, 18, 20, and 24-25. And mentir's mean was below 18. But if we look at Lt and Lpa numbers they were with 4-5 points less than the expected datas, and mentir was just with 1,5 points less.
DO switching with DZ: I don't know, because for me DO doesn´t absolutely opereating as a galan, for example amorcito corazon and his priest in TDA was much weaker than Evora in EPDA. And DZ's novels has good numbers until MPV. I think for the lower ratings have many elements, original stories, overhyping DZ, and I think the audience don't see Mayrin for a good heroine. It is her first role, what I see, but I like her. :)
Jose Ron: they were a bad pairing with Ana B in Juro que te amo, or LQNPA, but with Ariadne is ok, and they are a real pair in real life. For me their chemistry was the best in 2012 by Televisa.
Pedro Fernandez is likely to get a new protagonic role, as the pair of Marjorie de Sousa in Dulce Amor remake by NIcandro Diaz.
 

Former rating commenter anonymouus was I, AlejoP.
 

Marjorie was so delightfully wicked in AV that I can't imagine her as a prota, but I love Pedro Fernandez. To me, he is one of those actors that may not have traditional galan good looks but his love scenes are always so heartfelt and sincere and I get all googly eyed and dreamy.
 

Alegria- I'm starting to wait until I see promos, too. I hope 2014 is better than 2013. And really 2013 wasn't so bad, but in general I guess ratings were down.


 

@ Sara C- Marjorie was good in Sacrificio de Mujer.
 

I saw four hours of Sacrificio de Mujer and couldn't stand it.

EPDA was far better-written than TdA and the editing was much better. I'm rewatching EPDA now and the scenes are longer and more intense. Cesar Evora is extremely versatile and can defy typecasting better than other actors his age... and with that basso profundo voice that often gets him cast as a villain.

Still wishing Carla Estrada would take on Dark Shadows.
 

I like Cesar but you know sometimes you get tired of Cesar being the villian all the time.. His acting and voice is fascinating though..
 

I just looked up Sacrifico and watched the promo video. Is it just another remake of EPDA? Marjorie did look good and seeing the little bit of her "good" character I can sort of see her a protagonist... But dang she was good in AV.
 

Demetrios- Cesar was great as Maricruz's dad in CI. I wish there was some way they could have kept him in the story.
 

Sara, it is. The difference is that the father of the missing girl doesn't become a priest, which I think is central to the story's conflict.

My other issue is that Marjorie de Sousa and Juan Alfonso Baptista continue their roles through the series and are only a few years older than the actress who plays her daughter. Not appropriate.
 

Sara
Yeah,Cesars drop from the novela was mostly because of his filming of La Tempestad i think
 

Someday I hope that Carla Estrada can fix what was broken and re-make Corazon Salvaje. She has a thing for period novelas and in early 2014 Pasion is being re-aired and Abrazame Muy Fuerte afterwards.
 

Corazon
What would be your dream cast for the remake?
 

Ana Layevska is a stupendous actress who does evil a little too well and good a justice. She could do the twins well. The galan is pending. I sometimes think Cristian de la Fuente should have been a duel role in the 2009 one. I know the character Juan de Dios wasn't twins but CDLF has the galan and bad-as-rotten-flan roles down. I would like to see Lety Calderon as the Laura Flores character and Enrique Roacha is a creep to me no matter what role so he can stay. I don't really have a dream cast but I know you guys do so you should tell me yours. A Grail would be Carla Estrada & Carlos Moreno Laguillo working together on something as they both are adored amongst the Caray Caraymites.
 

Letty could do the Maria Flores character but if she played the Leonarda character that would be cool too.
 

This is obvious the novella for dual-roles LOL.
 

Now who would play the male protangoist? Jose Lus Alvarez? LOL. On a side note idk who would play the second guy..
 

Juan del Diablo should be someone with long hair and riveting eyes... Sebastian Rulli!
 

Long hair, then William Levy, hahahahaha

AlejoP.
 

Diego Olivera looks great with long hair, but he's too old I assume (I know nothing about CS '93 or '09)
 

Cristian de la Fuente.
 

Sebastian Rulli had long hair as the studly blacksmith in Pasion.. He looks very good with long hair. Marcelo cordoba had slightly long hair in Alborada and would probably look good with shoulder length locks. Fernando C. looks great with long hair ..down or in a ponytail.
 

I haven't watched much of Televisa tns since LQNPA ended in March, 2012. Just can't find the right tune(((. All I chanced to peep at (PEAM, LMDV, CI, LQLVMR, LT) made me yawn. One episode – and farewell for good.
Unfortunately, I am not an omnivorous telenovelera and I always try to find a credible story (new or re-newed)))), a story that will provoke feelings and thoughts – mission almost impossible)))). I don't want endless que-te-pasa background noise programs made to help you go thru with ironing piles of bedlinen.
So, 2013 was totally telenovelaless for me (basically inaccesible Quien eres tu being the only ray of light).
I expect to find something worthy among the projects starting in 2014.
Of course, La Malquerida is #1 on my list if Jorge Salinas would be there. I've had plans for Madre Sustituta but they cancelled it((((.
Seagull
 

Personally, I preferred Sacrificio de Mujer to TdA, though they should have cast older actors to play the parents of Milagros and the adopted children. It was refreshing to see Marjorie is a protagonist role where the villains, most especially a psycho mother played expertly by Flor Nunez, who are making her cry and suffer, for she was always being cast as a villana.

I think we need new stories, and I doubt we will get them from Televisa. Mrs Mejia is already planning a remake of La Gata, which has been remade almost 100 times aleady, and the story isnt that interesting. I didnt like CI at all, though briefly watched it to see Maricruz become transformed from the "cenicienta salvaje" to a queen within a short time. I am not looking forward to La Gata.
 

Only Carla Estrada has been able to do period pieces that are worth anything since Amor Gitano and Corazon Salvaje '93.
Amor Real and Alborada are best since then. Montecristo was good.

But if you are going to take a story that has been done several times, you gotta update it enough to make it look current and interesting. Change the industry (no more coffee, tequila, haciendas) and change the careers of the main characters (some of this is working in Mi Corazon es Tuyo, even though the industry is canned groceries).
But the days of novelas rosa and the Marias are over. And the producers need to look beyond the books written by Carla Estrada and the Maria stories and expand their horizon to get ideas from more recent movies or stories...

as far as acting, the best recipe is a mix of senior talent, middle-aged talent and younger prospects... here is a list of mine.

Senior:
Daniela Romo(ever since she came back in El Manantial she has been masterful in anything she touches), Raquel Olmedo, Cesar Evora, Arturo Peniche, Juan Soler, Aaron Hernan, Juan Ferrara, Helena Rojo, Ana Martin, Rene Casados, Rafael Inclan
Middle Aged:
Silvia Navarro, Jorge Salinas, Jorge Aravena, Guy Ecker, Mayrin Villanueva, Mauricio Islas, Ernesto LaGuardia, Cynthia Klitbo (my fav is her villain in Privilegio), Gabriel Soto, Azela Robinson, Kate del Castillo (not on a narco novela), Leticia Calderon, Maya Mishalka, Lucero (like her better as villain)
Somewhat experienced since started young:
Fabian Robles, Luis Roberto Guzman, Livia Brito, Danna Garcia, Juan Diego Covarrubias, Marcelo Cordoba
Younger:
Brandon Peniche (yes, I agree he stole the show from Gabriel in Refugio)


as far as cast i would like to see work together, how about Mauricio Islas and Silvia Navarro as middle aged folks who get together in their 40s, and put them in a non-narco current setting without lots of baggage from their parents stories or fortunes that change hands... THAT I would watch.

 

the villains could be any combo of Cesar Evora, Mayrin Villanueva, Leticia Calderon and Juan Soler.
 

there are some folks i have ommitted since i am just tired of seeing them on screen or i dont think they are that good: Victoria Ruffo, Fernando Colunga, William Levy, Maite Perroni
 

my middle age list contains actors/actresses anywhere between ages of 35 to 55.
 

oops, move Juan Soler to the middle age group.
 

Juan could still pull a lead role. Rene Casados, although he is not 55 yet, is better at secondary support roles.