Saturday, June 28, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Your Favorite Novelas


For the benefit of any newbies who want to catch up on novela classics, what are your favorites and why?

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Saturday, June 14, 2014

Weekend Discussion: The Narcissism Epidemic

Narcissism is one of the most common mental disorders of telenovela villains.  Many people have a very simplistic definition of it:  Muhammad Ali.  His "I am the greatest" is how many people see narcissism.  The sad truth is that it's far more complex than that.

Narcissists see themselves as the center of the universe.  Everyone else exists for their purposes and once they cease to satisfy them, they either become evil or non-existent.  They are incapable of dealing with their own faults and assign them to others as a way of ridding themselves of them.  In extreme form they can be diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

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Friday, June 06, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Crimes of Fashion

One of the things inciting constant comment here is the fashion felonies committed by many female characters in novelas (or by the fashion consultants for the shows).  It seems that femme fatale rivals and villanas are the biggest offenders, although heroines can be guilty, too.  For our purposes today we will cover the villanas, particularly since we have such a stunning example in our current prime time.

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Friday, May 23, 2014

Weekend Discussion: TVyNovela Award Shows

By CorazonSalvaje:

Hey I wanted to make a Weekend Discussion. Since you guys are always saying the TVyNovelas Award Shows are rigged, we can discuss to whom we'd give the prizes to.

(I'll start it like this.)
So I noticed you guys make remarks about the TVyNovelas Award Shows which I have come to agree with. I feel as well that these shows are unfair at times but the fairest I think I've seen are 1999 (El Privilego de Amar taking them all is perfectly fine.) and 2014 (Amores Verdaderos taking a majority is OK as well.)

Ignacio Sada Madero has a Simplemente Maria remake in the works (He is one who is capable of writing good novelas which are often overlooked but honestly mentioned with affection. La Intrusa comes to mind and I think the ONLY reason(s) Bajo Las Riendas del Amor was rebuffed at the Premios TVyNovelas is because Mejia was associated with it. That and Destilando Amor robbing everything cough-Pasion-cough. I think the only awards I agreed with that year were the ones going to Lola Erase Una Vez and Pasion albeit 2 each. I think-
TBLMOE or Ed. Santamarina deserved best homme lead (but let's be real, all three leads were worthy of the prize. The only other lead was Gabriel Soto whom I can't stand.)
Angelica Rivera or Adriana Fonseca deserved best femme lead (Tie please!)
Adamariz Lopez deserved best femme fatale (but Daniela Castro was worthy as well. Keep in mind I include Bajo Las Riendas since it WAS  a Carla Estrada refrito which was harassed by Mejia. So in a way, she has 2 things for her LOL)
Bouffy or Alexis Ayala deserved best homme fatale)
Ana Martin deserved her award but I'm a sucker for Silvia Mariscal.
Marisol and German from Pasion deserved their awards.
Direccion de Camaras- Lola Erase Una Vez just because.
Escenas-Destilando Amor (was there a love scene in a barn? I remember one that was hot. Either that or Pasion because of Bouffy's decapitation scene.)
The revelation award does deserve to go to Eiza but her nominee Ariadne deserved it as well. Maybe a tie (in 2012, there was a tie for it with Laura Carmine and Alejandra Garcia.)
Best kid role went to Octavio Ocana which I agree with just because I wanted Lola Erase Una Vez to win in all it's 3 nominations LOL. (Danna Paola could have begged for a tie however.)

What is your opinion on these shows?

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Saturday, May 17, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Karmageddon Thoughts


Let's start with a theme song for this (which in another sense is Pedro Medina's anthem).

We've had discussions in the past over this essential Televisa element.  They always include elements of satisfaction or dissatisfaction we have with the writers' decisions.  If the original audience in Mexico (Televisa) or the US (Telemundo) isn't satisfied with the villains' final ends I'm sure they're vocal about it.

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Saturday, March 29, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Are Novelas Getting More Violent?



We've referenced this before, but with the recent incidents in Lo Que La Vida Me Robo, Mentir Para Vivir, and even the attempted rape in De Que Te Quiero Te Quiero we can't help but wonder whether novelas in general are going down a slippery slope that can't be tilted back.

In a previous discussion on this issue we seem to have come to the consensus that the rise of the narco stories came from the networks' desire to get more male viewers.  I don't know whether that's been working for them, but edgier has been the order of the day in all television and we need to ask ourselves whether there should be a limit.  In the US there is an irrational fear of sexual content in ad-supported television which until relatively recently hasn't affected the Spanish-language networks very much.  We're complaining here -- and justifiably -- when we become aware of hot love scenes being censored because they are censoring mostly scenes that show couples who actually love each other and actors who have the right chemistry to do scenes like that.  Why are television networks so afraid of the conservative moral watchdogs who -- if they were truly what they say they are -- aren't even watching these programs and theoretically shouldn't care about them?  These people don't control all the money in this country although they are trying hard.  We should not allow them to get a foothold into our private lives.

Why instead are they not censoring violence?  Violence is the real obscenity in modern society and the constant exposure to it takes away much of its shock value.  The occasional violent scene with bruises, bloodshed, etc., can be powerful; too many such and people will begin to shrug it off.  Is this some unconscious Darwinian element nobody has identified?

Villains are also becoming more perverse as we continue down this path. Porque el Amor Manda gave us a female villain who emotionally abused her own child (as in 5 years old in the opening of the story), Amor Bravio had a male villain who raped his own niece, even planning it so that it happened just as she became mayor de edad, and a sexual blackmailer forcing the heroine into her Tosca moment (as an opera fan I sometimes wish she would have taken the same action).   LQLVMR and PSMA are currently giving us villains of such extreme sociopathy they're making our flesh crawl.  Not an episode goes by on this blog that someone doesn't comment on that.

At the moment in a series like LQLVMR violence is the price tag we're paying for the otherwise good writing and the chemistry of the two leads.  I'm not ready to walk away from such a situation, but if Televisa reads this blog, this is to let them know that there is only so much violence we should be able to tolerate in the name of ratings.

Sound off, amigos.


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Friday, March 21, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Reality Check

Novela writers, we are talking to you!

While we are forever comparing telenovelas to fairy tales, they are set in real places with real names and are populated with characters who have careers and jobs that exist in the real world of today or yesteryear. Please get a little more real about their lives, their work, and their problems.

Your audience is not a bunch of ignorant peasants who know nothing of medicine, law enforcement, business, or money. When something happens to those things, we know there are consequences and you aren't giving the right ones.

A family whose finances are going down the drain doesn't keep a full staff of servants in the real world. They reduce their staff, sell the mansion, and buy something smaller. And in the 21st century they work.

There are no medical professionals who are psychiatrists, pediatricians, and cardiologists at the same time. Stop insulting our intelligence about this.

The same goes for the idea of identical twins coming in pairs of good and evil. That doesn't happen in the real world when they grow up together.  This was based on old superstitions that nobody believes in anymore.

Private investigators need sleep; they can't work 24/7 any more than anyone else. If following someone they need shifts of at least four people to avoid being caught. Nobody in that field would do otherwise.

When too much evil is happening from all directions, smart people don't just blame mala suerte; they look for a common factor.


My amigos will have more to add. Please read this and take it to heart.

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Friday, March 07, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Your Favorite Novela

...or novelas of all time.  What are they and why are they your favorites?  Do you favor a particular genre or is it the actors or authors that are the attraction?

Weigh in, amigos!

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Friday, February 14, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Alpha Males

Much has been said among social anthropologists about the Ideal Female Face, shown here with Jessica Alba as the example:


However, after long observation, I have determined that there is an ideal male facial type that is very prominent among the alpha male types we encounter in entertainment.  It consists of some combination of the following traits:
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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, January 10, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Culture Shock

What cultural head-scratchers get you every time you watch a novela?

I'd love to know whether men and women still interact as though it were the Victorian age.  Mexican women go to college and have careers; shouldn't that have eliminated the ridiculous notion that they exist only for their men and their children?  Despite it being a comedy, the sexism in Por Ella Soy Eva really was disturbing.  Do Mexican fathers really devalue their daughters like that?

Do parents really call their children "princesa," "mi reina", "mi rey," etc.?  This really bugs me because I can't help thinking that this is more appropriate for a significant other.  I can't help thinking that applying this to a child is spoiling them and giving them a sense of entitlement.

Sound off, amigos.


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Friday, January 03, 2014

Weekend Discussion: Fix This Novela!


Holà, Caraymates!  

We've seen quite a few series that had something going on to make the ratings department happy but... a serious flaw or two that earned derision from critics or unsatisfied viewers. Some of these got really bad – like Corazón Indomable. Others just needed a tweak or two, like Doña Barbara,

If you could fix a flawed novela, how would you do it? What general things would you do to fix the series to get it on track? We will assume that any and all continuity errors would be corrected but what general changes would you make?

I'll start with one some of you really hated, Fuego en la Sangre. It had excellent production values, photography, music, actors, and a good basic story premise, but the writing didn't come up to the rest. What I would have done with it:
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Friday, December 27, 2013

Weekend Discussion: New Stars? New Stories? Or Both?


I've been seeing posts over the last year or so about “We need new young stars” and we've had discussions in the past about developing new stories for our maturing favorites. I don't see this as an either/or, but perhaps as being a dual issue.

Televisa stopped producing stories directed at teens due to lowered ratings a few years ago. I'd personally love to know whether that was because of outdated story types or declining attention spans among teens, which is a subject that comes up all the time and is probably a worldwide problem. At the same time we've discussed how remaking the same stories again and again is both lazy production and evidence of risk-adversity.

There are some changes happening now, as we see with Mentir Para Vivir and Por Siempre Mi Amor, whose lead characters are a little more mature than usual. They start out with spouses, children, other family members, and more secrets than usual. Their lives are already complicated before the curtain goes up on the opening episode. We are seeing more teens and more children in these stories; I suspect that this is to provide employment for the child and teen actors that would have been in the teen and kid programs that aren't being produced. It's one of the reasons that many series are now longer than they would have been fifteen years ago.

I'm not a kid anymore myself and it sickens me that the entertainment industry already targets youth often at the expense of adults who have more discretionary income to attend movies and spend money on cars advertised on TV. We all want to see ourselves in television characters and we want to see something that's realistic. What we don't want is a world where someone's acting career is over because they're over 35 and overexposed (in the sense of being hyped) young stars with minimal experience and less talent.


Sound off, amigos.

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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, December 06, 2013

Weekend Discussion: When Good Novelas Go Bad



We've seen it happen more than once and it seems to happen more often in recent times than in the past. A novela begins on a great note and suddenly the characters behave inconsistently or the story makes no sense. We're seeing this now with Corazón Indomable, and with the last quarter of Porque el Amor Manda when we went from a comedy to a …. circus of evil. Real head-scratchers and we keep speculating why this happens.

Telemundo's Aurora started out well, as a science fiction version of Sleeping Beauty, but ended up bogging down in novela clichés it may have first tried to avoid. Televisa's Mariana de la Noche started out well even with the clichés but moved into total unreality in the second half. At least that one compensated by having a great leading man (Jorge Salinas) and an equally great male villain (César Évora).

What other novelas have you seen that did this?


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Friday, November 01, 2013

Weekend Discussion: Remakes (Again? Por Supuesto....)

While I am looking forward to Lo Que La Vida Me Robó I have to wonder just how long it should take to do a remake of anything, especially by the same network.  I never saw the 1983 original (Bodas de Odio), so I don't have a basis for comparison to Amor Real.  Updating the story to the present should change a few plot points and character traits, especially for the female protagonist.

There are many novelas remade multiple times by Televisa and for different reasons.  I end up wondering why they try remaking something that's already perfect and whether anyone will ever stop to think that Enough is Enough and let's do something new for a change.

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Friday, October 18, 2013

Weekend Discussion: Virtual Feast

Virtual Feast

Food, whether we're talking basic, ethnic, plain, or fancy, is what keeps us going. We see beautiful kitchens in the homes of our fictional friends on TV: Big kitchen tables are laden with gorgeous produce, garlic is hanging over the counter space, spice shelves are loaded with jars, and wonder what Maria, the cook, is preparing for our protagonists. I keep wishing that Televisa would put out a cookbook with the recipes from each series.

Every once in a while we need to talk about this universally-loved subject. Do you like to cook? Do you tend to cook for parties, family, a special significant other? Do you like to experiment?

As we get closer to the finale of PEAM, there will probably be parties in front of the TV. What are you planning to make? If you're not entertaining, what would you make if we all got together?

I freely admit I make stuff that some people think are real head-scratchers. Here is a dessert I've brought to a friend's place for Easter; I even made it with sugar-free filling!:





Now with fall in full swing and winter coming, what do you like to cook?  How did you learn?  If you have children, did you teach them?

Seriously, I have only ever known about three people who didn't like food.  They all had other major issues.

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Friday, September 13, 2013

Weekend Discussion: Most Annoying Characters

Many novelas have characters that just annoy us whether they were meant to or not. This could be because of poor acting, the character's bad timing, character stupidity, or just plain being out of place in the story. This character can be any age and of either sex.  These are characters we would never write into the story or wouldn't write the way they are appearing to us.

I'll start by nominating Almira of Qué Bonito Amor. Her inconsistent behavior in supporting and then slamming Maria's choices would be gaslighting behavior in a villana, but she never quite comes off as being intelligent enough to use this as a control tactic.  That made all of us want to slap her flat.
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Saturday, August 10, 2013

Weekend Discussion: Your Favorite Novela Subgenres

Historically, novelas have mostly focused on romance and its various difficulties, joys, and pain.  In recent years we're seeing more comedy ones, mysteries, and violent narcotrafficante stories.  What is your preference and why?

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