Verano azul

This serial's part of my most pleasant memories from childhood. I saw it just once, I was about 8 at that time (1982), when it was broadcasted here in Yugoslavia. I strongly remember the great, warm atmosphere of Spanish coast, sweet old fisherman, nice, tender smile of Maria Garralon (but when I saw her recently in "Companeros", of course I couldn't connect her with that young teacher from "Verano Azul", it was just IMDb that brought me to it by her name). I remember that it had been broadcasted on Sundays at 1 PM and that I cried when it was finished.!Ojala! if I could see it once again!

I grew up with this series too. In Bulgaria it was such a success that the Bulgarian National TV repeated it five or six times. We all loved it. I remember all the kids from the neighbourhood playing "Verano Azul" day after day without getting bored or anything of the kind. Of course, all the girls were in love with "Javi" /Juan Jose Artero/ and "Pancho" /Jose Luis Fernandez/. I wish I could see or meet them now. Them and all of the cast. For me "Verano Azul" is the best film for children ever made. It portrays every important moment and every significant value in a child's life. I wish I could see the series again. In the meantime I can only say: "Gracias, chicos! Habeis sido estupendos! Os quiero y os quiero conocer para agradecerles de todo corazon todos los momentos felizes que me regalasteis! Un monton de besos!"

This show was aired in Argentina somewhere around 1985 (can't recall the exact year). I totally loved it from the beginning and to the end. Being in Argentina I never got any information on the show other than what you see on the screen. There were no notes in the papers about it (that I remember at least) or anything else, so getting any info on the show was impossible. That was years before the Internet era of course. What a great surprise to find out now that it was a great success in Spain in it's day and that it is still remembered by many. What a great show, how much fun it was and what a great set of values it teached. Aguante Chanquete viejo y peludo, carajo!

Verano Azul, the 80's Spanish TV series was also very popular in Portugal. By that time, there was only one TV channel in Portugal and, therefore, this series was seen by a whole generation. Even the series theme stays in our memory. I cannot forget all the waiting I did to see the new adventures of those kids. It was the first show that approached several 'tabu' issues (we were in the 80s...) like sex, period, etc...

I heard in the news that a DVD set of the series is about to be released here in Portugal and, probably, in Spain. It's a great chance to meet again those characters that were part of our youth. Note: none of the actors is still performing. 'Chanquete' died of lung disease in 2000. The series' girls are now nurses at a Madrid hospital. Piraña is a University teacher (informatic systems) and Pancho had a (unsuccessful) boys band in Madrid.

To those of us who were kids or teenagers in the early 80s in Spain, "Verano Azul" –or Blue Summer, in a literal English translation- brings back many fond memories of what our childhood/adolescence was like.

There were two TV channels only, no home computers, play-stations, i-pods or mobile phones. And we kids would spend the whole day in the street playing ball, marbles, hide-and-seek, catch-me-if-you-can and many other games that are now extinct. Or we would pop to the local bar to play the pinball machines while having a Coke or a Fanta. We used to read Spanish comics, ride our bikes or play charades, and always had a great time. Also in those days summers were proper summers, before climate change came to screw things up. Our school summer vacation ran from mid-June to mid-September, and you hardly would see a rainy day in between. I hadn't seen the series for almost twenty years now, and when these past few days I had the chance of watching it again, my eyes filled with tears. I have been watching as many as three or four episodes every day, and couldn't get enough. Many things that I had forgotten suddenly popped back in my memory in that so well know effect that gives us the feeling that it happened only yesterday. I realise now how good this series really is because it is so realistic and well-made, with absolutely credible performances –those kids had real talent, they did-, typical teenage problems and situations within the context of the era, cultural icons, and the humour provided by Tito and Pirana, the youngest members of the gang. Because I am the same age as the actor who plays Tito, seeing him now is like seeing myself thirty years ago. These two cheeky kids always steal the show with their lines and with the innocent and plucky things they do.

I knew that the series had been a huge success in South-America but I had no idea about Bulgaria and Poland, and the reviews posted by people from these two countries have left me amazed. They say the show gave them one of the very first glimpses of the West and what kids were like in the free world, and they also say that the minute it would start on TV the streets became empty. I would have never imagined it.

This series is perfect in every way, and it is a good thing they never made a sequel (the typical thing with the youngsters returning to the village two or three years later and getting together again) because it surely could never be as good as the original.

There is a Spanish saying that goes "Good things, if they are brief, they are twice as good".

And it is true.