Chepe Fortuna

The basis for a good telenovela was there, but the temptation to make fun of costeños was apparently stronger. Comedy is clever, but stereotypes are easy - and EVERYONE is a stereotype in this telenovela. They did a good job at world-building (even though they didn't accurately build the costeño world that they were going for), and the plot is interesting, but it's heavily undermined by how hard they are constantly reaching for a laugh. Colombian audiences of the 2000s seemed to adore but I don't really know why other than they wanted to laugh at the marginalized. The pacing is also very bad, with one single day dragging on for 20 episodes, and then repeated time jumps that keep rushing the plot so we can get to the end. The best thing about this was honestly seeing Javier Jattin shirtless and listening to Julio Meza's singing voice.