El Chavo del Ocho

"El Chavo del Ocho" has been my favorite Spanish-speaking show. It was like a ritual to me seeing this hilarious show every single day. It's about a Vecindad ("neighborhood") in which an orphan, called Chavo (Mexican equivalent word for lad or kid), lives. He is eight years old (played by a then fortyish actor) and has no parent. He is always starved and lacks of proper hygiene. He shares his live with the other dwellers of the vecindad.

Part of the success of the show is that it's full of colorful characters played by gifted and talented actors. My favorite is "Don Ramón" played by late Mexican actor Ramón Valdez. "Kiko" was also hilarious. The rest of the characters are good, though. If you understand Spanish, you will love this show.

El Chavo del 8 is a an almost perfect tv comic show. It could make you laugh and cry, which is for me a real good combination. My grandparents know and enjoy the show, my parents also do, I love it, and my neighbor of 3 years old won't stop laughing when he watches it. This might just give you a perspective of how long-lasting it's charming is. El chavo, kiko, don ramón, mr. barriga, and everybody else conform a superb cast, and they have made laugh millions for nearly thirty years. No other tv show has had such a great impact in Latin America than El Chavo, and that's easy to understand if you know it. My favorite character is Don Ramón, played wonderfully by Ramon Valdez, but this doesn't make the others mediocre, 'cause they're all more than excellent. Watch it pal, if you have the chance, you won't regret it.

Hard to believe that 40 years old actors can play 8 years old characters and with flawless performance capture ingenuity and mischievousness... But they did.

The casting during the years 1973 throughout 1978 was just perfection... Praises for Ramon Valdez, who was by far the best of them. This is a comedy that has become an instant classic of all times (specially all the seasons until 1979). At the same level of white humor comedies like "I love Lucy","Three is company" or "Alf" Most of the jokes are so clean, and smart. Too bad that many of them are untranslatable. This show is recommended for all audiences and all ages, and trust me everyone will enjoy it. Great Talent displayed for all the casting including the show creator Roberto Gomez Bolanos (chespirito) "the little Shakespeare".I give the show 10 stars hands down.

Brazilian TV stations are competent in doing their own productions, but El Chavo is probably the most sucessful TV show in Brasil since the eighties. I born in 1981 and I can't remember my life without this show being reprised every single day here, and everytime I watch the same shows, with the same jokes, I laugh out loud because they're so funny, but sometimes they almost make us cry, because Chavo reality isn't so different from many poor people in Brasil. It's an amazing show, it is.

This show is not the most recognized show in all of Latin America for nothing. Its simple slapstick family-oriented humor and colorful characters made it an instant classic from day one since it first aired back in the early seventies and is until now and for many years to come, one of the most aired shows in history. It's easy to see why, just watch one episode and you'll be hooked. El Chavo has slapstick humor but it's also a show with a lot of heart that children and grownups have loved for 33 years since the show first aired. First of there's the title character, Chavo which is Mexican slang for "kid", an orphaned eight-year old boy who "hides" inside his trademark barrel. He is not the brightest bulb but is very simple-minded and is always on an empty stomach. Then there's his best friend, whom he sometimes beats up for being a smart-ass, Quico, a spoiled nine year old boy who sometimes teases Chavo with toys. For ex: Chavo is playing with an improvised toy that he himself made and as soon as Quico sees him, he runs back to his house and comes out with a better more souped-up version of the toy Chavo's playing with, or he could tease him with food, being that Chavo is always starving and is the first thing on his mind, despite of it all Quico is his best friend. Quico is the second most hilarious character on the show, (Don Ramón being the most hilarious) his unique expressions and mannerisms and his large bulging cheeks that look like grapefruits in his mouth are out of this world. There's also Chilindrina, a somewhat tomboyish, nine-year old girl, who wears spectacles without glasses, who is a little smarter than Chavo and Quico, and sometimes messes with their heads a little bit, but has a secret crush on Chavo. Her father Don Ramón, is a man in his late 40's who is unemployed and never pays his bills. He's grumpy and short-fused, especially with Chavo and Quico, who get on his nerves the most. Don Ramón is my favorite character. Ramón Valdez, the actor who portrays him, was a natural on this role and had a very natural sense of humor and charisma which made him perfect for the role of "Don Ramón". Doña Florinda, Quico's mother, is an upper-class wannabe who thinks she's better than all of her neighbors in the "vecindad" but lives off her dead husband's life insurance with her young boy, Quico, but is in a somewhat better economical position nonetheless than the rest of her neighbors. She has a special dislike for Don Ramón, considering him vulgar and common, and whenever Quico screams, she runs out and slaps Don Ramón across the face assuming he's the one that made him cry, which sometimes he is, but because Quico got on his last nerve. Then there's the schoolteacher, Prof. Jirafales, a school teacher who must be about 6'8 tall and thus, is the target of many jokes from the students. His last name is a play on his massive height meaning something like Giraffish. Señor Barriga, or Mr. Stomach if you literally want to translate his last name, is an obese man who is the owner of the "vecindad" and who is always knocking on Don Ramón's door asking for the rent he never pays, and coincidentally, always gets hit with an object that Chavo happens to be throwing or swinging around at the time he arrives. Finally, Doña Clotilde or La Bruja (The Witch) del 71. A fifty-something year old woman who is unmarried and is head over heels for Don Ramón. All of these characters, who were probably born to play their roles, make this show one of the best things to ever come out of Spanish TV. Don't miss it! 10 out of 10.