"El Chavo del Ocho", or simply El Chavo, is a Mexican series that was starred, created, shot, and directed by Roberto Gómez Bolaños (known as Chespirito). It was produced by Televisa, that aired on Canal 8 from February 27, 1973 to January 7, 1980.
El Chavo is and was the most watched comedy series in history, especially in Spanish-speaking countries, which has been very popular among adults and children for decades. The series focuses on the adventures of El Chavo, an 8-year-old orphan boy who lives in a neighborhood in Mexico City. He shares these adventures with many neighbors and friends. They each have their own characteristics, such as his best friend and rival Quico, a spoiled child, who tends to be a bit selfish and cocky; his cunning friend Chilindrina and her father Don Ramón, a charismatic man with a good heart, but with an explosive characteristic; Chilindrina's great grandmother, who has an appearance like her; Quico's mother, Doña Florinda, a grumpy widow who is always angry but caring for her son; Popis, who is Doña Florinda's niece, and Profesor Jirafales, the teacher at the children's school, who is in love with Doña Florinda, as well as she is with him. There is also Señor Barriga, the owner of the neighborhood, who is often teased by the children for being very fat. He always suffers the blows that El Chavo gives him, which are always by accident every time he comes by to collect the rent. Señor Barriga also happens to have a son named Ñoño, who is also quite as plump as his father, which is why he also gets teased at for his size by the other children.
The peculiar attributes of each character cause misunderstandings to break out between them, which are very funny to watch. Although they always argue and fight with each other, there is always a common understanding in the end.
Cast[]
El Chavo del Ocho was born as a sketch of a few minutes in a program called "Chespirito", also by Roberto Gómez Bolaños, in 1972. These sketches were brought together with various characters created by the Mexican comedian. Given that at the beginning, the series still maintained this style of sketch. El Chavo in its first three seasons shared space with other sketches, as an entremés, which were broadcast before each episode. This custom would be set aside from the third season, in 1975.
The main secondary sketch of the program was "Los Caquitos" (diminutive of 'caco', a colloquial word in several Latin American countries for 'thief'), in which two thieves, Chómpiras and Peterete, try to carry out a robbery. But given the clumsiness of both, the thieves always fail in their attempts, and never steal anything, which is why they are presented as 'the harmless ones'.
| Character | Actor | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| El Chavo del Ocho (1973-1980) | |||
|
El Chavo
|
Roberto Gómez Bolaños | |
|
Quico
|
Carlos Villagrán | |
|
Don Ramón
|
Ramón Valdés | |
|
Doña Florinda
|
Florinda Meza | |
|
Popis
| ||
|
Chilindrina
|
María Antonieta de las Nieves | |
|
Doña Nieves
| ||
|
Profesor Jirafales
|
Rubén Aguirre | |
|
Doña Clotilde
|
Angelines Fernández | |
|
Señor Barriga
|
Édgar Vivar | |
|
Ñoño
| ||
|
Godinez
|
Horacio Gómez Bolaños | |
|
Jaimito
|
Raúl 'Chato' Padilla | |
|
Malicha
|
Maria Luisa Alcala | |
| Los Caquitos (1973-1975) | |||
|
Chómpiras
|
Roberto Gómez Bolaños | |
|
Peterete
|
Ramón Valdés | |
|
Policía
|
Carlos Villagrán | |
Broadcast[]
El Chavo has been broadcast in all Latin American countries and Spain. It has also been broadcast in the United States on Spanish-speaking television stations like Univision. It was also very successful in countries like Argentina, Chile and Peru, during which the series lasted more than 30 years on the air.
On August 1, 2020, all stations that broadcast El Chavo and other Gómez Bolaños programs in various countries had to temporarily suspend the broadcast of the series on their services due to conflicts between Televisa and Grupo Chespirito (heirs of Gómez Bolaños), who owns the characters and episode scripts.
On September 2024, El Chavo will make the grand return to television this year.
International versions[]
On Univision's site, they note that the series has been dubbed into at-least 50 languages which include countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Morocco, Greece, Russia and India, however proof of dubs from these countries have yet to surface.[9]
| Language | Title | Channels | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
English (subtitled) |
El Chavo | Netflix (formerly)[10][11] YouTube[12][13] |
|
|
Italian (Milan) |
Cecco della Botte | Antennatre (formerly) |
|
Italian (Rome) |
Un'autentica peste | Rete A (formerly) |
 
|
Portuguese (Brazil) (MAGA) |
Chaves | SBT Multishow (formerly) TLN Network (formerly) Cartoon Network (formerly) Boomerang (formerly) TBS (formerly) Netflix (formerly) +SBT |
|
Portuguese (Brazil) (Studio Gabia) |
Chaves | direct-to-DVD SBT (formerly) |
|
Portuguese (Brazil) (Rio Sound/Dubrasil) |
Chaves | SBT (formerly) +SBT |
|
|
Portuguese (Brazil) (Som de Vera Cruz/UniDub) |
Chaves | Multishow (formerly) Multishow Play (formerly) NOW (formerly) |
|
|
Portuguese (Brazil) (Rio Sound, 2025) |
Chaves | SBT (upcoming) |
References[]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6xhw7ell0U&t=281s
- ↑ ¡La vecindad se fue de rumba! RCN confirma transmisión de "El Chavo del Ocho" para Colombia - TVLaint
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150628035652/http://canaltbs.com/el-chavo
- ↑ ¡Espera la Chapulín Señal! Chespirito regresa a la televisión ecuatoriana por Teleamazonas - TVLaint
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkE8_gC66Kk
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jMa6flM6VM
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqp_tIp5aiA
- ↑ "El Chavo del 8" volverá a la televisión argentina a través de Telefe - TVLaint
- ↑ https://www.univision.com/noticias/noticias-de-mexico/el-chavo-del-ocho-su-conquista-por-el-mundo-en-otros-idiomas
- ↑ https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/70205634
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20180930003302/https://www.netflix.com/title/70205634
- ↑ https://youtu.be/XGQbLK26LKA?si=obH430b2K0_K05Y-
- ↑ https://youtu.be/-CACUs_DeZw?si=A4UCLRwQM7BKfcU3
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