This document summarizes the careers and successes of several Latin American entertainers. It discusses Roberto Gomez Bolanos (Chespirito) who created hugely popular characters like El Chavo and El Chapulin Colorado. It also discusses Colombian scriptwriter Fernando Gaitan who wrote the massively successful soap opera Betty la Fea that was adapted around the world. The document attributes their successes to factors like entertaining scripts that resonated with audiences, shrewd business skills to maximize profits, and hilarious comedic performances.

1. A LATIN
AMERICAN
GENIUS
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3. Roberto Gómez Bolaños was a very intelligent and funny kid. At
that time, he clearly showed a high level of linguistic, musical and
kinesthetic intelligence.
By the time he was 20, he had spent a lot of time playing soccer,
boxing and composing music. But he had not yet tried writing
seriously. He dropped his engineering studies because he did not
like them.
One day, while he was working in a steel company, he saw an ad
from an advertising company in the newspaper. The ad wanted a
practical person to help in TV production and scriptwriting. He got
the job and started showing his potential.

4. While Gómez Bolaños was helping with production and jingles, the
advertising company asked him to write complete scripts for their
shows and to start acting.
One of the directors loved the scripts and decided to name him
Chespirito, to mean "little Shakespeare." After that, Chespirito
wrote 50 movies and several TV shows.Although he had not acted
before, he showed he was a very good and hilarious actor. His first
character was Dr. Chapatín.
Then came: Kiko, Chilindrina, Noño, Chimoltrufia, Chómpiras, etc. By
1970, he hadn't yet created El Chavo but he had already invented El
Chapulín Colorado (The Red Grasshopper). A year later, he came up
with El Chavo del 8 (The child from [the apartment number] 8)

5. By 1972, El Chapulín and El Chavo (two of Chespirito's most significant
characters) had already set a record in the Mexican TV ratings. By 1979, Spain
and many countries in Latin America were also broadcasting these shows.
El Chapulín was a successful character. It seems to be a criticism of
superheroes. He has the same values and mission of a superhero but he is
dumb and weak. He always makes mistakes and destroys places. The show
introduction and the heart with a Ch on Chapulín's chest seem to be a
caricature of Superman.
Its influence is so big that even The Simpsons has a character based on him
(the Bumblebee). These are some of the phrases that El Chapulín and El
Chavo made famous. Today some of them are part of Latin American cultural
tradition. No contaban con mi astucial: You did not count on my intelligence!
lo sospeché desde un principiol: I suspected it from the very beginning. .

6. El Chavo was just as successful. Part of its success ame from the
script because it revealed the Latin American reality of that
time.
It portrayed low-income people living together in a
neighborhood “vecindad” experiencing tragic and comic
situations.
El Chavo also presented children performed by adults and adults
that behaved like children. It was a good way to catch the
attention of both audiences

7. Chespirito calculated the expenses and gains of his TV shows very
well. He had a realistic selling strategy and he invested time and
money in it because he knew he was doing the right thing.
He is a good entrepreneur. By 1992, the year when the show
production stopped, millions of viewers around the world had
seen the show.
As a result of Chespirito’s entrepreneurial skills, his programs have
been translated into many languages such as French, Russian,
Portuguese, Italian, Chinese and Japanese.

22. Latin American Success
Fernando Gaitán is a successful Colombian TV scriptwriter. He has written
successful TV shows. Although his biggest success is Betty la fea (Ugly Betty),
by 1994 Gaitán’s fellow country men had already enjoyed another soap opera
that had reached the highest position in the ratings.
It was called Café con aroma de mujer, and it was very popular in many
countries all over Latin America. Some years before, Gaitán had also succeeded
with one more TV series about life on sugar cane plantations.
That series was Azúcar. Gaitán came up with Ugly Betty in 1999. Many
countries around the world liked this soap opera and Gaitán had to travel to
those places to help produce the new versions of the program.
It became a phenomenon in more than 60 countries on the 5 continents
including China —Ugly without Rival, USA —Ugly Betty, Mexico —La fea más
bella, Russia —Born Ugly, and India —There Is No One Like Jassi.

24. By 2002, the ratings of the countries where the program was broadcast. In China, for
instance, 73 million Ugly Betty had already set a record in Mandarin speakers watched
the first episode presented by Televisa.
This number is a historic record in the country if we consider that, according to Nielsen
ratings, the average number of viewers for this type of programs is around 30 million.
For example, 11 million watch CSI every week and 14 million watch Desperate
Housewives. Although Gaitán’s genius is unquestionable, it is not a satisfactory
explanation for the program’s success.
What, then, explains this phenomenon? In the case of Colombia, we could talk about the
advertising campaign carried out by the producers. They also carefully calculated all the
details from expenses and gains to investment and selling strategies. In other countries,
there was also lots of advertising. Additionally, the script showed a very uncommon TV
situation. For the first time a soap opera star was unattractive.
In fact, Betty’s way to success was a fight for equal rights that did not depend on the
superficial idea of physical beauty, but on her intelligence. Finally, there was one more
ingredient that helped to have this good result. All the actors, not only the main ones,
did a great job in their interpretations.

26. The funny side of the soap opera helped to get the incredible
ratings as well. Betty used to laugh at her own ugliness. While she
was working with her best friend, she even made jokes about it.
There was a group of hilarious secretaries called “the ugly girls
headquarters.” The mailman often made funny comments. Many
characters, especially the fashion designer, assumed a comic
attitude. The dialogs also included hilarious remarks.
In fact, the show was so funny for the people in the US that they
created a Halloween costume. All in all, different aspects
contributed to make this soap opera a great world success.
Which of these professionals did not appear depicted in
the soap opera?

39. BYE
BYE