I love this show, though I don’t understand but one word in 20. Does anyone else?
A couple questions:
That black and white costumed fellow with the horn, the show’s Sandman Sims, the gong banger: does he represent anything? death? for that matter, does he have a name?
What sort of demographic does this show actually appeal to? On the one hand, there are plenty of young, hot latinas, but I suppose that appeals to males of every age. I don’t see many young people in the audience, and I don’t know anyone else who watches it (including my Mexican relatives, though for the most part they’re second or third generation Americans, and most don’t speak Spanish any better than I do). There was an ad in the last episode for AARP. I’m wondering if this is a latin Lawrence Welk.
Great show, even though I don’t understand any of it.
One minute there’s like some love ballad being sung.
The next, they’re pouring jelly on women in bikinis.
The next, there’s a skit where they’re all dressed up like school kids.
Crazy crazy stuff.
I read an article about the show once. Apparently, it’s been running for like 40 years straight. . .with the SAME HOST. It’s broadcast all throughout Latin American and South America (and the US now) and gets some crazy number like 100 Million viewers per week.
That type of variety show is geared towards more or less towards the whole family. I used to watch it when I was younger… now I prefer to spend my time surfing the internet. I do like some of their comedy skits, and the parts where they bring stand up comedians (latinos, of course).
The show also spawned a board game (of which I have 2 copies, don’t ask me why).
Considering he has been on, like, forever, (1962 in Chile, late 80s in Miami) it would not surprise me if the demographic skewed to the older side. In the USA it probably has a special appeal to the first-generation immigrant group, as “comfort TV”. As mentioned earlier, it’s an all-things-to-all-people (game show)+(comedy-variety show)+(chat show)+(showbiz mag show) that entertains families who are not stepping out a Saturday. Well, this type of show – and not just on Saturdays – has been a main staple of virtually EVERY Spanish-language TV system, from the Rio Grande to the Cape Horn and across the Ocean to the Pyrenees(*). So it was a natural to relocate to Miami and be marketed at the US “Hispanic” demographic, giving them something they already knew.
(*And in other parts of the world, too – Anglo-USA TV may be peculiar in not having had that type of programming for a long while, instead neatly dividing categories.)
I do like some of their comedy skits, and the parts where they bring stand up comedians (latinos, of course).