March 13, 2005

"The Jeffersons" remade in Chile.

The LA Times reports:
"Los Galindo" [is] based on a show whose all-American pedigree and barbed, race-based humor would seem hard to transfer to another culture. Set in a Bel-Air-like district of this smog-choked capital city, "Los Galindo" echoes the premise of "The Jeffersons," in which a nouveau riche African American clan moved to a "de-luxe apartment" on Manhattan's Upper East Side and embarked on a swanky new lifestyle....

The Galindos don't belong to an ethnic minority, but they do represent a relatively new element in Chilean society: the self-made, middle-class urbanites who've embraced free-market values with a vengeance since the 1990 ouster of Chile's longtime dictator-President Augusto Pinochet. Their ascent is shaking up the social and economic status quo, much to the chagrin of the old-guard moneyed elite. Which may help explain why "Los Galindo," in only its first season, is expected to garner a ratings share of at least 25% when figures are announced Monday, which would make it one of Chile's top-rated TV shows.

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