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El Chavo del Ocho

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TV Series

The Resume

    (June 20, 1971-January 6, 1980)
    Spanish-language family sitcom
    Aired on the Televisa network; re-runs aired on Univision (later aired on the Univision-owned network Galavision)
    Roberto Gomez Bolanos ('Chespirito') as El Chavo
    Carlos Villagrán as Quico
    Florinda Meza as Doña Florinda
    Ramón Valdés as Don Ramon
    Rubén Aguirre as Profesor Jirafales
    Édgar Vivar as Señor Barriga/Ñoño
    Angelines Fernández as Doña Clotilde
    Horacio Gómez Bolaños as Godinez
    María Antonieta de las Nieves as La Chilindrina/Doña Nieves
    Created by Roberto Gomez Bolanos
    Theme song, 'The Elephant Never Forgets,' written by Jean-Jacques Perrey
    Premise: Focuses on the adventures and comedic antics a poor orphan ('El Chavo') and other inhabitants of a fictional low income housing complex ('vecindad,' in Spanish).

Why El Chavo del Ocho might be annoying:

    Its shortened title sounds like El Chapo and El Chivo.
    What’s so funny about a homeless kid who lives in a barrel? Shouldn’t Don Ramon or Dona Florinda call Mexico's version of CPS or something...?
    Any show with grown adults playing toddlers is bound to catch some viewers off guard.
    Case in point, production sought to hide the pregnancy of María Antonieta de las Nieves by outfitting her in ugly and oversized dresses (she was playing an 8-year old girl).
    The ‘del Ocho’ part of the title was a mystery to most viewers (Gomez claimed it was because the main character lived in Apartment 8, but in reality it was because the show aired on ‘Canal 8’).
    Dona Florinda went just about everywhere in those hair curlers- even on vacation...
    Some of the kids' pranks on Don Ramon were extremely dangerous and could have got him killed in real life (usually involving bricks, steam irons, hammers, etc.)
    Chespirito's original plan for the series finale was to have Chavo die while saving a child from being hit by a car (he was later talked out of it by cast & family members).
    María Antonieta won a 2003 lawsuit for the right to appear in Mexico as the 'Chilindrina' character, but would retire nine years later, citing her crossing Chespirito as alienating her from the entertainment industry.

Why El Chavo del Ocho might not be annoying:

    It was wholesome entertainment.
    It is the most translated Latin-American show in television history.
    Reruns are consistently the top-rated Spanish-language cable program in the United States.
    At its peak, it was the most watched show in Mexican television, and was viewed in over 350 million households, throughout Latin America.
    Many of the show’s catchphrases have become part of the Spanish-speaking community’s dialect/vernacular.
    The real name of the title character remains unknown (the most popular guess is ‘Roberto,’ after his actor/creator).
    The ‘Elephant Never Forgets’ theme song is actually based on Beethoven's classical ‘Turkish March’ Op. 113.
    Cast-members went on a much-publicized ‘Jeffersons-style’ tour through Mexico while the show aired during the third season (1975).
    It occupied the same universe as Chespirito’s other hit comedy, ‘Chapulin Colorado,’ and a highly-rated ‘crossover’ between the two shows even aired, in 1974.
    They somehow got away with using the instrumentals from several popular Disney films (‘Peter Pan,’ ‘Dumbo,’ ‘Snow White’) during their run without being sued.
    It spawned a popular animated kids’ show of the same name, in which the kids are refreshingly drawn ‘to scale.’
    It was a comedy but tactfully addressed the serious problems faced by real homeless children, in the city, on a daily basis (hunger, loneliness, poor hygiene, abandonment, etc.)

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 84.62% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying