Tuesday, September 05, 2017
Upcoming Telenovelas: Stevey's Notes (Pt. IIA) – September 5, 2017
PART IIA – UPCOMING
TELENOVELAS NEARLY HERE (OR ALREADY HERE)
Anyway, determined to single-handedly save impressionable youth and the very soul of Mexico by taking the industry back from wherever it may be going and putting it safely back in its box for our moderate enjoyment, where we needn't worry about horrible things like being affected by anything or even remotely challenging, he proudly presented his latest, Mi Marido Tiene Familia. This was to be a production, he proudly proclaimed, that would not feature wanton killings (in his Tormenta en el Paraíso, the Mariana Seoane and Ursula Prats characters ALONE murdered 9 people); psychotic villains (in his Sueño de Amor, Sabine Moussier's character started out as an respected, workaholic veterinarian devoted to her career working with animals in the wilds of Africa and who spoke English and wound up trying to murder pretty much everyone in a variety of ways and speaking nothing but Spanish before getting thrown off of a roof by Julian Gil); or things that are not family friendly (Sueño de Amor featured a gratuitous S&M scene); abuse (Claudia Alvarez abused her little girl mercilessly in Porque el Amor Manda); torture (people were buried alive in both his Velo de Novia and Siempre te Amaré). He decried the excess of violence (in his Velo de Novia, Cynthia Klitbo's character got 1-burned alive; 2-tortured (screaming) in the hospital while she was recovering from her burns; 3-had her legs broken during said tortures; 4-fell into a pit while crawling away trying to escape the torture (because, of course, her legs had been broken) yet still covered head-to-toe in burn bandages; then 5-got eaten by rats while lying in the pit she fell down); needless over-sexualization (there were scenes in Velo de Novia where his (at the time) baby-momma Niurka was wearing little more than two band-aids and a cork while performing in a nightclub), or themes that are not family-friendly (at the end of his Mi Pecado we learned that Daniela Castro's character was hateful towards her daughter because said daughter was also her sister, she having been impregnated by her own father years ago), and wanted a telenovela that the entire FAMILY could watch and, hopefully, teach people—especially children—something positive. The horrible punishment he came up with for his villain Mayrin Villanueva’s character in Mi Corazón es Tuyo was getting fat, and having to work at a zoo. I'll stop now, but…really, Juan Osorio, Family Fare?? REALLY??
END Part IIA
Let's hope for
the best for the future of our telenovela world. Without further ado, let's let
Stevey get to the productions themselves! Now, again, these are all TELEVISA
productions. Which of these will actually get broadcast in the U.S. or when, is
anybody's guess, but if he has ANY further information as to “yea” or “nay,” he
will make sure to note it in his summaries. Here he goes! :-)
PRODUCTION #1 – MI MARIDO TIENE FAMILIA – PRODUCER: JUAN OSORIO
**Mexican debut
was on June 5, 2017.** Currently broadcasting on Univision, but I had this
written before it started airing, so please indulge me, okay?
First off, I have
to confess that I can't stand Juan Osorio. I think he's a megalomaniacal idiot
living off of his past successes, who patronizes his viewing audience more than
he does anything else by not offering anything of any depth or real quality,
just his dancing spawn Emilio (the product of his liaison with the BSC Niurka
Marcos, a woman who had her own talk show where she interviewed her guests in a
hot tub, and whose general classlessness is almost impressive in its absoluteness—and
who appeared as herself in Mi Corazon es
Tuyo), ad nauseam (you'll have to forgive me here as I deplore nepotism). In
talks about his next production, the currently airing Mi Marido Tiene Familia, Osorio went off on this screed about the
genre and the deplorable direction that telenovelas were going. He decried productions
in the vein of La Piloto and, well,
pretty much anything that Telemundo is airing, really, for being all about
drugs, violence, random killings, and generally speaking, not-nice things, CERTAINLY
NOT what should be on television during “family hour.” He said HIS production
was designed to take the genre back to where he (being all-knowing,
life-giving, all-powerful, and all that stuff) feels it should belong, and away
from things like gratuitous S&M scenes and torture (as was depicted
recently in Sueño de Amor, produced
by…uh…oh…wait for it…YOU, Sr. Osorio…hypocrite much?).
Anyway, determined to single-handedly save impressionable youth and the very soul of Mexico by taking the industry back from wherever it may be going and putting it safely back in its box for our moderate enjoyment, where we needn't worry about horrible things like being affected by anything or even remotely challenging, he proudly presented his latest, Mi Marido Tiene Familia. This was to be a production, he proudly proclaimed, that would not feature wanton killings (in his Tormenta en el Paraíso, the Mariana Seoane and Ursula Prats characters ALONE murdered 9 people); psychotic villains (in his Sueño de Amor, Sabine Moussier's character started out as an respected, workaholic veterinarian devoted to her career working with animals in the wilds of Africa and who spoke English and wound up trying to murder pretty much everyone in a variety of ways and speaking nothing but Spanish before getting thrown off of a roof by Julian Gil); or things that are not family friendly (Sueño de Amor featured a gratuitous S&M scene); abuse (Claudia Alvarez abused her little girl mercilessly in Porque el Amor Manda); torture (people were buried alive in both his Velo de Novia and Siempre te Amaré). He decried the excess of violence (in his Velo de Novia, Cynthia Klitbo's character got 1-burned alive; 2-tortured (screaming) in the hospital while she was recovering from her burns; 3-had her legs broken during said tortures; 4-fell into a pit while crawling away trying to escape the torture (because, of course, her legs had been broken) yet still covered head-to-toe in burn bandages; then 5-got eaten by rats while lying in the pit she fell down); needless over-sexualization (there were scenes in Velo de Novia where his (at the time) baby-momma Niurka was wearing little more than two band-aids and a cork while performing in a nightclub), or themes that are not family-friendly (at the end of his Mi Pecado we learned that Daniela Castro's character was hateful towards her daughter because said daughter was also her sister, she having been impregnated by her own father years ago), and wanted a telenovela that the entire FAMILY could watch and, hopefully, teach people—especially children—something positive. The horrible punishment he came up with for his villain Mayrin Villanueva’s character in Mi Corazón es Tuyo was getting fat, and having to work at a zoo. I'll stop now, but…really, Juan Osorio, Family Fare?? REALLY??
So anyway, as you
all know, this family friendly viewing—sin psychos, sin murders, sin anything
PG rated or higher—debuted 60 capitulos ago in Mexico and whatever I may have
to say, or HAD to say about it, it's doing fantastically. And he's absolutely
true to his word, as well…there isn't anything…I mean ANYTHING in this
production (thus far) that could possibly offend even the most delicate of
sensibilities. Steve Boudreaux, there’s no need for a “Body Count” here, and if
Urban were to have to come up with one her wonderful Karmageddon pages, she
could probably write it on a postage stamp.
This is all about families, the different personalities and people that,
for better or for worse, it takes to make them. And if one wants something mild
(a four-letter word in more ways than one for me, most of the time), you guys
really couldn't do better than this one.
It doesn't even have the stupid attempts at mediocre “comedy” that I
personally hated in Una Familia con
Suerte. Its “comedy” aims to be of the charming kind (the well-meaning
worldly heroina trying to teach her Uber-rural new mother-in-law how to drive a
car, etc.), and seeing how it's the current leader in ratings for telenovelas
right now, I guess it's safe to say that it's doing just that.
I'll do a quick
precis of this one in case there's anybody reading this who might be interested
in joining the little patio forming and upon doing so, it’s only because I
recognize that (at capitulo 9) it'd be really easy for anyone to jump in and
not feel lost-at-sea.
àThe plot
revolves around a young couple, Robert (played by Daniel Arenas, admirably
attempting to see if there's something NOT annoying that he can do as an actor
by fleeing the clutches of Nathalie Lartilleux), and Julieta (played by Zuria
Vega and who, once again, will undoubtedly make all of us wish we had a
daughter/daughter-in-law like her and I personally find her to be immensely
likeable onscreen). They're a young,
successful, happy couple about to be married and start their new life together.
Robert, who's a doctor, is an adoptee, and his adopted family lives out of the
country, meaning that the only family the couple usually has to interact with,
will be Julieta's mother, Catalina (Olivia Bucio, lately as Nerina in Tres Veces Ana). Robert sometimes
wonders about his real family—whoever they are—and about the circumstances
surrounding his paternity and adoption. They must move into a rather modest
building in Oaxaca for some reason that I can't remember, where their new
landlords, the Corcegas, are, uh, well "traditional," which would be
a euphemism. Let's just say that while they don't keep a donkey in their house,
they're still from a different world and a different era than our modern young
couple. And they're also VERY set in their ways.
Imagine then,
(just imagine!) what happens when it is discovered that these quaint folk are Robert's REAL
family. And, of course, there are all kinds of other Corcegas of varying ilk
who are part of the story, all of them well-meaning (okay, there may be one or
two with a chip on their shoulder), but very different from each other as we
all are, and with problems that generally speaking would be considered quite
minor by telenovela standards, but this is just so that we'll feel more
connected to them, ideally, in the producer's mind's eye, as opposed to the over-the-top
characterizations found in a lot of the crazier comedy-dramas. So those are our
two leads.
Sharing top billing
would be the heads of the Corcega family, Blanca (Diana Bracho, who it seems is
absolutely wonderful in literally everything that she does and she is here as
well, but about whom I must confess, to feeling sad at seeing her NOT being a
villain here…just because she's so darn GOOD at it!), and Eugenio (Rafael Inclán,
in his usual element, recently as Nicolás in Mi Corazón es Tuyo). Other immediate Corcegas include Belén (played
by the ubiquitous Luz Maria Jerez, who's got to be not only the most consistently
busy actor the network has, but also one of it's most solid and reliable and oh,
I WISH you guys could've known her Sandra in 1996's Desencuentro…she was SO good at being such a hateful bitch!) as an
aunt. Then there is Oh-God-no René Casados in an uncle role that is
unfortunately very conducive to the kind of over-acting Sr. Casados can
sometimes inflict on us (anybody else remember Bruno from La Madrastra?? <shudder>). Jessica Coch, Jade Fraser, and
Laura Vignatti as Eugenio & Blanca's daughters, Ignacio Casano in a
non-deaf role as Jessica Coch's character's husband. Jose Pablo Minor, Gaby Platas, and
hunka-hunka-burnin' Juan Vidal love (recently as Gutiérrez in Vino el Amor) are also in the fray as
characters that AREN'T immediate Corcegas (or Gomez, Blanca's maiden name). Then
we have Tulio and Ana (Marco Mendez and Lola Morino) as another uncle and aunt-by-marriage,
who I suppose are the closest things to antagonists that we have thus far. I
should also say that Vidal's Julian could also be considered something of an
antagonist, and this is just because, though wealthy and successful (Ana has
lots of money, and is for all intents and purposes a wonderful in-law), fate
determined that Ana could never bring a child to full term, they are childless,
and sore-at-heart. Tulio is rather empty, and as such, embittered and unhappy. Ana…well,
there's complexity in Ana. A lot of complexity and a lot of things and feelings
brewing beneath the surface that she tries very hard not to show.
And of course, it
wouldn't be a Juan Osorio production were there not to be some shameless
pandering designed to make people interested.
In this case the most “important” of which would be the role of the Grand
Matriarch of the Corcega-Gomez clan, that of the grandmother, Imelda. For this
major role Osorio decided to thaw the cryogenically frozen body of Silvia Pinal,
now 85 and "the last living legend of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema”
(last seen in 2010 as Tía Isabel in Soy
tu Dueña, although she did make an appearance as herself in Una Familia con Suerte). So here she is again, this time in a major
role of a sadistic psychopathic serial killer who decapitates and guts her
victims and then flosses her teeth with their entrails, the crusty-but-benign,
tough-on-the-outside, soft-as-a-marshmallow-on-the-inside, and most assuredly, bringing
in the viewers (she could just stand there and, as long as she's breathing,
people would tune in to watch. Thankfully, she's doing quite a bit more than
that here. The ole' gal's still got gas
in the ole' tank. ;-)
More egregious
pandering casting would be the roles given to the singer, performer and host
Regina Orozco in her first television acting role as an aunt who has always had
dreams of becoming a big singer (GEE…I WONDER IF SHE MAKES IT??) and the big
rock star Yahir, whose only acting credits would be roles in two Azteca shows
dating back to 2003 and 2004, now as <ahem> a tenant of the Corcega's, a
struggling MUSICIAN hoping to make it big in the world of music (DO YOU THINK
HE'LL MAKE IT, TOO??). But though I may
think that on the surface doing stuff like this is condescending to the
audience, it makes people happy…and that's what Osorio, et al. are trying to
do, so what the hell do I know?? Oh God…and yes, of COURSE, the dancing spawn
is here as well, Emilio Osorio, alarmingly getting bigger and bigger parts in
these productions, as Aristoteles. I can not
say another word, only because I'm too afraid he's going to start dancing/singing
to watch a scene or even read about anything involving his character.
So there we have
it. It's light, totally inoffensive fare. I'm sure many of you will most
assuredly find it fresh and refreshing and probably even be delighted by it. You're
not alone. This novela is a huge hit in Mexico, and apparently, deservedly so. And
I must admit, it's kind of nice to have to eat crow at the realization that
much though I think he's an overhyped, overblown, privileged showman completely
devoid of any depth or substance…he really CAN still put out a telenovela that
makes people want to watch and tune in and make people happy. For that, my apologies, and a begrudging, yet
honest, humbled, tip of the hat to you, Sr. Osorio. :-)
PRODUCTION #2 – EL VUELO DE
LA VICTORIA – PRODUCER: NATHALIE LARTILLEUX
**Mexican debut
was on July 10, 2017** It must be finished or nearly finished filming.
I'm currently
having a lot of fun with our next novela. Nathalie Lartilleux, who has somewhat
redeemed herself, but only somewhat, for subjecting us to La Gata, (and even more egregious in my mind for the absolute
disgrace she turned out in Corazón
Indomable once Lucia died and Maricruz left the casino. I've literally
NEVER seen a more horrible, poorly-written, badly-produced extension of any
show, ever, than the mess Sra. Lartilleux made out of CI). Her last novela, Un
Camino Hacia el Destino, was sort-of a “sleeper” success, that I don't
think anybody really saw coming (and after her last two productions, why would
they?). It turned out to be a really good novela--terrifically cast, and also well
directed, produced, and executed. It's one of the few novelas I can think of
that I could lay a claim to being even better than the original (which was La Hija del Jardinero, produced in 2003
by TV Azteca). So basically, of late, one can't really seem to know WHAT one is
in for with Sra. Lartilleux and I, for one, was awaiting this new production
rather ominously and with baited breath.
The new novela is
called El Vuelo de la Victoria and,
if asked which of all of producer Lartilleux's works it most reminds me of, I
would have to say, unquestionably, Cuidado
Con el Angel in that, rather than there being a particular theme, or even
an overarching plot of any kind, the story is more about one heroine and the
trials and tribulations she goes through as she goes about life trying to get
or do whatever-the-hell-it-is that she wants to get or do. Of course, our
heroine goes through a ridiculous, like almost STUPID number of these on the
path to her inevitable Feliz Para Siempre, with various nefarious types
standing in her way. The similarities between El Vuelo de la Victoria and Cuidado
Con el Angel are quite striking, actually, so again, if any of you liked Cuidado con el Angel, I would advise you
to tune in as you're sure to enjoy this one. As one who generally speaking
couldn't care less about our solo hero or heroine (I'm drawn to plots, themes,
and antagonists), one would think this wouldn't at all be my cup of tea (and Cuidado con el Angel did absolutely
nothing for me), but I'm quite enjoying EVDLV,
possibly because the writers really have come up with interesting characters,
in terms of those who enter into our heroina’s life as she seeks her path to
happiness.
As to the main
cast, Paulina Goto is our comely heroine. Mane de la Parra is her childhood
soulmate, Andrés, and the swarthily dashing Andrés Palacios (currently Homero
in El Bienamado) is Raul de la Peña (having
inherited the role when the original choice, Pablo Montero, got fired for
general sketchiness like being late, not showing up, being unprofessional,
whatever that means--high? drunk? hookers in his dressing room? Any/all of the
above??). Interestingly (or, annoyingly, depending on your point of view), at
this juncture, I don't think anybody really knows who the galán is supposed to
be. Usually, if the heroina is torn between two men, one of them is an a**hole
which is why we wind up screaming at our television screens at her and smacking
our heads in frustration at her obvious cluelessness. Not here! Susana Dosamantes is appropriately terrifying
(with hair and makeup, likewise, appropriately terrifying) in the role of the
evil Gloria. Unfortunately, something which I don't think I'll ever be able to
forgive Sra. Dosamantes for, she was fired from the production (at least she
did better than Sr. Montero, who was fired before the damn thing even got
going), and her character had to be written out (more on that later). At first
the word was that Sra. Dosamantes got fired for “acting like a diva” (last seen
as Ernestina in Tres Veces Ana)
which, considering that this is how Sylvia Pasqual got her role in Que Pobres Tan Ricos, shouldn't surprise
anyone.
The actual
Dosamante story, well, I'll let you all decide...apparently, goes thusly, Sra.
Dosamantes hadn't been too willing to do the usual press junket of promotional
tours actors usually do for these productions, but there was one time when Sra.
Dosamantes (who had to be accommodated once before when filming on location,
because she did NOT want to be travelling with the crew), absolutely HAD to
travel with the crew this time (as they were the only truck left). She
complained about her situation, saying that they “smelled.” She was fired
shortly thereafter. Anyway, after this all happened, she came back, hat in
hand, and apologized, but her character was already been "taken in another
direction" (read: killed off), so they agreed on a happy medium wherein
evil Gloria will appear as a ghost to do various nasties. So that's that.
Elizabeth Alvarez is back in the kind of role that she ABSOLUTELY should be
doing—evil villana (she was just so magnificently over-the-top as Lucia in CI). This time she is Magdalena, an
unhinged egomaniac previously romantically involved with Sr. Palacios's
character. Gaby Mellado (deaf mute Solita in CI) is anything but here, playing Adriana, the wastrel paid by the
evil Gloria to torture and torment Victoria in the reformatory and who, upon
learning of her provenance, decides to usurp her identity. Jorge Poza (who if
he's a “glass half empty” kind of guy is probably dreading that he might be
getting typecast or, if he's a “glass half full” kind of guy, is probably
thrilled that he's apparently going to be continuing to work a lot) is the slime
bag in charge of the Santibañez estate and inherent millions, and token male
villain.
Apart from them…well,
a Nathallie Lartilleux favorite, Rene Strickler, is also here, as are Jorge
Aravena, Juan Pablo Gil, and Eva Cedeno and Natalia Guerrero. Natalia, at age
of 29 must be THRILLED to be playing Paulina Goto's BIRTH MOTHER). ANNNNND…I
guess because they're realizing that they shot themselves in the foot not
having an evil matriarch in the story (Sra. Dosamantes's classist behavior
beside-the-point), the grand Helena Rojo has recently joined the cast as Sr.
Palacios's, apparently, very evil mother. I'm excited!!
àThat path
to happiness, by the way, is one Victoria is running to, quite literally. Paulina
Goto (who did so well under Sra. Lartilleux's tutelage in UCHED, which was her very first protagonista role) is Victoria, who
dreams of being an Olympic runner. Her path will not be an easy one (of course,
what kind of story would this be if it were??), nor has it been since birth,
seeing as she was born to Cecelia, a young single woman from a wealthy family,
who was forcing her to give up her baby. Wanting her baby to have the best life
imaginable, she decides to grow a pair, tells her family to get stuffed, and
will raise the baby happily on her own, but after a few days left her at the
gate of the most magnificent hacienda around, in the hopes that they would take
her in. Well, someone did, but it was not who the young mother had in mind. For
it was not a rich Santibañez, but a humble servant, Chencha, the nanny to the
infant son, Andrés, of the lady of the house. Chencha names the baby Victoria, sure
that her life will be full of victories, raises her with love, joy and support
(but no money, natch).
Uh oh! Here's
trouble brewing! The evil hacienda owner, the tyrannical and despotic,
impossibly rich Gloria Santibañez, hates and resents little Victoria's presence
in her hacienda (so why she didn't just fire Chencha and kick them both to the
curb I don't quite understand, but never mind…we're glad she didn't), and even
MORE so because, as her own son develops under the care of his beloved nanny
Chencha, Victoria develops along with it. The two children grow up together
with a bond as thick as any blood. Indeed, Gloria's son, Andrés, loves Victoria
with all his little heart, something which doesn't diminish as the two approach
their teens. To rid herself of Victoria (again, why didn't Gloria just can
Chencha? Does Andrés really still need a nanny at 14? It's not like Gloria
works or anything…never mind, again), Gloria has Victoria arrested unjustly in
order to get her out of the hacienda and away from her and Andrés, and has her
thrown into a juvenile reformatory. Life is terrible there, she is away from
her beloved mother and has nowhere to run (over the fence never came to mind).
She keeps her dream alive through daily visits from her soulmate, Andrés, and
by listening to a daily radio show of the motivating and enigmatic Raul de la Peña.
One show particularly affected Victoria without really knowing why, was the
show when Raul's guest was a woman who was forced to give up her baby and has
regretted it ever since. Andrés, living her plight along with her, decides to study
to become a lawyer to help Victoria gain her freedom. Then, on the cusp of her
18th birthday, when she is due to be released from the youth reformatory, the
wicked Gloria uses her money, power, and influence to ensure that Victoria
isn't released, but instead is sent to adult jail. She succeeds in doing this,
but not content with that, Gloria arranges for evil low-life’s who resent the
girl's spirit to torture her, make her life a living hell by trying to set her
on fire and other fun stuff like that. Eventually, the determined Andrés does
become the lawyer he always wanted to be, and succeeds in winning Victoria her
freedom. And so, for Victoria, now,
finally, her life can actually begin.
Hey! That's
episode ONE. Seriously. That's what happens just in episode ONE. Isn't that
grand? For whatever it's worth, I love stories like that for one reason and one
reason only—no one could ever accuse of being dull. :-) Anyway, we're about 30
capitulos into this one in Mexico, and it's great, chaotic fun.
PRODUCTION #3 – EN TIERRAS SALVAJES –
PRODUCER: SALVADOR MEJIA
**Broadcast debut
July 31, 2017 in Mexico** It’s tentatively scheduled to follow Enamorandome de Ramón there.
Salvador Mejia's
next production is probably looming on your horizon, which I say only because
it's already started south of the border, and is doing quite well. It's called En Tierras Salvajes and with it, after
two huge meh's with “Lo Mediocre” (AKA, Lo
Imperdonable), and “Las Am-I-Really-Watching-This?” (AKA Las Amazonas), Sr. Mejia is trying to go
back to the same sweeping, grand, epic kind of storyline that brought him his
last huge success in Fuego en la Sangre. [ed.
note: Anita and most of Caray who watched it would be coughing to suppress the
guffawing at the mention of FELS. The
best that can be said of FELS--it was
hilarious camp.] This story, and full points here, is an original from the same
writers, Ramón Campos and Gema R. Neira, that gave Spain its two biggest
telenovelas in recent years (Grand Hotel
and Velvet). The story revolves
around three brothers (notice any similarities?). Actually, it revolves around
the family of the three grown brothers of the Otero family. The eldest is the
successful big businessman, a typical Alpha male, and a take charge kinda guy (so,
of course, I think he's an asshole. Actually, he is.) He is Anibal, played by
Diego Olivera. [ed. note: How sad for those of us who remember him in Montecristo and Mujeres de Negro.) The
second brother, Daniel, is a rough, virile, handsome, savage, man-of-the-earth
type of guy, the kind who hardly ever wears a shirt, chops wood even when it's
90 degrees outside and there's no reason to, hardly ever wears a shirt, gets in
fights to defend the honor of—whomever, hardly ever wears a shirt, scowls a
lot, has no manners or social graces to speak of, hardly ever wears a shirt,
doesn't really have much use for other people, doesn't fit in with society as
people don't quite “get” him, and hardly ever wears a shirt. He's played by Cristián de la Fuente (on
loan, apparently, from Gold's Gym and <shock> had a small role in FELS).
The youngest is gorgeous, sweet, idealistic, adorable, gentle,
attentive, and well-meaning, butterflies follow him everywhere, fluffy kittens
fall out of his mouth whenever he speaks, and is generally speaking filled with
nothing but goodwill, hope, dimples, best wishes, gentle smiles, sweetness,
light, happiness, and May. This is Sergio, played by Horacio Pancheri's awesome
jawline, Horacio Pancheri's dreamy blue eyes, and Horacio Pancheri (Dr. Dreamy
in UCHED and briefly in ECDLP).
The casting
director certainly reached for the highest stars, and got them for the parents
of these boys. We have a gentle, kindly, "I love my family and want
everybody to be happy and get along" type of Daddy (Cesar Evora at his
teddy-bearish) and an arrogant, controlling, snooty, cunning, imperious, and
vindictive, "I love my family and am fiercely protective of making sure
none of the unwashed shall penetrate it" type of Mommy (Daniela Romo,
sporting unfortunate bleached blonde hair, but only in the very front. Wassup
w/that??) in classic, vintage, “Daniela Romo—capital B” nasty bitch mode.
For supporting
cast, we have a walking advertisement for Ninel Conde's plastic surgeon, Ninel
Conde, playing Carolina (in an important sympathetic supporting role), Lisardo,
our big main male villain, Martha Julia, as an antagonista in league with
Daniela Romo for her own reasons, and Ximena Herrera (whose only actual acting
credit so far is as a tertiary character in the fifth season of an adolescent
show called Francisco el Matematico,
but is quite famous for being a talk-show host and reality tv star—and for
whatever it's worth—just writing that made me hate life a bit) here as the main
nasty-slut villana, Olga.
I'd also like to
bring up something about this one--I actually feel quite bad for producer
Mejia. Mainly because the network is just such a piece of hypocritical shit
that it's not funny. You see, poor Sr. Mejia doesn't need much help to turn one
of his works into a fracaso non pareil (if you'll forgive me for combining
languages) and I know he had high hopes for this BIG production (as it harkens
back to FELS and is also about 3
brothers in a vast and sprawling tale, wild landscapes, a huge ensemble cast
playing pretty much all of the telenovela archetypes, etc., etc.). Well, less
than two weeks before it was due to air, Sr. Mejia went public about the “challenges”
that the network presented to him and his team, making apparently COUNTLESS
last-minute demands and changes while still keeping him to the same schedule.
This may not
sound so bad, but if your production is already well into filming and the
network comes to you and says…well, let me just re-enact what the network said,
"Okay, Sal, great. This En Tierras
Salvajes, it's good, we're really pumped about it. How's filming going?
You're like, what, a month, a month-and-a-half into filming already? That's just
great, I'm glad it's going well. Hey, we at the network were talking. I know
you said you wanted to make this a dramatic production for adults, but we want
to bring in the millennials. They don't want to watch Cesar Evora or Daniela
Romo or anybody like that. They want YOUNG people. So we want you to write in
two totally new characters, young kids, maybe give one of the characters a son
or daughter, or suddenly orphaned niece, or some kid that somebody was
mentoring that's suddenly without parents, who cares? Then write in a love interest for them. Give
another main character a brother or sister just back from boarding school or
some such shit. Then write a MAJOR storyline for them. Make it just as
important as the ones that you're doing, give them just as much screen time as
everybody else because…well, you know those millennials! Ha ha. Anyway, they'll
probably have to interact with the other characters too, somehow, so just have
your writers come up with a few scenes showing these two new characters
mingling with the ones you've got, and then figure out how you can get their
main storyline—whatever it's going to be—into the one you've got. Just sandwich them in somewhere, but make it
seamless, ok? Hey, I guess there will probably have to be some conflict for
them to go through, right? I guess you'll have to invent another character or
two, some kind of love triangle, or illness, or some such shit. I dunno, have
your writers figure something out. That's what we pay you guys for, right? <Yuk,
yuk, yuk!> Oh, and by the way, no extensions on that deadline so you guys
had better get to it. And, while you're at it, we want you to take out the
scene where that woman gets raped, don't even bring it up. Figure out some
other way for her to be traumatized and for the audience to get that the guy's
an asshole. Actually, you should get rid of that whole plotline about spousal
abuse—or any kind of gender-based physical abuse, 'cuz we don't want to piss
off any domestic violence rights groups! What's that? That was a major part of
your storyline? Well, you'll figure something out, that's what you get paid
for! Don't forget about that deadline
too, by the way. Oh yeah, and you can't
have that storyline where a woman gets involved with a man-of-the-cloth, so
scrap all those scenes. And, we see that ‘protection rackets’ are a part of
your story too—we saw some of those scenes that you shot, they look great, but,
yeah, we don't want protection rackets being brought up either, so take them
out too. Okay! Sal, baby! It was great
talking to you, you'd better get back to work now—that clock keeps on ticking!
Peace out, Sal... and hey, give Nathalie a kiss for me, will ya??"
Yup. That's what
they did to Salvador Mejia and En Tierras
Salvajes. I think it's disgraceful. Perhaps some sort of magic will happen
and it will be the production of our dreams, but I find it rather ominous that
producer Mejia went public with all of this since filming was almost finished and
was just about to air. It seems kind of like an apology in advance, which I
find sad, and can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for him, his
crew, and (perhaps most especially) his writing team.
Anyway, Emmanuel
Palomares (recently as José in Mujeres de
Negro and who even I, as a guy, will confess to finding absolutely
stunning. He and Irina Baeva were novios
for a while and I don't think it would be possible to find a more physically
perfect couple) is the youth protagonist, Uriel (and yup, he's a ranch hand)
and Nerea Camacho (star of La Esclava Blanca)
is the youth protagonista, Alejandra (and, yup, she's a niece to the Oteros).
Actually, I gotta
tell you guys about something rather unique and interesting that happened to
young Sr. Palomares as he was making the rounds with his fellow cast members
promoting the show. He and some of his fellow cast members, were supposed to go
on the, gratingly annoying, live morning TV talk show (is there any OTHER kind
of live morning TV talk show??), the hugely popular "Hoy." So they
went on and everything was going swimmingly…until poor Sr. Palomares got
accidentally ELECTROCUTED by something ON SET, knocking him unconscious and
sending him to the hospital with both 2nd degree burns and a severe concussion.
Yikes. I hope they pay him well.
àThe drama
starts when Big Shot eldest brother brings his betrothed to the sprawling
family property, as doctors have recommended that she get out of the city and
spend some time in the country to alleviate her respiratory problem (she gets
severe asthma attacks…does anybody else see an inevitable scene where evil
mother-in-law or inevitable slutty villana withholds her inhaler??). So Big
Shot fiancé wants to leave her and her lungs in the fine country air with his
family while he goes off to make still more money and sleep with his bimbo
mistress, Olga. So, seeing as these three brothers are NOT exactly
cookie-cutter versions of one another as in FELS,
you can probably imagine what's going to
happen when Sweet Young Thing fiancée
comes to stay at the family home. ("Boys! Boys! Stop FIGHTING over me! Oh my, what's a girl to DO??")
PRODUCTION #4 – CAER EN TENTACIÓN – PRODUCER: GISELLE GONZALEZ
**Scheduled for a
September 18, 2017 debut in Mexico** No idea when it will start in the U.S.
Sticking with
Argentinian remakes…let's talk about the most highly anticipated production of
the year. This is the next production by the producer who I really feel is
sorta the "Great Latina Hope" for the future of the Mexican/American
telenovela genre, Giselle Gonzalez, and one we should all be incredibly excited
about. This is a producer who has proven herself to be not only a worthy
successor to Carla Estrada, but also securely established herself as a true
Wunderkind in an industry dominated by an old guard. The woman has not had a failure, after
co-producing two telenovelas that were not given much stock by the network and
never heavily marketed, but were critically acclaimed and much loved by the
people who watched them (Alma de Hierro
and Para Volver a Amar), her first
work as sole Executive Producer, Yo No
Creo En Los Hombres, was likewise not given much attention by the network
in advance of it's airing.
It surprised
everybody's admittedly shamefully low expectations at the network (take THAT,
Rosy Ocampo!), that the telenovela seemingly came out of nowhere and became
something that just got stronger as it moved along. It developed a passionate
fan base, critics hailed it from its inception, and it was that rare thing
among telenovelas in that it never LOST ratings—not even a minor blip—a sign
that the producers and storywriters are doing their job. It was also was even
more popular in the American market on Univision, based on the ratio and
viewing-share (the percentage of people watching it in relation to its direct
competition), something that is INCREDIBLY important to the network, as it
helps them to determine a production’s export value into other markets. It
swept all but one of the "Favoritos del Publico” awards at that year’s
awards show, at a crucial time when the network was playing particular
attention to such things (as the next year would be the first one wherein the “Favoritos
del Publico” concept would become the ONLY awarding measure for the network). Expert
feedback from other networks was nothing but positive as well. After this, to
show their inherent lack of decency and general soullessness, the network, immensely
proud of itself, had Rosy say publicly that she, "…is so proud of how
Giselle is progressing or has grown as a director," statements which are
designed to establish hierarchy and one’s position in it, and everybody patted
themselves on the back for being part of a success for which they had, in fact,
nothing to do with.
Before we move forward, we'll take a short backward look at La Candidata, just finishing it's run here. All this was a
huge feather-in-the-cap for producer Gonzalez, of course, and good for you,
girl—she went with it--a new production, new story, new theme, new everything.
The network, biting their fingernails, told Rosy to give Gonzalez her go-ahead,
which Rosy (thinking along the lines of “if you give someone enough rope,
they'll hang themselves”), was happy to do so. This production became La Candidata. The network didn't know
WHAT the hell to do then, when the LC
pre-production got sucked into a very messy political election in Mexico by
parties who wanted to subvert it in whatever way would be in their best
interests (and anyone who's currently watching it would undoubtedly appreciate
the irony in that), but they LOVED all the free press it got them and this new
production.
Also helping
cement Producer Gonzalez's standings with the network (whereas a lesser
producer would have been reined in by Rosy and her Red Pen and/or Scissors long
ago) was another thing that also greatly surprised the network—the quality of
actors and artists that were approaching THEM about becoming involved in the
production, meaning that the usual “short lists” the producer would ultimately
be choosing from, were stacked with actors of the highest quality (generally
speaking, in regards to casting of major roles, not just the leads, producers, assistant
producers and the network each have short lists for the castings they wish to have
for important roles. The casting process entails auditioning everybody on each
of the wish lists and the Executive Producer ultimately makes the final call. An
additional note that's rather interesting in this process is itself somewhat
important in regards to behind-the-scenes activities because it can ultimately
aid, or hinder, an Assistant Producer’s career as this is one area where an Assistant
Producer is given equal opportunity in terms of the casting THEY submit to the
list of their boss’s or the network’s. Even though the ultimate decision lies
with the Executive Producer-Assistant Producer's, casting lists are paid close
attention to by the network, viewing it as something that gives them some
perspective as to who/what/where their tastes lie. Anyway, no one wanted to
walk away from or turn down a role in this new production. The network was
actively being approached by actors to ask if there was something that could be
done to help them get or land a particular role. This is why we have the
Mexican acting titans that comprise the cast of La Candidata (and who, I think justifiably, won the majority of
acting awards given out last year).
In spite of all
this, however, the network still tried to throw a wrench into its own
production. As the Mexican election drew nearer and the mud-slinging became
filthier, the network began to consider this production something of an
elephant in the room, as it were. So,
they demanded that Gonzalez slice the number of episodes to hasten the
production from the air—NOT because ratings were lousy, but just because they
were worried that due to the subject matter—politics and the corruption within,
it had become untenable. So, Producer Gonzalez was told WHILE PRODUCTION WAS
STILL GOING ON AND THE TELENOVELA WAS ALREADY AIRING to have her writers change
their story from what was supposed to have been 80 capitulos, down to around
60. It is to their immense credit AND a
testimonial to their talent that they sliced the story down to 61 capitulos and
it STILL managed to win the vast majority of the awards that year for
telenovelas in Mexico.
One of the things
I noticed about La Candidata was
that, in addition to the overarching main storyline and secondary storylines,
there are what could be called “themes.” I pointed out on one of the LC comment feeds recently about how each
of the WOMEN react to whatever events in their lives differ completely from her
counterparts—this was no coincidence.
With the MEN she focused not so much on the men themselves as a gender,
as she did their paternalistic roles. This all is occurring while the main
theme was going on, which was basically about the soullessness and general
f**ked-up-ness capable by people with unbridled power, and how they can use it
to GET them to that place of unbridled power, which, of course, having it, is
very easy for them to hide it from the rest.
Clearly, THAT
production fully met the network's expectations (I can not say “exceeded” too
often, because one can almost NEVER exceed what the network expects of anything)
in terms of acclaim, rating, and audience reaction. It is to LooneyVision’s
massive discredit (in my opinion) that their own response to the mess of the
American political system and the fallout and aftermath of its own Presidential
election, was to take the gutless way out and relegate it to the secondary
LooneyMás, in this way ignoring the elephant in the room, regardless of the
quality. AGAIN, the network patted itself on the back for the production’s
success, one that happened IN SPITE of its own machinations. So NOW, as far as
Televisa is concerned, Giselle Gonzalez is their GOLDEN GIRL!! So, upon her
revealing that she'd like to start her next project, they whisked Ignacio Sada
out of his second floor office as soon as they could to usher Sra. Gonzalez in
and give her the space to (they hope) do her thing.
And so she is.
This next production is to be called Caer
en Tentación, a new name from what it was originally to be called, Nadie Mas
en el Mundo. Interestingly, something that I think is a sign of how much faith
they're (deservedly) putting in Sra. Gonzalez's talent, is that in the network’s
promotional presentation to stockholders and whatever-other
interested-parties-involved about their upcoming programming, all of the
information they gave and even all of the footage that they used (meaning the
varying scenes that were shown) were actually from the Argentinian original,
because their new, Mexican version they were trumpeting wasn't even in
pre-production yet. The story is an adaptation of the Argentinian telenovela, Amar Después de Amar (what did I say
about them?) that aired not two years ago that was incredibly successful. So
there are high hopes for this one and I have no doubt that Sra. Gonzalez, her cast
and crew will succeed.
As for casting,
here are the Beckers, Raquel and Damián, played by Silvia Navarro and Gabriel Soto. Carolina Alvarado is Adriana
Louvier. Because of the star wattage, word got around the internet (FYI- if you
want to know anything about Mexican television, NEVER trust the internet. There
is so much of what Americans bandy about as being “Fake News” on Mexican blogs
and websites now reality doesn't even seem to exist anymore) that Jorge Salinas
(who had been campaigning hard for the role) had been cast. The rumors got so
loud that Giselle Gonzalez had to schedule an interview with Maxine Woodside to
say that, “NO! I have NOT decided on
Jorge Salinas, I haven't decided on ANYBODY!!” But she did say that Carlos
Ferro (for people who watched the wonderfully over-the-top, madcap Reina de Corazones on Telemundo he was the
loveable Laz with the puppy-dog eyes) had landed the role of Santiago. It will
be Sr. Ferro's first with the network, and it's a plum role to land. There will
be another network debut for this one, and a big coup as Erika de la Rosa, who
is Telemundo's undisputed top villana now that Catherine Siachoque and Maritza
Rodriguez have “aged” (I guess I should make that “was” their top villana, now
that she's working with Televisa in this production), has been cast in an
important, villainous role of the lawyer who agrees to take on the case of the
cuckolded, working-stiff Santiago, against the wealthy and mighty Beckers, even
though there's no way he could ever afford her services (she has something else
in mind…not necessarily what you’re thinking).
In regards to the
Beckers, Raquel not only has this to deal with regarding her husband (he’s 1-brain dead,
2-a cheater and 3-a liar), but what he left behind. Namely, his successful
business. Oh! Did I mention that Damián
ran that business with his mother, a hard, unfeeling, unsmiling, cold-as-ice
woman who doesn't like anything in life and likes Raquel even less AND his
cousin, who is the apple of his aunt's eye and a man who can do no wrong. Who
cares if he's a wholly and totally amoral rat and scoundrel. Now, the next two
major roles (and I can pretty much guarantee that nobody will like either of
them), are to be played by the veteran actress Julieta Egurrola and Arath de la
Torre. One would be forgiven for wondering why producer Gonzalez did not cast
the role of the horrid matriarch with the wonderful Rosa Maria Bianchi, her
favorite actress for roles such as these (the truly evil Ursula Santibañez in YNCELH) and who has worked with Producer
Gonzalez since her very first steps into the world of production (Locura de Amor in 2000). For Bianchi’s
situation and all the others caught in the 'elder cleansing' Rosy is doing at
Televisa, review my comments in Part I. In Sra. Bianchi's case, her exclusivity
agreement was terminated after 30 years of service.
In terms of other
names of note that might be of interest to you all, Ela Velden, whose career trajectory
seems to be placing her firmly in line to be, eventually, one of the networks “heroinas
absolutas.” She was “second heroina,” Gianna, sister to the lead in Muchacha Italiana Viene a Casarse and
Fernanda, best friend to the lead in the 2nd etapa of A Que No Me Dejas, and just finished her first “MAIN heroina” role
in Despertar Contigo. She is cast in
the youth protagonista role of the Beckers daughter. Luz Ramos (who was just
the lead in the recent biopic of Jenni Rivera (Su Nombre era Dolores) is also here. Anna Ciocchetti (a name
perhaps unfamiliar to many of you, but was a major character in one of the most
important novelas in the history of the genre, 1996's Nada Personal, where she was the evil and corrupt Elsa Grajales) is
also part of the cast. Two actors are coming from Producer Gonzalez's previous
productions, Adalberto Parra (Mauro in LC
and Jacinto in YNCELH), and Sonia
Franco (Ivana in YNCELH). Also, though
I don't know what kind of role he's going to be playing and I know he's a
favorite of some of you here, so I should also mention that Pierre Louis (Jorge
in the currently airing EdR and Paolo
in DQTQTQ, and who should be proud of
himself for being one half of the only good thing about TSTSNBN. For new
readers, that stands for “The Show That Shall Not Be Named” (AKA La Gata), Lartilleux’s doomed romance
between poor, blind, Virginia and the sweet waif street-kid Centavito (where he
was, of course, Centavito). This one
really should be a fantastic novela.
Caer en Tentación has one DEFINITE theme in and around which (following
what Gonzalez did in La Candidata)
everything will happen. This theme is infidelity. The story consists of two
couples (with equal billing), who in spite of being of relatively different
social classes are very good friends. The one couple, Damian and Raquel are
upper class, the husband running the family business with his mother (who's the
type of person who probably came out of the womb imperious, cold, and stern),
but very successful, very healthy, down-to-earth, NICE people. The other
couple, the Alvarados, Santiago and Carolina, are decidedly lower-brow, decent,
hard-working, scrappy, blue collar stiffs with big hearts. The two couples met
some time ago at a school function (the children of each family go to the same
school) and have been good friends ever since.
àThe story
begins with a deadly car accident—a couple driving down the road gets in a
hideous, terrible wreck, the car totaled. The man is alive but remains comatose, the woman is presumed dead, even though her body hasn't been found. They
are identified as Damián Becker & Carolina Alvarado, and the investigation
reveals that they were NOT, of course, husband and wife, they were lovers. [
ed. note: Hmm does this sound like the beginning of Abismo?] The story is presented simultaneously, side-by-side, the
one dealing with the present, as EVERYBODY involved in the lives of these two
people (meaning their direct family members, friends, etc.), must deal with
this new reality of NOT just their respective deaths, but the fact that they
were lovers carrying on an affair with one another, along with the criminal
investigation that is going on to determine not only what happened, but what
became of the woman's body. The other
scenario takes us to that past, wherein the couples meet and their friendship
and relationship develop, showing us the realities that led us to where we are
now. Eventually, as the story progresses, both of these story lines, the one detailing
their past, the other their present, converge and the story continues from
there.
There are all kinds of other storylines going on as well—the
investigative team AND the legal teams (because, of course, lawyers ALWAYS
inevitably get involved) each with their stories going on, in addition to how
they become entangled in the main storyline, pretty much ALL of them involve
SOME aspect of infidelity (and, by the way, I don't in ANY way mean simply
marital infidelity). What are the ways one can be unfaithful? It could be
argued that open relationships are an example of infidelity, but it's okay when
both parties are alright with it. The
same could be said for couples that are “swingers,” yet the two are different,
and, of course, the end results might be completely different from each example
to the next. Then, of course, we have all the examples of infidelity that ARE
ultimate betrayals. What? Why? How could they? This story shows us all
different ways this happens, and which may evoke different responses from us. It
could be argued that sexual predators, in addition to being monstrous, are ALSO
unfaithful. They are unfaithful to the moral and human code that dictates that
one human being will NOT prey on and use another. There IS one of those in this
story, but by no means think of that term as necessarily being the violent
rapist or molester that one normally thinks of when that term is used. [ed.
note: Anita says wow, bring it on!]
PRODUCTION #5 – PAPÁ A
TODA MADRE – PRODUCER: EDUARDO MEZA
**Scheduled for
debut October
23, 2017 in Mexico** Tentatively to follow Mi
Marido Tiene Familia.
Papá a Toda Madre, I believe, is being marketed along the lines of a
“comedy-drama,” ideally both, and hopefully not neither!!. This is Eduardo
Meza's first as Executive Producer, having played Smithers to Rosy Ocampo's Mr.
Burns for almost 20 years (if you will forgive The Simpsons reference). It's being marketed as more of a romantic
style “drama-dy” or perhaps “com-a” than…well, the other kinds (whatever they
are). Considering that the main plot revolves around an eternal bachelor
(Sebastian Rulli) who suddenly finds himself the single father to an adorable,
precious, isn't-she-cute, bless-her-heart 6 (-ish)-year-old moppet who suddenly
presents herself to him as his daughter. It shouldn't surprise anyone that this
is being aired in the timeslot that seems as if Lord High Ocampo et al. would
like to designate as “family novela hour.”
Actually, I mentioned that Sebastian Rulli's storyline is the main plot,
but the overarching theme of this novela is, in fact, fatherhood, as it will
focus on the lives of four separate and distinct fathers (actually, five, but I'll
explain that in a minute), and whatever their situations may be.
Regarding our
male lead, Sr. Rulli and the producer have gushed about how this production is
going to show everyone an entirely new and "different" Rulli. I have
no clue what that means (36DD breast implants, perhaps?... lol... can you
IMAGINE??), but there ya go. Anyway, as I mentioned above, there are other,
parallel, father plotlines along with Sr. Rulli's. They will be played by Juan
Carlos Barreto (who, after his evil Mario in La Candidata, probably took the role to show the audience that he's
actually a nice human being) as an older man who falls in love with a young and
beautiful model and who likewise finds himself suddenly facing another, yet
different, aspect of fatherhood. The other two I'm not quite sure what their
storylines will be, but they will be played by Raul Araiza (returning to telenovelas
after a 7 year absence (he was lastly the villain Beto in Un Gancho al Corazon), Raul
Coronado (most recently Miguel on Vino el
Amor) and—this is cool—Sergio Mur, a name unfamiliar to many of you, but
anyone who watched the fabulous Reina de
Corazones on Telemundo will remember him as Fernando San Juan, “El Supremo”/Patricio
Picasso/Gregorio Pérez (the incredibly tall, swarthy, dashing, Spaniard with
the beard).
On the ladies' side—the
leading lady, well, this is where it got sketchy (yet hopefully the sketchiness
is over for the time being). The short answer is Maite Perroni, but there's
some back-sketchiness here. Esmerelda Pimentel (Lucia in El Color de la Pasión and currently Fabiola in Enamorándome de Ramón) HAD signed on to be the leading lady which,
considering that I think she does “adorable” better than anyone else in the
genre today (in spite of this, I actually like her), would be perfect casting. HOWEVER…
just recently, Pimentel ditched the production to sign on to be the lead in a
brand new Univision studio-produced (a la La
Piloto) production, which is a role that suddenly became available when the
producers decided to do a really cruel, mean, horrible, and shady thing to
Altair Jaraibo (more on that in a minute). So, Maite Perroni, who HAD been
lobbying hard for the lead in Angelli Nesma Medina's next production of Me Declaro Culpable (more on that one in
a minute as well), lost out to Angelique Boyer (who subsequently backed out of
THAT production entirely, in the "Clash of the Titans" she had with
Rosy Ocampo that I mentioned in Part I).
ANYWAY…in spite of Srta. Boyer backing out of a role that apparently was
between her and Maite Perroni in the Angelli Nesma Medina production, it STILL
wasn't given to Srta. Perroni, going instead to Mayrin Villanueva (Ouch!). So
the lead in this one must be a nice consolation prize for Maite.
Joining her on
the female side of things will be Veronica Jaspeado (most recently as Sonia in Vino el Amor) in a major role (I think
she must be the model character to Juan Carlos Barreto because all pictures of
her for this production show her alarmingly bleached blonde and glamorous), Michelle
Gonzalez (most recently Marcia on La Candidata),
and a big name from TV Azteca, Ana La Salvia (in Siempre Tuya Acapulco and Destino,
to name two recent ones) will have a major role as Dulce. She will be the wife of our evil villain, played
by Mark Tacher (I guess he’ll be representing the “bad” father side of things
and the fifth father I mentioned above), as well as being Sebastian Rulli's
character's supposed best friend.
Of course,
there can't be a tv show about an adorable, precious, isn't-she-sweet,
bless-her-heart moppet without said moppet, and I was really quite amused at
the fact that, for a time, producer Meza in press interviews, actively shilled
for all of the Latina Mama Roses to bring their little Gypsys from wherever in
the country they may live "…to the open casting call, next Saturday,
starting at 9:00 AM inside the Lomas de San Angel Inn at 287 Calle Antiguo
Camino Acapulco, right near Televisa itself." For anybody who might be curious, this was
what was put out there for us members of the general public to let us know what
they were looking for:
"All girls
must be between 5 to 8 years old, measure between 1.05 to 1.15 meters in
height, be joyful, charming, and delightful, and have a definite feel and
interest in the vocation" (adjectives NOT mine). The winner was
little 7-year-old Regina Graniewicz, who beat out apparently massive amounts of
competition. She certainly looks like an appropriately adorable, precious,
isn't-she-sweet, bless-her-heart type of moppet. But, the big question is, will
she be joyful, charming and delightful enough? I have added a link to a picture
of young Srta. Graniewicz and judge for yourselves. https://img.playbuzz.com/image/upload/c_crop,h_1280,w_960,x_0,y_0/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/c_limit,w_640/v1502360184/pbjpcjbbrs4ifyf6jvib.jpg
END Part IIA
Labels: candidata, mimarido, proximas, ramon
Comments:
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Thanks, Stevey and Anita!
Wow. I never thought I could feel sorry for Mejia before, but that's just the kind of interference that no one needs. And Televisa seems to pull stunts like that on their producers all the time. (I don't know for sure that they do, but often it seems as though plots or pacing change unexpectedly and I would assume that to be the cause.)
Wow. I never thought I could feel sorry for Mejia before, but that's just the kind of interference that no one needs. And Televisa seems to pull stunts like that on their producers all the time. (I don't know for sure that they do, but often it seems as though plots or pacing change unexpectedly and I would assume that to be the cause.)
Thanks for part 2 stevey,Anita.And lil
Regina looks adorable. Just like a little precious-sweety pie-bless her
Little heart whittle girl. I'll look forward to takin a peek at these series storyvelas.
Velas
Regina looks adorable. Just like a little precious-sweety pie-bless her
Little heart whittle girl. I'll look forward to takin a peek at these series storyvelas.
Velas
Permalink posted by 
: Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 10:41:00 PM EDT
: Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 10:41:00 PM EDT
Thanks, Stevey. This is a lot to digest.
So when will be seeing Jorge Salinas again? He's not 50 yet and still handsome and at least half the 20-something characters need parents in the story.
Millennials are probably not watching novelas much either because they think they're not cool or because they don't have the attention span. However, I would side with them if they argue that the character attitudes need updating. That never happens fast enough.
So when will be seeing Jorge Salinas again? He's not 50 yet and still handsome and at least half the 20-something characters need parents in the story.
Millennials are probably not watching novelas much either because they think they're not cool or because they don't have the attention span. However, I would side with them if they argue that the character attitudes need updating. That never happens fast enough.
Thank you Stevey, for all you do for us--
I, for one, am so impressed by his wide ranging, but in-depth knowledge he's willing to share with us. But where is everyone? Only 4 comments, so far?
I know Stevey gave us a lot to read and digest, but we need some other folks to stop by and thank him. He's put a lot of sweat and blood (well, time) into these updates and reviews.
I noted on the administrator's page that 99 people have already looked at it (and 214 for Part I), so I know you all are somewhere out there in the ether.
I, for one, am so impressed by his wide ranging, but in-depth knowledge he's willing to share with us. But where is everyone? Only 4 comments, so far?
I know Stevey gave us a lot to read and digest, but we need some other folks to stop by and thank him. He's put a lot of sweat and blood (well, time) into these updates and reviews.
I noted on the administrator's page that 99 people have already looked at it (and 214 for Part I), so I know you all are somewhere out there in the ether.
Thank you, Stevey, for all the information on upcoming telenovelas. Sorry this thanks is late...real life sometimes gets in the way...you know.
Permalink posted by : Wednesday, September 6, 2017 at 9:19:00 PM EDT
: Wednesday, September 6, 2017 at 9:19:00 PM EDT
Hi everybody! I wanted to thank anybody who's come by to read this, and most especially those of you who have left your thoughts and comments. Anita, I can't thank you enough for your encouragement, both of myself and in your attempts to lead people to leave their two cents. I am buoyed by the number of people who have at least attempted to look at it. Hell, if this website were to be one designed to hopefully make money for our dear Blog Mom Jane, as opposed to one that she does out of love (for which I think we all are eternally grateful), 99 page views would be pretty impressive! I hope that of the people that bothered to look at it, they weren't put off by the admittedly daunting length of it all... they say that we're becoming more of a 'quick fix' or 'microwave' society, and unfortunately I've never figured out how to adapt to that! To this day, the four letters of the English language (apart from 'hate', of course) that I despise the most would be the acronym "TLDR" ("too long, didn't read")... perhaps because I seem to encounter them so often. :-(
Anyways, I recognize that, to me, 'brevity' might as well be a four letter word, and I apologize to anybody if my natural tendency towards long-windedness might have put anybody off. Thanks to everybody for your indulgence, however, and I welcome and look forward to any thoughts, questions, comments, or input that any of you may have.
My continued best wishes to you all! :-)
Anyways, I recognize that, to me, 'brevity' might as well be a four letter word, and I apologize to anybody if my natural tendency towards long-windedness might have put anybody off. Thanks to everybody for your indulgence, however, and I welcome and look forward to any thoughts, questions, comments, or input that any of you may have.
My continued best wishes to you all! :-)
Stevey, having chosen to recap "Mi marido tiene familia" I especially enjoyed your information and your quick review of Osorio's previous work. Thanks for advertising our little patio. After getting burned with "Sueño de amor", I never thought I would watch another Osorio production but "Mi marido . . ." is so different and just as you described it. I am glad I took a chance on it. One adjective that keeps coming to mind is "charming". You couldn't get a better cast, either. Now back to see what is on the horizon!
Its Ximena Romo in En Tierra Salvajes as Olga,Ximena Herrera was in Mujeres de negro and as Araceli in Hasta El Fin Del Mundo...Caer En Tentancion sounds fantastic,been following the whole deal on social media...i also follow El Vuelo too,the pairing of Palacios and Goto is garnering good audience...Papa a toda madre has stunning galans like Rulli,Tacher and my personal fav Sergio Mur who played El Supremo Laura Flores's love interest in Reina de Corazones...people seem to think the pairing of Perroni and Rulli is a big deal,lets see how that goes
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