El Chavo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

El Chavo del 8
Series Main Cast Brazilian Logo of El Chavo
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Roberto Gómez Bolaños
Starring	Roberto Gómez Bolaños Carlos Villagrán Ramón Valdés Florinda Meza Rubén Aguirre Angelines Fernández Edgar Vivar María Antonieta de las Nieves Horácio Gómez Bolaños Raúl Padilla
Country of origin	Mexico
No. of episodes	about 420 (including shorts)
Production
Running time	30 minutes (with adds)
Broadcast
Original channel	Televisa Galavisión (animated series in Univisión) SBT (animated series also on SBT)
Original run	1971 – 1980 (1992)
External links
IMDb profile

El Chavo Del Ocho (Spanish for: The Kid from the [apartment number] 8) is a Mexican television show that has gained a great amount of popularity in Latin America as well as in Spain and other countries. It focuses around the adventures and tribulations of the title character, an orphan (played by the series' creator, Roberto Gómez Bolaños, "Chespirito") and other inhabitants of a fictional Mexico City condominium/apartments building, or as called in Mexico, vecindad.

The shows traces back to June 20, 1971, where it appeared as a sketch in the "Chespirito" show, broadcast on Mexico's channel 8. In 1973, El Chavo moved to Televisa and became a weekly half-hour series. The show was cancelled in 1980, but shorts were still produced in "Chespirito" from that year until 1992.

At its peak of popularity during the mid-1970's, El Chavo, having 350 million viewers worldwide, was the most-watched show in Mexican television. The frequent occurrence of Mexican idiomatic expressions makes El Chavo very hard to translate into other languages. An exception is the Portuguese language which is very similar to Spanish. Thus the Portuguese-spoken version of El Chavo is still very popular in Brazil, where the series is known as Chaves and is still broadcast by SBT.

1 Characters and cast
2 Plot and setting
- 2.1 Stages
3 Humor style
4 Famous phrases
5 History
6 Impact
7 External links

[edit] Characters and cast

El Chavo del 8 (Roberto Gómez Bolaños), an eight-year-old orphan, is the main character of the series. "Chavo" is a Mexican Spanish slang for "kid"; Chavo's real name is not known, but in some episodes he calls himself Chente, short for Vicente, after a friend who died in the orphan home in which he was abandoned. Generally Chavo is enthusiastic, creative and good-natured, but on the other hand he is also rather naïve and very gullible. He is not particularly bright (which Roberto Gómez Bolaños insinuated on the launch of the animated series may be consequence of poor nutrition) and is remarkably clumsy, often hitting Quico, Don Ramón and Señor Barriga with balls, shoes, hammers, bricks, chairs and other objects. Chavo arrived at the neighborhood at the age of four and apparently lives in apartment #8 with an elderly woman (who is never seen, but mentioned in the novel El diario de El Chavo del 8). After her death, Chavo spends most of his time inside an abandoned barrel that he calls his "secret hideout". He has a craving for ham sandwiches.

Quico or Kiko (Carlos Villagrán) (short for Federico, pronounced KEE-KOH), is a spoiled, overprotected 9-year-old boy, son of Doña Florinda and a late naval captain (also named Federico) who reportedly died when his vessel was swallowed by a whale.
Arrogant, manipulatory and envious, Quico always wants to draw everyone's attention to himself, either by screaming loudly or by showing off his newest toy. Partially due to his mother's influence (and former wealth and status as the wife of a naval officer), he believes that he and his mother are superior to everyone else in the neighborhood. However, he still finds time to play with the, as he and his mother call them, chusma ("riffraff"), namely Chavo, Chilindrina and Don Ramón. Quico is also noticeable for his black sailor "dress blue" top (probably a memento from his father), his rainbow patterned beanie cap, his enormous cheeks, and his minuscule intelligence, often responding to the Spanish words for idiot, stupid, dummy, etc.. In 1978, Quico went off to live with his godmother, reportedly unable to stand the riffraff anymore. Villagran's character, Kiko, starred in a rather short-lived spin-off series, Ay, Que Kiko! in the late 1980s which attempted to revive the series using a "Hip-hop" twist and gave Villagran's character a slight wardrobe make-over.

Don Ramón (Ramón Valdés) is an unemployed widower. His greatest aspiration seems to be living an uncomplicated life, but in the vecindad this seems impossible. He is constantly hounded for the rent which he has neglected to pay for fourteen months (a figure that seems to be static since Señor Barriga forgives several months off of his rent in several episodes). His daughter (Chilindrina) is a perennial headache and his neighbor Doña Florinda's response to any imposition on her lifestyle is a loud slap on his face. Although rather high-strung and quick-tempered, Don Ramón manages to keep a fairly upbeat attitude and to (just barely) make a living doing odd jobs. He's also a fan of all sports and pretends to be knowledgeable in them (having demonstrated boxing, bowling, American football and even bullfighting [with a dummy bull] to the kids), but due to the kids' own shortcomings, he always comes up short. Chavo often mispronounces his name as Ron Damón, which he is implying that he is a drunkard (ron means "rum" in Spanish). One quote popularized by himself is "There is no terrible work, the terrible is to have to work".

Doña Florinda (Florinda Meza), mother of Quico and love interest of Profesor Jirafales. She is a widow; her late husband, after which Quico was named, was a naval officer who died at sea and is often said by Quico that he descansa en pez (a pun on "rest in peace", literally meaning "rests in fish", indicating that he was swallowed by a shark). Her full name is Florinda Corcuera y Villalpando, viuda de (widow of) La Regueira. Doña Florinda has deluded herself into believing she's socially, morally and economically superior to her neighbors (and it is suggested that at one time she was well-off). She is so fiercely protective of Quico that whenever he is upset, she'll beat up Don Ramón without seeking explanation. She likes the cleanliness and order and also likes to cook and for that reason she become famous among her neighbours and one time she accepted a partnership selling churros (a tipe of pastry in Mexico) with Don Ramón, she watches in TV: "La cocina de Chepina Peralta" (Chepina Peralta's kitchen) She is easily recognized by the fact that she always keeps her hair in curlers (except in some early episodes), even at work or on vacation in Acapulco. In later episodes, she opens a restaurant called "Restaurante Doña Florinda". Derisively, the kids call her "Vieja Chancluda" ("vieja" being "old lady", and "chancluda" as someone who uses "chanclas", sandals).

Profesor Jirafales (Rubén Aguirre), the school teacher. Highly educated but naïve, although single he carries on a ludicrously innocent relationship with Doña Florinda and patiently teaches way above the heads of his 8-year-old students.

He is a teacher with very much patience and professionally ethic. He always smokes, even in front of his class. When angered, he shouts "Ta-ta-ta-taaaaa-TAH!!!". His last name is a reference to his height ("jirafa" is Spanish for giraffe; the closest English equivalent would be Giraffald). The children (and sometimes adults, most notably Don Ramón) refer to him as "Maestro Longaniza" (being "maestro" an alternative for "profesor", both meaning "teacher", and "longaniza" a long kind of sausage).

Doña Clotilde ("La Bruja del 71") (Angelines Fernández), a retired woman who chases after Don Ramón. Because she is old and somewhat eccentric, the kids think she is a witch, and refer to her as "The Old Witch of the (Apartment) 71". Some adults also refer her like that, often by mistake, due to the kids frequently calling her "witch". She refers herself as señorita (miss) because she has never been married, which also she gets upset when anyone call her señora(Mrs.), meaning that she is a married woman.

She is a single woman, thirsty for love, and frequently seeks it with Don Ramón, who is a widower. Because she never wants people to know her accurate age, she is always saying the number of candles she had to use in her "last" birthday's cake. (She never says more than 49) Even with that people never believe that, mostly because she also acts like a senior woman. She has always been in love with Don Ramón, her neighbor. But he is not interested in her, so Doña Clotilde wants him and does everything she can to conquer him like bringing him food from the store, buying him medicine when he can't sleep, baking cakes for him, or lending him luggage. In fact, all the times that Don Ramón is "interested" in her is when she faints in the middle of the yard and was going to bring him something from the store or just when being polite with her is his only choice. She is always dressed with a blue or pink hat (50's style) with "leaves", blue gown, and black shoes. In the beginning of the series she had also a black sweater.

Señor Barriga (Edgar Vivar), the vecindad 's landlord. Rarely succeeds in collecting rent from Don Ramón and is greeted upon his every arrival by being (accidentally) kicked, tripped, beaten, or hit by a flying object thrown by El Chavo. His last name is a reference to his obesity ("barriga" is Spanish for belly, but the surname actually exists). In the episode where Doña Florinda first sets up a restaurant, his full name is revealed to be "Zenón Barriga y Pesado" (literally Zenón Belly and Heavy), being "Zenón" a pun on "Cenón" ("dining man" or "big dinner").

He is also well known because of his patience with Don Ramón and his unpunctual rent payments and all the kids'(mostly Chavo's) misbehavior like punching him or nicknaming him. (always making fun of his body)

La Chilindrina (María Antonieta de las Nieves), daughter of Don Ramón. "Precocious" is probably the best way to describe Don Ramón's intelligent and mischievous daughter, who likes to take advantage of her slow-witted friends to play pranks on them and take their toys or snacks. She wears thick-framed glasses, after a few years her wardrobe consisted of a short green-pattern dress and a red sweater that was always twisted on the back. She has freckles and two ponytails that are always uneven, one significantly higher than the other one, just like her socks. "Chilindrina" is the name of a typical Mexican bun, with chocolate sparkles on top, reminiscent of the character's freckles. In early episodes, La Chilindrina has longer ponytails which are cut by El Chavo.

After Villagrán and Valdés left the program in the late 1970s, several characters began to appear more frequently. These include:

Popis (Florinda Meza). Doña Florinda's niece and Quico's cousin. Cutesy and dumb, Popis was usually only present in schoolroom scenes until after Quico left the series, when she filled in for his character in remakes of old episodes. She frequently would say "Acúsalo con tu mamá" ("Tell on him with your mom") sometimes at inappropriate moments, such as when Profesor Jirafales told Quico he gave the wrong answer. Whenever she says or does something wrong, she blames it to her doll, Serafina, which she loved as a daughter.

Ñoño (Edgar Vivar) (pronounced NYO-NYO, as in yo-yo). Señor Barriga's son, he is as fat as his father, and thus is always the butt of the classroom fat jokes. Ñoño was another classmate, but often appeared around the neighborhood if any scenes needed an extra kid. He is well-studied and good-hearted, but like most of the other kids, naïve to say the very least, so he is often taken advantage of. He also substituted for Quico in the later years. Whatever ñoño do, his classmates say to him "ñoñadaz"

Godínez (Horacio Gómez Bolaños). An overall and baseball cap-wearing kid who usually keeps to himself and tries to dodge questions in the classroom so he can focus on drawing and playing musical instruments. Godínez is his surname; his given name is unknown. He seems to be a capable student but is totally uninterested. Godínez appears only rarely but is very funny. Horácio Bolaños directed the show for a period. He is brother to Roberto, creator and writer of the series.

Jaimito, the mailman (Raúl Padilla). A sociable, but forgetful and negligent postal worker who appears in a few of the last episodes and takes over for Don Ramón in the Chavo segments on the hourlong "Chespirito". Whenever he enters the vecindad, he is seen carrying an old bicycle, which he cannot ride because he couldn't learn. Jaimito also is rather lazy and tends to avoid carrying out tasks with the excuse of "avoiding fatigue". He hails from Tangamandapio which, although being a real location in Mexico, is thought by fans of being just a coincidental joke (Jaimito once said that "Tangamandapio is bigger than New York; it's so big, it doesn't appear in any maps").

Doña Nieves (María Antonieta de las Nieves). Chilindrina's great-grandmother, who has character traits of both Don Ramón and Chilindrina. In some late "Chavo" episodes and early "Chespirito" episodes, she also takes over for her grandson Don Ramón. María Antonieta de las Nieves had been playing a nameless character similar to Doña Nieves for years in a variety of sketches, but she did not work particularly well in the Don Ramón role; for one thing, it was awkward that Doña Nieves and Chilindrina could not appear in scenes together except via special effects. By the late 1980s, her character had virtually disappeared from "El Chavo".

Some short-lived characters, who appeared in a few episodes and were never mentioned again, are:

Doña Eduviges (Janet Arceo). For two episodes, Doña Eduviges lives in the upstairs apartment of the vecindad and interacts with the other characters. Except for dressing differently and living in a different apartment, she acts exactly the same as Doña Clotilde, right down to her heavy-handed flirting with Don Ramón. But obviously she was crazy, because one time she said that she dyed her hair white just because it was fashionable. The kids even call her "La Loca de la Escalera" ("The crazy lady upstairs"). In the very next episode, Doña Clotilde is back and Doña Eduviges is never mentioned again. Jaimito the mailman is assumed to have moved into her apartment or one next to it, since he usually came from the same direction.

Patty and Gloria. At various times in the show's history, Patty (who is Chavo's age) and her aunt Gloria (who is Don Ramón's) move into the upstairs apartment. The men and boys of the vecindad immediately fall in love with them. The 1978 Patty (Ana Lilian de la Macorra) became a regular character, appearing in many episodes of the half-hour version's last season.

Malicha (Maria Luisa Alcalá), Don Ramón's god-daughter. During María Antonieta de las Nieves' absence, Malicha briefly replaced her. Much like Doña Eduviges, she disappeared after a small number of episodes and was barely missed.

Don Román (Germán Robles). In one early episode, Don Román takes Don Ramón's place; he is said to be Don Ramón's cousin.

Señor Hurtado (José Antonio Mena and Ricardo de Pascual). A suspicious man (actually a thief) who moves to the vecindad for a few episodes. His felonies are charged to Chavo by mistake, but he ultimately returns the stolen goods, restoring Chavo's innocence towards his neighbors. Hurtado, however, never does claim the robberies himself. His name is reference to the Spanish word "hurtado", implying he's, in fact, a thief (hurtar means "to steal" in Spanish).

[edit] Plot and setting

El Chavo del Ocho follows El Chavo and the other inhabitants of the vecindad, as they go about in their everyday lives.

The show explores, in a comic manner, the problems that many homeless children face on a daily basis, such as hunger, sadness and not having someone responsible to watch over them. One episode, for example, had Chavo sitting on the steps of the vecindad at night, dreaming of all the toys he wished he could have and how he'd play with them. It ended with him returning to the present, sighing wistfully, then pulling out a balero (the only toy he'd ever had on a regular basis) made of a stick, a tin can, and a piece of string. He begins to play with it as the camera slowly fades out. Some episodes also have educational endings, teaching for example that it's good take a shower and to not judge a book for its cover.

[edit] Stages

The main patio, or front yard, is where El Chavo's barrel is located and where the main action takes place. The alleyway on the right leads into another yard ("el otro patio"), which has a fountain in the middle. Objects thrown from this yard go over Don Ramón's apartment and into the main yard.

On the outside, often the sidewalk is the main stage shown, where El Chavo sometimes sells fruit juices. In the later seasons, sometimes an unnamed park was shown.

Also, several episodes take place at a school classroom, where Profesor Jirafales teaches. All child characters in the show are in the same classroom.

[edit] Humor style

The show relies heavily upon physical comedy and running gags in order to amuse the audience. Perhaps the best-known examples are:

Doña Florinda's ruthless defense of Quico. Usually Quico suffers some minor catastrophe (often caused by El Chavo) and screams "Mommy!", which immediately brings Florinda running. Quico then tells her what happened to him and she assumes Don Ramón (who either has also come running to Quico's aid or just happens to be standing nearby, sometimes holding incriminating evidence) is responsible and she smacks him loudly on the cheek. Don Ramón spins comically from the impact and looks surprised at the camera while Doña Florinda says to Quico "Let's go, sweetheart. Don't hang around with this riffraff", to which Quico always replies "Yes, mommy. Riffraff, riffraff!" and pushes Don Ramón while doing a raspberry. Every once in a while, before leaving, Doña Florinda tells Don Ramón "And next time, go break your grandmother's toys!" (or other phrase referencing Don Ramón's grandmother). Don Ramón, angered, throws his hat to the ground and stomps it. El Chavo walks over to him and says something like "Don Ramón, don't break your grandmother's toys. Why don't you give them to me instead?"; in response, Don Ramón hits El Chavo on the head (producing a bell sound effect), making Chavo cry (with a high-pitched "Pipipipipi!") and go hide in his barrel. Don Ramón follows him and conclude sarcastically, "Pipipipipi. And I don't hit you again just because... my grandmother worked in a toy factory!" (or some other unrelated reason - most of the times, the sentence is left incomplete) before marching towards his house. Florinda only rarely gets angry at Quico, and often denotes it by calling him by his full name, Federico, at which Quico also begins to cry.

The encounters between Profesor Jirafales and Doña Florinda. Profesor Jirafales enters, and Doña Florinda stops whatever she's doing to go over to him as if spell-bound, sighing "Profesor Jirafales", to which he replies "Doña Florinda".
"What miracle brings you here?"
"I came to bring you this humble gift." (roses)
"Oh, thank you. They're lovely. Wouldn't you like to come on in and have a cup of coffee?"
"If it wouldn't be too much to ask..."
"No, not at all. Come on in."
"After you."

This usually is interrupted or followed by something said by the character involved in whatever Doña Florinda was doing before Professor Jirafales arrived, to which they pay no attention. In addition, Profesor Jirafales can be extremely scatterbrained and therefore sometimes replaces Florinda's name in this dialogue with the name of something he was just talking about or is otherwise on his mind; this is usually something fairly unflattering. ("Doña Mula") Florinda gets confused and sometimes starts misusing the same word herself. These exchanges, whether they go smoothly or not, are always accompanied by Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet", a gushing piece of classical music. If something happens to disrupt their reverie, the music will slow down to a halt as if someone had unplugged the record player. In spite of their intense feelings for each other, their relationship is assumed to be completely platonic.

Señor Barriga and El Chavo. Whenever Señor Barriga entered the vecindad, El Chavo hit him one way or another. Señor Barriga even congratulated El Chavo when he didn't hit him, to which El Chavo would say "You hear that, Quico? This is the first time that I didn't hit Señor Barriga..." and then would turn around, or drop whatever he was holding, ironically hitting Señor Barriga.

Mysteries surrounding Chavo. Characters occasionally ask what Chavo's real name is, where he lives, and who he lives with. Every time he is about to answer, there is an interruption and the subject is never brought up again. However, he once mentioned he lived in the apartment No. 8 of the neighborhood and being called "del Ocho" ("from the eight") for that same reason.

Crying. Almost all the characters have specific and strange ways of crying. Chavo, as said before, goes "Pipipipipi!" in a very high-pitched voice. Quico makes an odd, gargling wail and always leans against a wall near the entrance of the vecindad. Chilindrina spreads out her elbows and then repeatedly pumps her fists inward, screeching "Wehhhhh! Wehhhhhh! Weh, weh, wehhhhhh!" (she is often faking it, but she does cry realistically if she is sincerely upset). Chilindrina may also add a rubbing of her backside as if soothing a spanking which in most cases never takes place. Under extreme duress, Don Ramón also cries, holding his fist next to one eye, and then the other, going "Reeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Reeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Ree, ree, reeeeeeeeeeeeeee!". Doña Florinda cries almost like Quico. She walks towards the entrance of the vecindad and bellows "Ahhh!" loudly. She may also cry without walking towards the entrance. (In some episodes, she cries garglingly like Quico.) Ñoño cries by repeating a hicupping sound "Ahic!" as he rubs one of his eyes, while Señor Barriga uses a lower-pitched variant "Ahee".

[edit] Famous phrases

Chespirito created several words and phrases that nowadays are widely used as part of the Spanish language, at least in Mexico City and country:

¡Chanfle!: Is a word used mainly by El Chavo, but also used by other characters like El Chapulín Colorado. It is a word that shows surprise or incredulity, like "My God!". Is probably the most famous and used word by Chespirito, mainly because it became the main character's nickname for the soccer movies of the same name El Chanfle and El Chanfle II.

¡Ta ta ta taaaaa TA!: It is the angry expression shouted by Profesor Jirafales when he loses his temper. When he does that everybody gets quiet, except for El Chavo, who usually is saying something inappropriate about Profesor Jirafales, believing that nobody is listening.

Fue sin querer queriendo.: Something like "I meant to, but didn't mean to [do it]" or "I didn't want to want to do it", is usually used by El Chavo when he does something wrong.

¡Tenía que ser el Chavo del 8!: Translated as "It had to be El Chavo del 8 again!", is used by all the victims of El Chavo jokes, mistakes or misunderstandings (mostly Señor Barriga and Don Ramón).

Fíjate fíjate fíjate fíjate.: Which could be translated as "Really really really really" or "Yep yep yep yep yep" (though literally means "Look closer look closer look closer") is a phrase that Chilindrina uses every time she's gossiping.

Es que no me tienen paciencia.: Used by El Chavo when he has to explain misconduct. It means "It's because no one has patience with me!".

¡No me simpatizas!: Used by Quico when he is angry or hurt. He usually holds the person's ear when he says it. It means "I don't like you!" or "Do you hate me?" But it mostly means "Don't you sympathize with me?"

Eso eso eso eso: Meaning more or less "That's it, that's it, that's it", is often used by El Chavo as a way of saying "Yes", along with moving his index finger up and down, as if it were a person nodding.

Bueno, pero no se enoje.: El Chavo says it in a pleading tone when someone is mad at him. It means "Okay, but you don't have to get mad".

¡Se me chispotió!: El Chavo says it in a surprising tone when he says something insulting to anyone who is an adult present when he is in a group argument. It means "It slipped" or "I messed up!"

¡Miralo eh, miralo eh!: Meaning "Look at him, look at him", El Chavo and other kids (mostly Ñoño) will say it when they catch someone else in the patio misbehaving or doing something wrong or to deflect the blame to someone else.

¡Ah, ya cállate, cállate, cállate, que me desesperas!: It means "Ah, shut up, shut up, shut up, that you upset me!". Used by Quico when Chavo or other characters start to talk to him and interrupt repeatedly whatever activity they are doing. Sometimes he shouts when there is a loud discussion between to characters at the moment.

¡Que pasó, que pasó, vamos hay!: Translated more or less as "What's happening, what's happening, what's going on?", is a phrase used by Don Ramón whenever he wants to know the reason of a confusion happening in the moment.

[edit] History

[edit] The early years (1971-1972)

By 1971, Chespirito was already well-known in Mexico for his self-titled sketch comedy show, which aired on Televisión Independiente de México. He had already introduced El Chapulín Colorado and other famous characters.

Chespirito was the show's main creator and star. He called Florinda Meza to act in the show first; Chespirito and Meza later married. Edgar Vivar was the second actor chosen for the show. Chespirito recruited Ramón Valdés because he had known Valdés for years; Valdés, brother of Tin-Tan and El Loco Valdés and uncle of Cristian Castro, had made multiple movies Chespirito had seen. Then, Rubén Aguirre was cast in the show as the character of "Profesor Jirafales". Aguirre and Chespirito had been working on scripts together for years, and Aguirre had already been playing the character of Profesor Jirafales on another Chespirito show, Supergénios de la Mesa Cuadrada ("Supergeniuses of the Square Table"), which spoofed current events panel discussion (also known as round-table talks, which the name obviously spoofs). Carlos Villagrán just happened to be a friend of Aguirre who was a newspaper reporter, and he went to a party hosted by Aguirre. Villagrán did a comedy step where he blew his cheeks out of proportion, and Aguirre told Chespirito about his friend's hidden talent. Villagrán was promptly hired for the show. María Antonieta de las Nieves was a voice-over only actress who used to go to Televisa to do announcements. Upon hearing her voice, Chespirito thought she was perfect for the show. The last ones to be added to the show were Angelines Fernández, a former telenovela actress and Horacio Gómez Bolaños, Chespirito 's brother and who had never considered acting before; he was originally to oversee the show's marketing.

The first El Chavo short appeared on June 20, 1971 and featured El Chavo, Chilindrina and Don Ramón.

Several "Chavo" sketches produced before the start of the half-hour series were grouped into half-hour segments and are shown before the "official" half-hour episodes in syndication. Many of these were also re-written and re-shot as half-hour long shows later in the show's life.

[edit] The TV series (1973-1979)

In early 1973, Telesistema Mexicano and TIM merged to become Televisa. After the merger, El Chavo del Ocho became a weekly half-hour TV series.

Until about 1975, many of the early episodes were shorter than 30 minutes and had a sketch (known as entremés) at the beginning, featuring Dr. Chapatin, El Chómpiras, or one of Chespirito's other characters. In these episodes, María Antonieta de las Nieves generally played the female leads and was the first actor credited after Chespirito. After she left Chespirito's shows in 1973, Florinda Meza took over the female roles, and De las Nieves was given "distinctive" last billing when she returned in 1975. After Valdés and Villagrán left, she was moved to top billing after Chespirito again; by that time all episodes lasted the full 30 minutes. On the hour-long "Chespirito", De las Nieves was often given third billing behind Chespirito and Florinda Meza if playing another character besides Chilindrina; otherwise she always got the special final credit ("...and María Antonieta de las Nieves as La Chilindrina!").

When Carlos Villagrán left the show, it was explained that Quico had gone to live with his godmother. "He couldn't stand the riffraff anymore", Doña Florinda explained. Not long after, Ramón Valdés also left the series, but no explanation was given as to where Don Ramón had gone.

The weekly series El Chavo was cancelled by Televisa in 1980.

[edit] The new "Chespirito" show (1980-1992)

Starting in 1980, the "Chespirito" show began to air again, featuring El Chavo, El Chapulín and other sketches. The debut of El Chavo in this new program was auspicious, with a wealth of new episodes being produced (as opposed to many late episodes of the series, which were remakes of early shows). Moreover, in 1981, Valdés returned to the cast, after starring in some unsuccessful shows alongside Villagrán. However, he left again at the end of the year (Chilindrina said he had left the country to look for work and wouldn't come back until he was rich - the implication being that he was unlikely ever to be seen again). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the number (and, according to fans, the quality) of new episodes began to decline; once again, many early episodes were remade (with Jaimito and Popis taking the roles of Don Ramón and Quico, respectively). In addition, as Chespirito grew older, he no longer considered adequate to play the role of an 8-year-old kid. As a result, production of El Chavo was stopped in 1992, three years before the cancellation of the "Chespirito" show.

[edit] Animated series (2006-present)

After several years of successful reruns, Televisa launched simultaneously in all Latin America an animated version of the program made by Ánima Estudios on October 21, 2006. As a background, a 3D computer model was used, though for the characters, 2D drawings were used, created with Flash technology. A huge program was made to launch it in on a scenario made to imitate the computerized background. Some things about the original program were reminescenced and they showed how the animated series was made.

The cartoon also allowed depicting the children to the right scale. Previously, since the children were played by adults in the live action version, the feel was given to the character through their way of dressing, speaking, and mainly through giving them oversized toys. However, this was not the first attempt to animate it. Previously, during the credits, claymation sequences could be watched.

In this animated series, La Chilindrina doesn't appear due to on-going disputes between María Antonieta de las Nieves and Roberto Gómez Bolaños on rights of "La Chilindrina". De las Nieves feels she should be entitled to monetary compensation if "La Chilindrina", the character she brought to life in the television series, appears in the animated series. Roberto Gómez Bolaños claims that since he created the character (De las Nieves only portrayed it), only he owns the rights to such character. This dispute still hasn't been resolved.

[edit] List of episodes of the animated series

[edit] 1st season

"Los globos" (The balloons)
"Insomnio" (Sleeplessness)
"Una mosca en el café" (A fly on the coffee)
"Satanás" (The dog Satan)
"Los yeseros" (The plasterers)
"Falta de agua" (Need of water)
"El juego de beisbol" (A game of baseball)
"La venta de churros" (Churros on sale)
"Toques a ritmo de vals" (Takings to the rhythm of the dance)
"El Chavo lavacoches" (The Kid washing cars)
"Fútbol americano" (American football)
"Un ratero en la vecindad" (A thief in the neighborhood)
"La mascota de Quico" (Quico's new pet)
"Fotos buenas, regulares e peores"; (Good, so-so and bad pictures)
"El amor llegó a la vecindad" (The love is in the neighborhood)
"Una broma de gran peso" (A fool of big weight)
"Cúentame una de fantasmas" (Tell me all of witches and phantoms)
"Classes de box" (Box lessons)
"Deudas a pagar y sillas a pegar" (Jaimito and Don Ramón's problem)
"Los bomberos" (The firemen)
"Limpieza en la vecindad" (Time to clean the neighborhood)
"Pintando la vecindad" (Painting the neighborhood)
"El desayuno del Chavo" (The Kid's breakfast)
"La casita del Chavo" (The Kid's little house)
"Sonámbulos" (The sleepwalkers)
"Vacaciones en Acapulco" (Let's go everyone to Acapulco)

[edit] 2nd season (yet to come in Brazil and USA)

"El gran premio de la vecindad"
"El justiciero enmascarado"
"Las historias de terror"
"¡Como suben los alimentos!"
"Dinero perdido"
"Cuidemos el agua"
"Don Ramón enamorado"
"Amar a los enemigos"
"Regalo de Navidad"
"El hombre invisible"
"Las aguas frescas"
"Don Ramón lechero"
"La vecindad em guerra"
"Carrera de coches"
"Se busca"
"Canta, Chavo"
"¡Esas llantitas, Señor Barriga!"
"Invasión extraterrestre"
"El campamento"
"Los dientes de leche"
"La novia del Chavo"
"Un bebé en la vecindad"
"Vamos al circo"
"Las Olimpiadas"
"Juguetes de papel"
"Llega la Chilindrina"
"Los piratas"
"Las mujeres son perfectas y hombres apestan"

[edit] Voice cast

Jesús Guzmán - El Chavo / Godínez
Víctor Delgado - Señor Barriga
Sebastián Llapur - Quico
Erica Edwards - Doña Florinda / Popis
Mario Castañeda - Don Ramón / Ñoño
Erika Mireles - Doña Clotilde
Juan Carlos Tinoco - Profesor Jirafales
Leonardo García - Jaimito

[edit] Impact

The show is the most translated Latin-American show in history, after being shown in several countries. It is the most popular sitcom in the history of Mexican television [1] and lasted for 1,300 episodes. It has been rerun on several TV stations since the 1970's.

Surprisingly, El Chavo del Ocho is also quite popular in Brazil (the only Portuguese-speaking country of the Americas), broadcasted by SBT since the beginning of the 1980's.

In the United States, the show is still shown, on Galavisión. The show in the United States is consistently the No. 1-rated Spanish-language cable program. [2] It also inspired a character in The Simpsons.

The show was so popular in other parts of Latin America and among the Spanish speaking community of the United States that in Peru and Uruguay, other shows involving the main actors of El Chavo del Ocho began to be televised, in Argentina. Rubén Aguirre has been able to enjoy some success playing his character at a circus, and in Puerto Rico and Colombia, many of the phrases El Chavo and his friends used have become normal part of their every day dialogue.

Chespirito has established legal battles with former El Chavo del Ocho actors out of a desire to prevent them from using the show's characters in Mexico without his permission. Aguirre moved to Argentina in order to use his character's name on his shows (Chespirito is not copyrighted in Argentina).

Episodes of the show were released on DVD in 2003.

[edit] External links

In Spanish

In English

Slate article on its popularity in the United States

In Portuguese