Friday, January 18, 2013
El Mundo de Telemundo (y mas) - Week of January 24 - Discuss among yourselves
Happy Martin Luther King Day! Great work by all the recappers on the various Telemundo and other network shows. As Pablo Escobar nears its end, I thought folks might enjoy this excerpt from a travel article in the New York Times today about two guys reporting on a trip to Medellín:
In the 1980s and early 1990s, you traveled to the largest cocaine-producing city in the world in the same manner that you lowered yourself into a tank of feral hogs: accompanied by either an insurance policy or a very porous concept of life expectancy. Then the home of the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, the city had its renown for cultivating prize orchids usurped by its ability to put the k in the word “traffick.”
As Michael Kimmelman
reported in this paper last year, the annual homicide rate in Medellín 20 years ago was 381 per 100,000. In New York City, this would come to more than 30,000 murders a year.
Mr. Escobar’s death at the hands of the police in 1993 did much to cool the fires. At first the changes were subtle; gang members reportedly started showing up at group therapy sessions; former hit men started taking guitar lessons. Then this city of 3.5 million was gradually graced with a series of improvements befitting its jewel-like setting in a lush valley surrounded by green mountains. Parks, libraries, museums and hotels were built. A gleaming metro system was completed in the mid-90s; in 2006 and 2008, gondolas providing service to the city’s hillside shantytowns were added, reducing what had been a two-hour trip down to a few minutes. Fernando Botero, a Medellín native, donated more than 1,000 pieces of his own and others’ art to the Museo de Antioquia. Birds, in short, began to twitter.
Eager to sample this new Medellín, I canvassed my loved ones for a traveling companion. Thinking his essential winsomeness would be the perfect litmus test for any chicanery or danger, I selected my puckish 24-year-old assistant, Ryan Haney, a heterosexual mama’s boy who sometimes refers to his knapsack as “my little bag.” I knew Ryan would want to run the idea past his mother, Angela; 24 hours later, we received her blessing.
Our first point of order was to take one of the several Pablo Escobar tours now offered in Medellín. Having heard that one operator’s Escobar tour ended in a conversation with Roberto Escobar in his living room (Roberto, Pablo’s brother, was the Medellín cartel’s accountant), I wrote to the company, but was told they were no longer working with Roberto Escobar, who they said now painted his brother as a hero. A second tour operator I contacted added that Roberto now claimed that his job for the Medellín cartel had been to design submarines. I ended up enlisting Juan Uribe, a warm, emphatic tour guide in his 60s who took us to four Escobar-related sites. We saw the apartment building where Mr. Escobar’s wife and bodyguards lived; the roof where he was gunned down by police; a neighboring roof the police used to remove his body (Mr. Uribe: “They needed a lower roof. He was very heavy then”); and Mr. Escobar’s grave.
Between sights, Mr. Uribe recounted how the drug lord started his career by stealing headstones from cemeteries and reselling them, and how he gradually widened his power base, even holding office in government at one point. Ryan took all the accounts of cocaine-fueled mayhem in his stride, but when we visited the grave in a lovely, elevated cemetery in the middle of town, I started to feel vaguely anxious. I asked, “There aren’t cameras anywhere that are recording us, are there?” Mr. Uribe smiled, then pointed at four spindly bushes next to Mr. Escobar’s grave and mused, “Microphones.”
Here is a link to the whole story:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/travel/i-just-got-back-from-medellin.html?hpw
Over to you!!
Labels: cartagena, diamante, mariposa, pablo, patrona, rostro, secretario, telemundo
Friday, January 11, 2013
El Mundo de Telemundo, Week of January 14, 2013
This past week we said goodbye to Corazón valiente and the
amazing recaps Novelera and Jean created over the long run of this popular, if
problematic, novela.
And if Lucero can play a feisty but well-endowed single mom
(in Televisa's Por ella, soy Eva), why not Aracely? Arámbula makes her Telemundo debut in Corazón's
replacement, La patrona, sharing the
spotlight with Telemundo favorite, Jorge Luis Pila. Add Christian Bach as the latest incarnation
of a diabolic güera of a certain age and let the soap bubble. Check out last week's page for Bill C.'s
clever and detailed account of the first episodes.
Rosa diamante ends January 21 to be followed by Pasión
prohibida on January 22.
Pablo Escobar is drawing to a close very soon.
El rostro de la venganza soldiers on. Meh.
MundoFox's La
Mariposa has an enthusiastic following but since the station is being
shown in a limited number of markets, not all of us have access to it. Too bad.
From the early episodes available on its official website, this novela
looks pretty exciting.
Telefutura has
reinvented itself as UniMás. Though not technically part of theTelemundo line-up, one of its new novelas,
Made
in Cartagena, has caught Hombre's attention and he has been writing
about it here.
This week you'll see a separate page posted for us -- an INDEX of all the shows we've discussed
since we started El Mundo de Telemundo
in November, 2010. I invite you to suggest additions or make corrections in the comments section of that page. I'll try to keep it updated so people can
find discussions of past novelas by the date our conversations and minicaps
were posted.
Okay, your turn.
Discuss amongst yourselves!
Labels: cartagena, diamante, mariposa, pablo, patrona, rostro, secretario, telemundo
Friday, January 04, 2013
El Mundo de Telemundo - week of January 10 - discuss among yourselves
Happy New Years Mundo-ites. Corazón Valiente is ending on Monday, Pablo Escobar and Rosa Diamante are in últimos capítulos so there will be a lot of changes in the coming weeks. If you want to keep the summaries coming for the new novelas, we need folks to volunteer. Over to you.
Labels: cartagena, diamante, mariposa, pablo, patrona, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Friday, December 28, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, Week of December 31, 2012
I hope all of you are enjoying the holiday
season. Happy New Year!
Let the conversations begin!Labels: diamante, mariposa, pablo, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Friday, December 07, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo - week of December 10 - Discuss among yourselves
Thanks for all the great recaps and comments! Keep it up.
Labels: diamante, mariposa, pablo, rostro, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Friday, November 30, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, week of 12/3/12: Discuss Amongst Yourselves
Here's a new page for the coming week. Enjoy!
Labels: diamante, elisa, pablo, rostro, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Saturday, November 24, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo - Week of November 26 - Discuss among yourselves
Here's the page for this week. Sorry this is late.
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Friday, November 16, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, Week of Thanksgiving 2012: Discuss Amongst Yourselves
What Telemundies
have to be thankful for:
Hombre de misterio
continues his impressive solo recapping of Pablo
Escobar while the beautifully crafted recaps of Novelera and Jean lead
us through the twists and turns of the telenovela that wouldn't die, Corazón Valiente. And where would we be without Deb's terrific comments on the whole
Telemundo lineup and especially her background information on the terrible
Escobar years in Colombia? Thank you so
much to the four of you -- and to everyone who comments here -- for keeping
this page lively over the past several months.
Rosa Diamante has
its fans too and Deb and Shallowgal, among others, update us now
and then on that show.
El rostro de la
venganza gets some attention here from time to time -- Thanks, Bill C, for your writeups -- but like
the orphaned Rosa, no one has really taken it on as a project.
A few cranky
observations:
On Pablo Escobar
I'm still watching Pablo
Escobar but I'm liking it less and less.
The historical facts are ghastly enough. Yet at times, the made-up
conversations cheapen the very real tragedy being portrayed. (Think of the
little girl on the plane who, gazing out at the clouds, tells her daddy they
are now close to her [dead] mother.)
Hombre, I apologize for not commenting very much on your
remarkable daily summaries. Please know
that I always read them and always appreciate them. I'm usually a day or two behind because I
record and watch when I have time.
So why am I watching this thing at all? I think I need to
see some kind of justice restored. I
want to see the fall of the bad guys and the end of this terrible chapter of
Colombia's history.
On El rostro de la
venganza
I watch this because it's only a half hour long and it comes
right after Pablo. While the underlying story is gruesome and at
times shockingly violent, the novela itself somehow manages to have no
emotional resonance at all. The dialogue
is endlessly recycled. We sit and watch our favorite beautiful people forming various
tableaux vivants. (If People
en español were a telenovela, this is the one it would be.) For me the only
real mystery is how they are going to manage the Presto Chango of Elizabeth
Gutiérrez into Marlene Favela. That
should be fun!
On Corazón valiente
Because of the way the evening telenovelas bleed over into
one another's time slot, my DVR catches the last two or three minutes of this
show. Almost every episode ends with a
cliffhanger that in another novela would mean últimas capítulos. Here it
just seems to mean "We'll keep this thing going as long as you keep
watching." I think Aurora (la princesa de hielo) tried to
do this too but not nearly as successfully.
Folks are watching more or less enthusiastically, so I guess the
production team is doing something right.
Anyway, I'm glad the talented Telemundo actors have work.
Your turn, amig@s. And a happy, healthy, warm, dry and safe
Thanksgiving to you all. Eat well and
not too wisely!
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, telemundo, valiente
Saturday, November 03, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, week of 11/5/12 -- Discuss Amongst Yourselves
A new page for your posting pleasure!
Labels: diamante, elisa, pablo, telemundo, valiente
Friday, October 26, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, week of 10/29/12: Discuss Amongst Yourselves
A new page for your posting delight -- enjoy!
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Friday, October 19, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo - Discuss among yourselves - Week of October 22
This week's posting for your comments. Enjoy!
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Saturday, October 13, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo - Week of 10/15/12: Discuss Amongst Yourselves
Here's your page for the coming week. The Telemundo evening shows were preempted tonight (Friday, 10/12) so there won't be any mini-recaps for
Corazón Valiente or
Pablo Escobar until Monday night or Tuesday morning. This is a good opportunity to chime in on some of the other shows that no one is recapping regularly but many people are still watching.
Have a great week, everyone!
Labels: diamante, elisa, pablo, rostro, telemundo, valiente
Friday, October 05, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo - Week of October 8 - Discuss among yourselves
Here you go! Another week with more great recaps and comments.
I doubt Miggy and FF will make it to Ushuaia. Here is a picture of the town in December, their spring.
Here is a picture of a place in Tierra del Fuego National Park...
where, for a modest fee, you can get you passport stamped with a "Fin de Mundo" stamp. This is where the Pan American Highway ends.
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, secretario, telemundo, valiente
Friday, August 24, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo - week of August 27 - Discuss among yourselves
Another page for our Telemundo novelas. Enjoy! I will be at the beach eagerly reading your posts.
Labels: diamante, pablo, telemundo, valiente
Friday, August 17, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, Week of August 20, 2012: Discuss Amongst Yourselves
A new page for you, folks. Have a great week!
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, telemundo, valiente
Friday, August 03, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, week of August 6, 2012: Discuss Amongst Yourselves
Here's a fresh page for our Telemundo community. Have a great week!
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, telemundo, valiente
Friday, July 27, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo - Week of July 30 - Discuss among yourselves
Greetings from Maine! While I eat lobsters and watch gorgeous sunsets, all hell is breaking loose on our novelas. Hombre is keeping us up to date on the increasingly violent world of Pablo Escobar while watchers of Corazón Valiente eagerly await the ramifications of the disclosure that Fernanda de Castillo, known to us as the Reptile, has murdered half the cast. Novelera and Deb are handling these developments while I am away. Finally, Shallowgal is providing some updates on Rosa Diamante. Take it away, commenters!
Labels: diamante, pablo, rostro, telemundo, valiente
Saturday, July 21, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, Week of July 23, 2012: Discuss amongst yourselves.
Here's a fresh page for your thoughts. Have a great week, everyone!
Labels: diamante, maid, pablo, rostro, telemundo, valiente
Friday, July 13, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo: Week of July 16 - Discuss among yourselves
¡Hola á todos! We're on a roll with three novelas: the two new ones - Rosa Diamante and Pablo Escobar and Corazón Valiente continues. Thanks to Novelera, Hombre de Misterio and Novela Maven for their recaps. Over to you.
Labels: diamante, maid, pablo, telemundo, valiente
Friday, July 06, 2012
El Mundo de Telemundo, Week of July 9, 2012 – Discuss Amongst Yourselves
Pablo Escobar: El Patrón del mal is set to begin this Monday at 10pm/9c and the good news is that our own
Hombre de Misterio has said he’ll be mini-capping it here (Yay!). Some of us won’t be watching because of the subject and I can understand that. But I’m curious to see how the writers treat this grim interlude in Colombia’s recent history. From the previews, it doesn’t look like they are planning to do much airbrushing.
I happen to be on the email list of the guy who sells “Learning Spanish Like Crazy”, Patrick Jackson. Patrick is an American-educated lawyer who grew up in Queens, New York and then moved to Colombia several years ago. Now he makes his living selling language learning products. Anyway, he lives in Medellin, the city that was, until only a few years ago, most closely associated with – and tainted by -- Pablo Escobar; and he mentioned in a recent email that many people on the street still think of Escobar as a hero who was out to help the common man. When Patrick challenged the myth and told these same folks about some of the more notorious bloodletting for which Escobar was responsible, they seemed surprised to hear it.
Well I hope the writers don’t show try to sell us a modern-day Robin Hood who loves his mami, his wife and his kids and is out to shake up the corrupt establishment and then goes a little too far. I guess we’ll know soon enough.
I do admit I have a weakness for the Colombian style of telenovela. While there is, of course, loads of trash out there, when the Colombians get it right, they get it spectacularly right – as writers and as actors – whether they’re doing drama, history or comedy. Let’s hope this is one of the good ones.
-------------
Telemundo is running promos for Rosa Diamante, starring Mauricio Ochmann, Carla Hernández and Lupita Ferrer (and featuring Sofía Stamatiades). The screen says it begins this Tuesday at 8:30pm/7:30c while the voice-over says “este verano”. So who knows. My cable provider isn’t yet listing the program.
The promos stress that this is a MEXICAN novela and imply that they actually invested a little money in making it. As you may recall, the story has an impressive pedigree (Perla Negra in Argentina, Perla in Mexico and Pérola Negra in Brazil.) I’m guessing that the decision to air it on the half-hour rather than the hour is a way of screwing with the competition.
--------------
I’m intrigued by the promos for El rostro de la venganza which is promised rather vaguely for “este verano”. It looks like the kind of suspense story that Telemundo has gotten good at and it features a couple of my favorites, Saúl Lisazo and David Chocarro.
---------
Of course as you know, Una maid en Manhattan is in its “últimos capítulos”. Fans, keep an eye on the time-slot so you don’t miss the final chapters of your favorite show.
--------------
Over to you, amigos ....
Labels: diamante, pablo, telemundo, valiente
‹Older
© Caray, Caray! 2006-2022. Duplication of this material for use on any other site is strictly prohibited.
