Showing posts with label El Chivo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label El Chivo. Show all posts

Monday, November 10, 2014

TELENOVELA WATCH: 'En la Boca del Lobo' Premiere; 'Reina de Corazones' Rushed Ending; Plus, 'Los Miserables,' 'La Gata,' 'El Chivo' and 'Señora Acero'

EN LA BOCA DEL LOBO premieres tonight on UniMás at 10 p.m. ET. It is a Colombian narco-novela produced by Sony and Teleset based on the book "At the Devil's Table: The Untold Story of the Insider Who Brought Down the Cali Cartel" by former L.A. Times journalist William C. Rempel. The title of the book is probably as much a synopsis as required, but more details from the press release:

“The story centers on Ricardo Salgado, an engineer and soldier who rises to become head of security for the godfather of the Cali cartel, one of the world’s largest crime organizations and at war with the Medellin Cartel. After losing his best friend and family, Ricardo has nothing else to lose. Looking for redemption in a world full of corruption, he’s willing to turn in the Cali Cartel to the CIA. But when the operation goes south, Ricardo see himself in the ‘wolf’s mouth’ and he must fight to stay alive.”

Luis Fernando Hoyos (ROSARIO TIJERAS) stars as Ricardo; and the cast features Carolina Acevedo (COMANDO ELITE) as Ricardo’s love interest, and Lucho Velasco (LA VIUDA NEGRA) and Ricardo Vesga (LA MARIPOSA) as two of the heads of the Cali Cartel.


REINA DE CORAZONES
Telemundo is giving the bum’s rush to REINA DE CORAZONES (weeknights at 8 p.m. ET), announcing it is in its final weeks while editing together three episodes a night into a single hour. It is rare for Telemundo to slice-and-dice their telenovelas in this fashion, but REINA DE CORAZONES is a special case because it was recorded long before airdate. In the past, Telemundo recorded their telenovelas close to airdate allowing for quick adjustments to story and character based on audience reaction. A flop telenovela would sometimes see drastic narrative shifts in an attempt to boost viewing figures, as when EL FANTASMA DE ELENA in a single week killed off a half-dozen characters and removed its supernatural angle or RELACIONES PELIGROSAS moved the students to the background and emphasized the storylines of the teachers and parents.

Monday, September 22, 2014

TELENOVELA WATCH: 'El Señor de los Cielos' Finale Airs Tonight; 'Señora Acero' Premieres Tuesday; 'Cosita Linda,' 'Quiero Amarte,' 'El Chivo' Debut This Week

Tonight is the finale of the second series of Telemundo's narco fantasy EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS at 10 p.m. ET. A success for the network, it seems likely there will be a third series, so it also seems likely tonight's finale will be as unsatisfying as last year's finale.

I did not care much for the first series of EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS and found this second series substantially worse. Indeed, I think EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS 2 is the worst telenovela I've seen this year. Sure, Telemundo's EN OTRA PIEL features worse acting, writing and production values, but EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS 2 is morally reprehensible in its deification of its drug lord protagonist.

I've mentioned in a previous article the crude tactics these narco-novelas use to manipulate viewer sympathies for their drug lord protagonists through the constant imperiling of their family members, but EL SEÑOR DE LOS CIELOS 2 takes this device to shameless extremes. Over the course of this season, the protagonist drug lord has had his young children threatened with a knife to their throats, his mother shot, lost a baby through a miscarriage, his son shot, his daughter kidnapped and finally his ex-wife shot. He is ever the wronged party, ever the victim, so his violent acts are always justified. Even a final hit gone wrong resulting in an unintended loss is presented so the scenes can ultimately be about his pain.

The persistent victimhood of the drug lord is accompanied with incessant lionization of his virility. Has any fictional character since the also vile James Bond needed such overkill to bolster his supposed sexual desirability? The female cast is virtually reduced to the role of harem. The only detractor is the cop played by Carmen Villalobos, whose role in this second series was reduced to little more than standing miffed with her hands on her hips and looking stupid, bested again and again by the intellectually superior drug lord.