Eugenio Derbez wants more series like “El Chavo del Ocho” on television

Miami, 23 Mar Mexican actor and producer Eugenio Derbez misses those moments when families met to watch a television series together and, therefore, he proposes to recover the spirit that “El Chavo del Ocho” embodied. “I think we should resume at some point given that dynamic in which the whole family would come together for dinner and watch a fun series that makes you smile before going to bed,” he said in an interview with Efe via videoconference. He assured that it is “very sad” that he missed that moment of enjoying “leisurely” friendly series such as those he has such fond memories of seeing with his parents such as “The Addams Family”, “Gilligan's Island” or “The Love Cruise”, among others. Now, he regretted, they are either action and violence series or too “spicy” comedies, and in both cases adults can no longer watch them with their children, while children's ones are boring for adults. “Unfortunately, humor and television have changed a lot,” he said of a new way of producing more familiar series that he had in Mexico as a great exponent to Roberto Gómez Bolaños, also known as Chespirito, with both “El Chapulín Colorado” and “El Chavo del Ocho”. Derbez is releasing this week a commercial for the company Dish Latino, of which the Mexican actor is the image, in which he shares the leading role with the character of Chavo del Ocho created by Roberto Gómez Bolaños in the 1970s and who was and continues to be a benchmark in Latin American television. It is also true for Derbez, who assured that one of the things that inspired him the most in his career is the career of “Don Roberto Gómez Bolaños” -in that way, with all the respect of the world-, who was a “rock star throughout Latin America” capable of filling stadiums with his white humor. “DON ROBERTO”, THE CHAVO OF THE OCHO “Don Roberto had this quality of reaching out to the whole family and entertaining the whole family, from children to grandparents,” said one of the most recognized Mexican actors in the US for roles such as “No Returns Accepted” (2013), “Overboard” (2018) and “How to Be a Latin Lover” (2017). But in Mexico, success came to him on television with programs like “¡Anabel!” (1988) or “To the right and the derbez” (1993) and reached the top thanks in part to Gómez Bolaños, who at a delicate point in his career sent him a letter praising his work and encouraging him not to give up. That letter, which Derbez has framed in his office, was full of praise and advice: “He told me some divine things that filled my heart and gave me the courage to move forward, not to get depressed. And I value that as you don't have an idea.” But his memory of Gómez Bolaños goes back much further, when, in the dining room of his father's house, every night he saw Chavo and El Chapulín with his family. Undoubtedly, one of the “most beautiful memories of childhood”. And now, he proudly said, he had the opportunity he never thought he would have to share the scene with El Chavo del Ocho, his “idol of childhood”. This is the 2022 campaign “Latino Like You”, in which Derbez made a commercial in collaboration with El Chavo del Ocho, who, thanks to “deepfake” technology (hyperrealistic video montages that allow you to fake a person's face and voice using artificial intelligence), “comes back to life” and participates in the ad “Iconos” within the Dish Latino campaign. “Latino Like You,” he explained, wants to emphasize the strength of the effort and persistence shown by Hispanics in the United States, to inspire them to realize that “there are no limits” and that “they can achieve their dreams if they work hard.” But there is more, Derbez told Efe that he is in talks with Chespirito's son, Roberto Gomez Jr, to do “things together”, something related to the figure of the legendary Mexican actor. Alvaro Blanco