Friday, January 31, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Controlling Mothers, Part II

Maternal Monsters, Part II

There are way more of these than perhaps any other female villain because they can play so many cards in the game of control. Guilt, money, religion; even sex isn't exempt from their repertoire in their attempts to control their teen or adult children. I was hoping to compile another Dirty Dozen, but some of these are so spectacularly evil it just couldn't wait. Please provide any more details if you can.
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Friday, January 17, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Censorship, the Plague (Revisited)

Anthony Comstock, Father of Modern Censorship

Note: This is a revised version of the article published here about a year ago.

What's the Point?

We complain about it all the time among ourselves. We should be complaining to the networks about this.

About eight years ago I heard this subject covered on Anderson Cooper's program in which comments were made about the body heat being generated before Mexican and other Hispanic TV cameras on our favorite shows. The news team was wondering why the English-language networks were being raked over the coals and submitted to the rack to censor programs of this salacious material while the Univisions and Telemundos were being left alone. No answer was forthcoming and I don't recall them taking the subject very seriously, but I took this seriously enough to call a VP at Univision to let her know about it. I found the transcript of the broadcast online and sent the link to her with a cover note. After she read the page she let me know that nothing is going to interfere with the content of the programs. No te preocupes.
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Friday, December 13, 2013

Weekend Discussion: Controversial Subjects


Tuesday's capitulo of Lo Que La Vida Me Robó provoked over 100 comments regarding the marital rape scene that echoed Gone With the Wind in many respects [GWTW's scene is still being debated today]. This may not have been the ideal way for the writers to handle the wedding night of our flawed but otherwise sympathetic protagonists, but a lot of bytes are being seriously inconvenienced in internet postings from viewers debating all the same hypotheses and issues we raised on Wednesday morning.

Which – por supuesto – is always good for ratings.

Several other series have provoked discussion in the last few years over other highly controversial actions and interactions:
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Friday, January 25, 2013

Weekend Discussion: Censorship, the Plague


What's the Point?

We complain about it all the time among ourselves. We should be complaining to the networks about this.

Seven or eight years ago I heard this subject covered on Anderson Cooper's program in which comments were made about the body heat being generated before Mexican and other Hispanic TV cameras on our favorite types of shows. The news team was wondering why the English-language networks were being raked over the coals and submitted to the rack to censor programs of this salacious material while the Univisions and Telemundos were being left alone. No answer was forthcoming and I don't recall them taking the subject very seriously, but I took the attention seriously enough to call a VP at Univision to let her know about it. I found the transcript of the broadcast online and sent the link to her with a cover note. After she read the page she let me know that nothing is going to interfere with the content of the programs. No te preocupes.

However, what she couldn't predict at that moment has happened: Gringos are getting interested in these programs to the degree that overall ratings are being affected. The U.S. Broadcast of the finale of Alborada was the highest-rated television program in the country. That's a combination of a number of factors:
  • Friday night tends to be a sleeper time slot for English-language television
  • Fewer Spanish-language networks means less fragmentation among the perceived potential viewers
  • Gringos are getting more interested in telenovelas because of the exciting stories and hot actors. For Univision and Telemundo, those viewers are more salsa on the taco.
So... it's possible that the moral watchdogs in the U.S. have decided to attack these programs or the networks themselves are trying to head this off at the pass.

In recent times we have seen examples of silly edits in love scenes that make no sense to those of us who have seen the entire scenes in their previous broadcasts. In the original broadcast of Telemundo's Pasión de Gavilanes we saw a long shot of the naked Oscar lying on top of Ximena through the eyes of her sister from the top of the waterfall; in the rerun a year later this shot was replaced with a duplicate of an earlier kissing scene. In Televisa's Fuego en la Sangre the skinny-dipping scene between Franco and Rosario was edited to remove shots of (oh, the horror!) side views of her boobage and a skinny-dipping scene two episodes later that showed the bare bums of the Reyes brothers was digitally censored to blur out the details without removing any actual footage.

PdG's original broadcast time was 7PM EST; FELS was at 9PM EST. How ridiculous was this censorship?

We've seen more recent examples that make just as little sense as these. Amor Bravío has not been immune and will continue to be hit with this.

Sound off, amigos.

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Friday, July 27, 2012

Weekend Discussion: The Wedding Album, Volume 1


The Wedding Album, Volume I

Since I don't come from a large family I've attended more telenovela weddings than real ones. Most of my married friends had modest celebrations (including a lunchtime City Hall ceremony and the couple went back to work) so live weddings have not been a regular experience for me. Is that why I enjoy the wedding scenes beyond the “felices para siempre” element of the story?

No matter; when one is addicted to telenovelas as we are, we get to see lots of weddings. What baffles me is that finding stills of ones that are not in the finale is not easy for earlier productions. Having said that, here are some excellent wedding photos from Televisa's dream factory:

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Friday, July 13, 2012

Weekend Discussion: Telenovela Villains -- More Parental Toxicity


Dirty Dozen #2: Toxic and Controlling Fathers

The other side of toxic parenting is the Controlling Father. While his female counterpart typically controls through guilt or other forms of emotional blackmail, he typically controls through the purse strings, sometimes also with keys and locks; insults and emotional blackmail are often his last resort. Most are wealthy and powerful, some are insecure and merely selfish, and some still are perverse.  Not as common as the Controlling Mother and usually less deadly, but perversion can compensate for that.  Some of these are candidates for redemption, although most usually pay the ultimate price.

It is rather surprising also, that this is the province of specialists and there are fewer actors cast in these series-length roles than for controlling mothers.  Why do you think this is?  I think it must be the deep voices.

Who is the most evil of them all?

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Weekend Discussion: The Healers

Despite all the medical misinformation we get in novelas, we do get some good doctors who fight for their patients' well-being.  Herewith are examples:

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Thursday, October 06, 2011

Alborada, 10/6/2011. Cap. 91. Asi es, y asi será

Today's episode is covered in the second part of Melinama's Recap #36, The Finale, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 90 start at this link. Apparantly the original Cap 90 was spread over yesterday and today.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures.





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They grow up so fast, don't they?





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El padre y el hermano





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Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Alborada, 10/5/2011. Cap. 90. Penultimo capitulo, part 2.

oday's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #36, The Finale, at this link. Tomorrow's will be in the same recap.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 90 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures.





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Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Alborada, 10/4/2011. #89, El penultimo capitulo

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #35, Thursday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 89 start at this link.

Carlos, you really outdid yourself today. That last picture is probably my favorite of the whole series.


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Monday, October 03, 2011

Alborada, 10/3/2011. Cap. 88

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #35, Wednesday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 88 start at this link. Be advised, the YouTube clips don't quite line up with what is broadcast.

Stunning pictures Carlos sent us today. Zowie!



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Friday, September 30, 2011

Alborada, 9/30/2011. Cap. 87

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #34, Tuesday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 87 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures.

Paula's caption: Faithful to the end, Ramón's retriever never leaves his master's grave.

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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Alborada, 9/29/2011. Cap 86

So sorry, Folks. Our power was out all morning. I was tutoring through the afternoon, then had to sprint to the office to get bills out. This is the first I've been on line all day, and I'm not home yet.

The original recap is at this link. On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 86 start at this link. Thank you, Juanita, for posting it earlier.

Sorry that I couldn't even send you folks a quick note earlier.

Another great picture from our querido Carlos.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Alborada, 9/28/2011. Cap. 85

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #33, Thursday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 85 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures. Not only TBLMOE, but also our favorite comedy team, Han and Chewy.



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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Alborada, 9/27/2011. Cap. 84

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #33, Wednesday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 84 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures.



Julie's caption: "Why is everyone leaning at a 30 degree angle today?"

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Monday, September 26, 2011

Alborada, 9/26/2011. Cap. 83

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #32, Tuesday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 83 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures. The Japanese call that "fan service."

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Friday, September 23, 2011

Alborada, 9/23/2011. Cap. 82

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #32, Friday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 82 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures.


Julie's caption. Mirtha: "What do you mean, I'm too tall to be your flower girl? What if I scrunch down like this?"

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Alborada, 9/22/2011. Cap. 81

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #31, Friday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 81 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's pictures.

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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Alborada, 9/21/2011. Cap. 80

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #31, Thursday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 80 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's picture. I'm eager to see the comments it evokes.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Alborada, 9/20/2011. Cap. 79

Today's episode is covered in Melinama's Recap #31, Wednesday segment, at this link.

On YouTube, haguilar78's clips for Cap 79 start at this link.

Thank you, Carlos, for today's weighty pictures.


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