add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Chiquititas (known in English as Tiny Angels) was a successful children's telenovela from Argentina created and produced by Cris Morena. It was produced by Cris Morena and aired on Telefé from 1995 until 2001. There were two spin-offs: Rincon de Luz, aired in 2003 on Canal 9 and a 2007 season which aired in Telefe.
[edit] Story lineIn its first two seasons, the show followed a more typical telenovela format which changed from the third season on.
Soon after Gabriela had a child, her father Ramiron Morán kidnapped his granddaughter because, as a very conservative men, he could not accept the idea her daughter would be a single mother. So his granddaughter Mili will have a place to live, he creates the orpahanage Rincón de Luz (Little Corner of Light). As the years passed, the girls in the orphanage became a family. In this orpahange full of hopes and dreams, each of the chiquititas, guided by Mili, will live thousands of adventures full of love, friendship and fun. But not everything will be happiness, Ginette, the orphanage director, will do anything to have the big mansion where the orphanage is localized to herself as a revange to her boyfriend, the orphanage's owner. The girls lives will be touched and changed by Belén, a young girl that works on one of the Moran's factories and studies as a social assistant. In the orphanage, Belen will meet Martin, Ramiro's oldest son, an economist that lived in London and is back to Argentina due to work. They'll fall in love with each other but Ramiro will do anything to keep them apart.
After Ramiro's death, his sister Carmen is chosen to be in charge of his fortune. She will do anything she can to keep the secret Ramiro most wanted to protect: Mili's true identity. Meanwhile, is a new beginning in Belen's life who is named the orphanage director. After Martin abandoned her to go back to London, she doesn't think she'll be able to fall in love again until she meets Facundo, the orphanage's doctor.
Carmen finally manages to close down the orphanage. But Belen and the kids receives the help of a mysterious men named Pedro Vega who donates his old mansion to them. In this dangerous and creepy place, they'll meet Elena, the house's governess, a mysterious and mean-spirited women. In their new neighborhood, the kids will meet new friends and neighbors. Their life will start to change since they're leaving their childhood behind and are starting to grow. They'll experiment their first kisses and will realize the power of friendship. The relationship between Belén and Facundo will be teared apart thanks to Andrea, Facundo's ex-girlfriend, and the unscrupulous Alejo Méndez Ayala. Meanwhile, as Gabriela and Mili become closer each day, Carmen will follow them closely, trying to keep them from knowing the secret and their true ties. But in the end, the truth will finally come to light. luz.
A new phase will start in the orphans life as they become teenagers. The orphans has a new neighbor, Manuel, Alejo's twin sister. He and Belen will fall in love but he is hiding a big secret: he is actually Manuel and is just pretending to be someone else so he can win Belen's heart. [edit] PhenomenonOn August 7, 1995, Chiquititas debuted on Telefe. It was aired weekdays at 6 PM, the same time-slot as Jugate Conmigo a few years before and soon became the leader on its time-slot and among young viewers. The show had musical elements and every year it spawned an album with about 10 new songs. The album became huge successes and were often the best-selling album of the year in the country, with the 1998 CD being one of the top-selling Sony Music Argentina albums ever. All songs were composed by Cris Morena, which was also the mastermind behind the show, with her songwriting partner Carlos Nilson. The complete cast of the show would also do a huge Broadway style musical at Argentina's biggest theater, Teatro Gran Rex during the Winter Vacations (which happened in July in Argentina). Each year, a new musical was made with the latest technologies and with budgets of over 1 million dollars. The first live presentation was done in 1996 and, after being a huge success, it became a yearly event, happening from June to September, with daily concerts in the month of July (winter vacations). Chiquititas sold over 1 million tickets and held the record of being the highest-grossing live franchise ever in Argentina. Chiquititas was also the first franchise in Argentina's television with the show originating over 400 licensed products, live musicals, CDs and a monthly magazine. The show reached its peak in 1998, during it's 4th season. During this year, the CD and the live musical broke records and the daily show achieved its highest ratings. It was also the end of a cycle, with Romina Yan and her character Belen, which was the central figure of the show, finally saying goodbye, marrying her love (Alejo played by Facundo Arana) and adopting all children. In the following year, 1999, Chiquititas got a complete makeover with a new setting and a new cast. The new Chiquititas was also very successful and continued airing until in 2001 when it finally ended after 7 seasons. Also in 2001, a feature film was released in movie theaters with great success. Chiquititas finally came to an end in 2001 after disagreements between Cris Morena and Claudio Vilarruel, Telefe's new chairman. In its last season, the show became weekly with a retrospective of Chiquititas previous seasons being aired daily on the original timeslot (weekdays at 6 PM). In 1997, the show was remade by Brazilian-net SBT. The Brazilian version had an all-Brazilian cast but was shot in Buenos Aires at the same studios the original version was made. Soon after its debut, the show became extremely popular spawning hundreds of merchandising and selling over 3 million CDs. Being part of the cast was a dream among many Brazilian kids and in 1999 over 15.000 people in São Paulo, 10.000 in Rio de Janeiro and 6.000 in Recife attended the auditions for the show 3rd season, breaking the record for the biggest casting ever (as a comparison castings for Ídolos, the Brazilian version of American Idol, are attended by 2,000 people in each state and 4,000 in São Paulo). In 1998, a remake was done by TV Azteca for Mexico following the same format as the Brazilian version: all Mexican cast shooting in Buenos Aires. It flopped since marketing leader Televisa dominated children television in the country. In 2000, the show started airing in Israel, where Argentine soaps are popular, and soon became extremely popular. The success of the show was so big, in 2002 members of the cast visited Tel Aviv for promotion and to meet fans. [edit] Critical receptionWhile the show was a huge success among the young public, it was panned by critics that deemed the program to be over sexualized and of a bad quality. The fact the orphanage was portrayed as a beautiful place full of pretty well-dressed white children was also heavily panned. [edit] Chiquititas spin-offsIn 2001, while leaving Telefe, Cris Morena made it clear she did not want to stop producing Chiquititas but she would not continue the show in another channel because the program rights were own by Telefe, not her. In 2003, she did a spin-off, Rincon de Luz, for Canal 9. Rincon de Luz was, of course, the orphanage where the chufos and chufas lived and also the name of the movie released in 2001. Starring popular singer Soledad Pastorutti and Guido Kaczka (which had acted in the first four seasons as Piojo, Belen's brother), the show could not reach the amount of popularity the first version of the program achieved. However, it was extremely successful in Israel and the complete cast of the show visited Tel Aviv for a series of concerts at Nokia Stadium. In 2006, Cris Morena came back to Telefe which finally gave her the rights over the Chiquititas brand. She decided to produce a new version of the classical show which would star Jorgelina Aruzzi and Gaston Ricaud. While the new version was a resounding success, of previous seasons or some of her previous projects such as Rebelde Way or Floricienta, it was still highly successful with the live musical at Teatro Gran Rex attracting over 70,000 people, a double-platinum album, a sell-out nationwide tour and over 100 licensed products. The new version of Chiquititas was remade in Portugal and Romania. It aired in its original version in Brazil and the entire Latin America and Spain at the Disney Channel. [edit] Cast
[edit] MusicThe show includes eight soundtracks, which were recorded by the actors of Chiquititas. [edit] References[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
