Chespirito (TV series)
| Chespirito | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as |
'Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada (1968–1970) Chespirito y la Mesa Cuadrada (1970–1971) |
| Created by | Roberto Gómez Bolaños |
| Directed by | Sergio Peña and Alberto del Bosque (1968-1973) / Roberto Gómez Bolaños and Roberto Gómez Fernández (1980-1995) |
| Starring |
Roberto Gómez Bolaños María Antonieta de las Nieves Carlos Villagrán (1970–1973) Florinda Meza (1970–1973; 1980–1990; 1992–1995) Ramón Valdés (1968–1973; 1981–1982) Rubén Aguirre (1968–1972; 1980–1995) Angelines Fernández (1972–1973; 1980–1993) Edgar Vivar (1972–1973; 1980–1992; 1993–1995) Horacio Gómez Bolaños (1980–1995) Raul Padilla (1982–1994) Aníbal de Mar (1968–1969) Anabel Gutierrez (1969–1973; 1987–1995) Moises Suarez (1993–1995) |
| Country of origin | Mexico |
| Original language(s) | Spanish |
| No. of seasons | 22 |
| No. of episodes | 693 approximately; from both periods |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes (1968–1973; 1993–1995); 60 minutes (1980–1992; 1994) |
| Production company(s) | TIM (1968-1973); Televisa (1980-1995) |
| Release | |
| Original network | XHTM-TV |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) |
| Original release | Invalid date range |
| Website | |
Chespirito is a sketch comedy show that aired in Mexico and was created by and starred comedian and actor Roberto Gomez Bolaños, whose nickname gave the show its title.
Two series were produced with the same title. The first premiered as Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada on Televisión Independiente de México in October 1968, adopted the Chespirito title in 1971, and aired until February 1973. The second, which aired on TIM's successor Televisa, premiered on 4 February 1980 and aired until 25 September 1995.
Alongside Bolaños, other famous Mexican actors starred in the sketches. In the two periods, characters like El Chavo del Ocho, El Chapulín Colorado, Los Caquitos, Dr. Chapatín, Los Chifladitos, El Ciudadano Gómez, La Chicharra, Chespirito (character), Los Chiripiojos and the parodies of Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy starred in sketches 2–15 minutes long. The 1980-1995 period also featured special 40-minute episodes.
The show's first seasons featured a canned laugh track, but Bolaños made the then-controversial decision to drop it. Most presentations of the show include the announcer's warning that, out of respect for the audience's intelligence, there was no laugh track.
History
First period (1968–1973)
In 1968, Roberto Gómez Bolaños created and starred in a program named Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada, in the program Sábados de la Fortuna of Televisión Independiente de México's XHTM-TV channel 8. In this program, Chespirito starred in sketches about "letters" sent by the show's audience. Alongside him, Ramón Valdés, Rubén Aguirre and María Antonieta de las Nieves also starred in the sketches, not only about the "letters", but also featuring characters created by Bolaños. Los Supergenios was presented by Dr. Chespirito Chapatín (Bolaños), El Ingeniebrio Ramón Valdés Tirado Alanis (Valdés), El Profesor Rubén Aguire Jirafales (Aguirre) and La Mococha Pechocha, or, La Marioneta (Ma. Antonieta) at a square table where they read the letters and comment about them. Sometimes the letters were answered by sketches. In one sketch, a viewer of the show asked what to do when a crazed person put a giant rock in the door of his house, then a sketch starring María Antonieta de las Nieves, Rubén Aguirre and Ramón Valdes showed the solution to his problem.
In 1970, Carlos Villagrán and Florinda Meza were introduced to the show, starring as secondary characters. In the same year, Bolaños created the successful sketches of El Chapulín Colorado and Los Caquitos. In 1971, the sketches of the show were El Chapulín Colorado, Dr. Chapatín, Los Caquitos, Chespirito and Los Chifladitos.
In 1972, Rubén Aguirre left the show to lead the show El Club de Shory in a rival network; El Shory is a nickname of Aguirre. Bolaños then created his most successful character, El Chavo del Ocho, to cover the space left by the sketch Los Chifladitos, a sketch starring Bolaños and Aguirre.
In early 1973, the show was almost made of El Chavo and El Chapulín. Then Bolaños decided to end the Chespirito show to star in the half-hour weekly series of El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado. Aguirre returned to the show in the last episodes.
Second period (1980–1995)
After the end of the half-hour series of El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado in 1979, as well as the flop of La Chicharra, Bolaños decided to return the successful sketch comedy format of Los Supergenios in 1980 with the second version of the Chespirito show. The show featured the famous characters of Chespirito in a 60-minute show, El Chavo, El Chapulín, Chómpiras (a reboot of Los Caquitos), Los Chifladitos, Vicente Chambón (reboot of La Chicharra), and the late introduction of Don Calavera in 1994, alongside the remake of El Ciudadano Gómez. The parodies of Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy were also introduced in 1980.
Ramón Valdés returned to the show in 1981, playing only Don Ramón in El Chavo and Super Sam and the villains in El Chapulín. He also acted in other sketches with secondary characters (with the exception of Vicente Chambón and Laurel and Hardy). Valdés left the show in early 1982 for unknown reasons (some rumors say it was due to illness. In 1981, Benny Ibarra starred in some sketches as a secondary character.
In 1982, Benny Ibarra returned playing a secondary character in the sketch "Los Piratas" of El Chapulín and "Sr. Hurtado" in El Chavo. Raul "Chato" Padilla returned to the show after to substitute for Valdés. The character "Jaimito, el cartero", of El Chavo, became "Señor Jaimito" and started living in the vecindad. His character got all the characteristics of Don Ramón, a change which was heavily criticized by fans.
In 1984, Roberto Gómez Fernández, Bolaños' son, became another member of the cast.
In 1986, Roberto Gómez Fernández and his uncle, Horacio Gómez Bolaños, became directors of the show. Horacio now starred only as Godínez in El Chavo, as well as secondary characters in other sketches.
In 1987, various invited actors played secondary characters in sketches of the show. Also, El Chavo and El Chapulín become less important to the show. The same happened to the other characters, and with Bolaños giving attention to the sketch Chómpiras, the sketch virtually become a half-hour series inside the show.
On August 9, 1988, Ramón Valdés died of stomach cancer, after a long agony in the hospital. Bolaños was the only friend of Valdés who didn't attend the funeral. Carlos Villagrán, Edgar Vivar, Rubén Aguirre and Angelines Fernández were some of his friends from El Chavo who attended the funeral. María Antonieta de las Nieves became very worried of not knowing of his condition in his last moments of life.
In 1991, Florinda Meza left the show to star the telenovela Milagro y magia. After the end of the telenovela, she returned to the cast of the show.
In 1992, Bolaños ended the sketches of El Chavo, since he was too old to play the role of an 8-year old boy. Also, Edgar Vivar left the show temporarily because of his obesity.
In 1993, the sketch of El Chapulín Colorado ended. Angelines Fernández left the show due to her throat cancer.
In 1994, the sketch El Ciudadano Gómez, parody of Citizen Kane returned to the show. Raul "Chato" Padilla left the show, passing away in February 3 of that year. On March 25, Angelines Fernández also died of throat cancer; Angelines was an acknowledged tobacco smoker.
In 1995, Televisa transferred the show to weekends. Because of this change, Bolaños decided to end the 15-year-old Chespirito show.
After the show
Roberto Gómez Bolaños and Florinda Meza continued for some years the theater play 11 y 12 (also created and produced by Bolaños), which became very successful in Mexico and Latin America.
In 1997, the show was dubbed in Portuguese, especially to Brazil, renamed Clube do Chaves.
On November 21, 1999, Horacio Gómez Bolaños (younger brother of Roberto) died of a heart attack.
On November 19, 2004, Roberto married Florinda Meza after dating for a long time.
In 2007, the channel Clásico TV reran "Chespirito" episodes dating from 1980 to 1995. The series finale was broadcast in July 2012. On October 2012 the channel was renamed Distrito Comedia. The series was transmitted on the weekends (2007–2011) and Monday to Friday (2011–present).
In 2008, the channel Clásico TV returned with Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada, the first period of the Chespirito show, which was transmitted on Wednesdays. The series finale was broadcast in 2009.
Aperture
| No. | Date |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1980–1981 |
| 2 | 1981–1982 |
| 3 | 1982–1992 |
| 4 | 1993–1994 |
| 5 | 1994–1995 |
| 6 | 1995– |
Sketches
- El Chavo del Ocho (1972–1973; 1980–1992)
- El Chapulin Colorado (1970–1973; 1980–1993)
- Dr. Chapatín (1968–1973; 1980–1993; 1994–1995)
- Los Caquitos (1970–1973)
- El Chómpiras, Los Caquitos reboot (1980–1995)
- Vicente Chambón, La Chicharra reboot (1982–1984)
- Chespirito (Sketch) (1968–1973; 1980–1992; 1994–1995)
- Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuardada (1966–1973)
- Los Chifladitos (1970–1972; 1980–1995)
- Chaplin (1980–1983; 1991)
- Laurel and Hardy (1980–1982; 1984; 1988)
- Don Calavera (1994–1995)
- Ciudadano Gómez, parody of Citizen Kane (1968–1969; 1973; 1994)
- Al Estilo del Cine Mudo (1994–1995)
- Mini Teatro (1994–1995)
- Increible Pero Ciento Por Ciento (1994–1995)
- La Noticia Rebelde (1994–1995)
- Con Humor al estilo... Chespirito (1993–1994)
- La Noticia Rebelde (1993–1994)
Cast
The cast of the show in both periods.
| First period (1968–1973) |
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|---|---|
| Second period (1980–1995) |
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See also
External links
Unofficial websites: