Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real
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| Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real | |
|---|---|
| Format | Unitary |
| Country of origin | Mexico |
| Production | |
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Canal de Las Estrellas (XEW-TV), Univision |
| Original run | 1985 – present |
Mujer, Casos de La Vida Real is a unitary television show produced by Hispanic television giant Televisa. The show first emerged shortly after the Mexican earthquake of 1985 as a method to assist victims of the natural disaster. Though its conception was not exactly intended Televisa decided to keep the concept of the program after seeing the outpour of response from the Mexican public. Throughout its first few years the show presented light hearted themes such as love stories and lost loves, as during the 1980s such topics as domestic violence had still not been accepted in Mexican society. One such program from this time depicted a man shutting up a woman and threatening to beat her. But with the turn of the decade the themes of the show took a more gritty turn presenting more and more cases of rape, incest, child abuse, prostitution, domestic violence, and other elements of life turning it into a haven for the preaching of social reform in Mexico and thus was usually first in line to discuss topics that were usually kept out of the public eye.
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[edit] Formats
The original format of the show usually consists of two cases per episode, though some one hour 'special cases' are presented from time to time. In each episode Silvia Pinal would appear before the public and discuss the social aspect surrounding the case the audience was about to view. Afterwards she would return with comments of the featured characters as well as present her own personal view on what should be done to prevent such events from happening or, in some cases, what should be done to allow them to happen. In other programs an expert would appear as a guest to offer advice on what a person should do if they were to find themselves in that situation.
Throughout the 1990s and a period lasting from 2000-2006 this was the format that the show followed but was soon changed in May of 2006 with the new mini-series format. In this new format, instead of individual cases, various cases are presented in a continuous mini series that runs throughout the weekdays (Monday - Friday) with one hour each day. This new format brought an end to the usually gritty and at times racy material presented by the program and instead made way for more representation of love stories and lost loves presented by the show in its infancy.
Reaction to this new format has been mixed. Many fans[who?] argue that now with this new continuous mini-series it is not possible to understand the cases without watching every single episode which many just don't have time for, while other fans argue that the mini-series format allows for a more accurate representation of cases as opposed to the bear minimum used by the thirty minute individual cases.
[edit] Casos de La Vida Real: Edicion Especial
In the last half of the 1990s and until 2003 Televisa also offered another separate program, a branch of sorts to the Mujer, Casos de La Vida Real franchise. This branch entitled Cases de La Vida Real: Edicion Especial offered once a month cases which are said to have been seen more urgent to the production, although not much difference is seen between the 'special edition' branch and the original program by the public itself. This branch presented cases in the same format as the original program but contained procariously more graphic and explicit material than the original. The special edition was viewed once a month by Mexican audiences on Saturday evenings and Friday evenings by American audiences before being retired sometime in late 2003.
[edit] Similar programs
With the success of Mujer, Casos de La Vida Real evident with its more than twenty years of life, Televisa's main competitor created a similar program which they entitled Lo Que Callamos Las Mujeres. Though this program basically serves the same purpose as the 'Mujer' the material is slightly more professional than the low budget settings offered by 'Mujer' and also the episodes revolve more around an actual plot aspect rather than simply the case itself. Nonetheless Silvia Pinal lashed out at the program claiming it was no more than a complete copy of her own and that audiences would see this and no doubt turn away from it. But with more five years of life Lo Que Callamos Las Mujeres has proved Pinal's prediction wrong and the program shows no signs of stopping production.
[edit] Recent news
Most recently news was released that Televisa would only start airing Mujer, Casos de La Vida Real on Saturday evenings starting in January 2008 thus possibly it's mini-seris format. At first it was believed that the show was to be cancelled but later was denied by Pinal who informed the press of the plan for her show as well as stated that she thought Televisa "knew what it was doing." This news has caused excitement among some fans at the possible return of the original format of the show that was most prominent throughout the 1990s but only time will tell what the show's definite future will be.
[edit] Contact
The production of the show can be contacted with propective cases by mail or e-mail.
Once received, prospective cases are reviewed by Pinal and her production team. It is said that the production sends responses to those cases that are not possible for dramatization.
