Casados con hijos (Argentine TV series)

Casados con hijos is the Argentine remake of the American television sitcom Married... with Children (1987–1997) created by Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt. It was originally broadcast from 12 April 2005 to 28 December 2006 on the Telefe channel, consisting of 212 episodes across two seasons. It was shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The series stars Guillermo Francella, Florencia Peña, Érica Rivas, Marcelo de Bellis, Darío Lopilato, and Luisana Lopilato.
Filming began in January 2005, and on 12 April the show premiered on Telefe, with a measurement of 28.9 index points of television audience in Argentina in its first episode. However, the audience could not be maintained and the measurements remained at an average of 18 points, having reached a minimum figure of 7.7 points. After being moved to a different time, viewership of re-runs of the first season managed to surpass the original broadcasts, making it one of the most watched programs of 2005 and 2006.
The success of the episodes already broadcast forced the television station to carry out a second season. It premiered on 14 August 2006 at 9:30 p.m. (UTC-3), reaching an average of 33.3 audience index points, being one of the most-watched fictional series that year. In total, the series has 212 episodes, with 137 in its first season and 75 in the second.
The success of the series transcended the borders of Argentina, and it was also broadcast by local channels in Uruguay. It also managed to be one of the most viewed series in Paraguay, Peru and Romania, where it was broadcast under the name Familia Argento.
The show has become a cult series on Argentine television and Telefe has reaired it from 2007 to the present, broadcasting episodes at random with a moderate audience, both in the first afternoon, as in prime time.
In Casados con hijos, the adventures of the Argento family and the environment that surrounds them take place within the neighborhood of Bajo Flores in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their neighbors are a newly married banking couple named Dardo and María Elena Fuseneco.
Pepe answers the door to his neighbors, the Fusenecos, who have noticed that his furniture is covered with sheets, typical of people moving out. Moni, Paola and Coqui come to the door, singing "Presente" by Vox Dei, and tell their neighbors that they are moving to a farm in Santa Fe, Argentina, near where Moni's mother lives. They begin a farewell toast.
That night, Pepe organizes a "picada" for his neighbors, who went to the Argento's. At one point, Dardo's cell rings, he was the manager of the bank where he and his wife work, and he informs them that they were raffled to go to work at a bank branch in Paris, France. When Dardo communicates to the Argentos, they do not believe him, and refer to an alleged revenge for the joke they made him, but Dardo forgets his cell phone at the Argento house and receives a call from his Manager that Pepe answers, confirming the time of the trip.
The next day, between tears and goodbyes, Pepe and Moni say goodbye to them, while Coqui and Paola accompany them to the Ministro Pistarini International Airport. After saying goodbye, the new neighbors, Pablo Echarri and Mariela Fernández, move into the house. There is an introductory dialogue paralleling that of the first episode of the series, indicating that the new neighbors are in many ways the same as the previous ones.
At the end of the recording of the first season, the episodes were not reaching the expected ratings. In reruns, the series became famous and acclaimed by the public. This is why after almost a year of repetitions in most cases seen for the first time by the public, it was necessary to start a second season. The set of the series had been disassembled and removed from the place, since other series were recorded there. The setting for the set had to be reassembled and the cast had to be reunited.
The set was modified, adopting a lighter color palate in the second season, becoming more tidy, and appearing more like a wealthy middle-class house. Additionally, the show's microphones, sometimes visible in the first season, were better hidden.
In the first season, almost all the chapters respected the original script of the American series Married... with Children, while in the second season there were more changes, such as combining content from several original episodes into one, or reconstructing the scripts to achieve a story more adapted to the local humor.
In the second season Pepe became less aggressive towards women, and insulted people less. In the second season his appearance was changed to look more like a middle-class person. In a similar vein, Moni began to impose herself a little more in the second season. On the other hand, Dardo was changed from a more serious man to a more comic and liberated character. This partially was due to a change of actors in the original American series for the equivalent character.
The series' opening changed for the second season. In the first season, the opening was a sequence which introduced the characters through in cartoon form. In the second season, the opening switched to live-action clips of the characters from various episodes.
Towards the end of 2018, Guillermo Francella and Marcelo de Bellis announced that they adapting the series in a theatrical version, which they projected would premiere around 2019. Due to work commitments by Florencia Peña, the project did not materialize. On 2 August 2019, it was confirmed that the series members signed a contract for the return of Casados con hijos.
On 1 December 2019, Florencia Peña announced on the Susana Giménez program that the entire cast would be included, except for Violeta, the dog who played Fatiga, who had died.
When, at the beginning of 2020, Érica Rivas did not appear as part of the cast, some ticket-buyers demanded refunds. Rivas indicated that the writers called her a feminazi after she asked for changes in the script to jokes about the physical appearance of a female character. She also clarified that she had not disclosed this information to the press, and also demanded an explanation from the production companies in charge of the project. RGB Entertainment, Gustavo Yankelevich, and Telefe pointed out that there was no signed contract and that the separation was due to "artistic disagreement". Finally, in April 2020, the absence of the actress in the play was confirmed.
The play was to premiere on 12 June 2020 and continue through July and August, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed until January 2021. Given the persistence of the pandemic, the production company made the decision to cancel the play on 15 October 2020.
Casados con hijos finally premiered at Teatro Gran Rex on 5 January 2023, filling the 3,200-person venue for the debut. The two-month run of the stage play was financially successful and extra dates were added to the register for Carnaval.