SuperXclusivo

SuperXclusivo is a Puerto Rican gossip/news show broadcast on WAPA-TV. The show, which premiered on January 24, 2000, featured a puppet character called La Comay —English: The Godmother (created, voiced and puppeteered by Kobbo Santarrosa)— alongside host and sidekick Héctor Travieso. La Comay presented gossips about celebrities and political figures, as well as news and social commentary on local issues. Through its entire run, SuperXclusivo maintained the top position in local ratings.^[1] On January 9, 2013, the show officially ended due to the resignation of Kobbo Santarrosa from WAPA-TV.

History

Previous to SuperXclusivo, Kobbo Santarrosa had created two characters similar to La Comay: La Cháchara (English: The Tittle-Tattler) and La Condesa del Bochinche (English: The Gossip Countess) which were featured on different shows and stations, but maintaining the same format of gossip and entertainment news. He created La Comay in 1995, featuring it first in segments within El Show de las 12 on Telemundo, and then on its own show called Exclusivo. During those times, Santarrosa was accompanied by host Eddie Miró. However, Santarrosa left Telemundo in 1999.

After leaving Telemundo, Santarrosa joined WAPA-TV with the show SuperXclusivo. He was joined by Cuban actor/comedian Héctor Travieso as host and journalist Leo Ferández III as her field reporter. Up until the show's cancellation, it has been the most watched television show in Puerto Rico, according to local ratings by Mediafax, for 13 years.^[2][3][4][5]

In recent years, various politicians have been to the show for interviews, or to reach the audience. Governors such as Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Luis Fortuño and Alejandro García Padilla have made several appearances as both a candidate and a recently sworn-in Governor, and so have several politicians, artists among others.^[6][7]

La Comay

La Comay was a stuffed lifesized puppet which represents a society matron who recounts rumors and gossip that people have told her and comments on social and political news, with Cuban soap opera actor Héctor Travieso by her side as her sidekick. On December 13, 2012, La Comay was interviewed by Wyatt Cenac of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on the success of the show as the most watched in Puerto Rican TV history.

2012 boycott and cancellation

On December 4, 2012 Santrarrosa, through his puppeteering of La Comay, conveyed rumors that the recent murder of a Puerto Rican citizen was related to a sexually promiscuous lifestyle.^[8] These comments sparked a backlash on social media, particularly on Twitter and Facebook, and started a movement to boycott the show.^[9] The boycott was led by gay activist Pedro Julio Serrano and the movement crowd sourced requests to the show's sponsors to remove their commercials from the show. Within a week, sixteen sponsors had removed their commercials from the show's timeslot, including Aquafresh, AT&T, Borden, Claro Puerto Rico, Triple-S, Sprint, and Walmart.^[10][11][12]

On January 8, 2013, after being asked to pre-record the show instead of presenting it live, Santarrosa abruptly left WAPA-TV approximately an hour before the show started. The program aired that day was recorded from January 7. On January 9, Santarrosa showed up to present his resignation and the program was substituted by a movie. Later in the night WAPA-TV confirmed Santarrosa's resignation.^[13]

Aftermath

Rumored return to television

After Santarrosa's resignation from WAPA-TV, various rumors arose to the return of La Comay to television. Initial rumors indicated that the character would make its TV comeback in Mega TV.^[14] The last known rumors have claimed that the gossiper will return to television in Univision Puerto Rico although neither stations have confirmed so.^[15][16] On November 25, 2014, Héctor Travieso publicly said that "La Comay will return in 2015" with him and Santarrosa at the helm, though it was not specified on which network or platform will the return take place.^[17] In an article published on February 4, 2015, rumors of the return of La Comay again surfaced with her comeback on Mega TV alongside her original entourage Héctor Travieso and Leo Fernández III as her sidekick and her field reporter, respectively.^[18]

Timeslot replacement

On February 11, 2013, Santarrosa's timeslot in WAPA-TV was replaced by a new live gossip show entitled Lo Sé Todo (English: I Know Everything) starring radio personality Rocky "The Kid" Gallart, Frankie Jay, Sylvia Hernández, Jessica Serrano and radio producer and Idol Puerto Rico judge, Topy Mamery, husband of Yolandita Monge. Jay, Serrano and Hernández, who worked previously as field reporters for Santarrosa in the final years of SuperXclusivo's run, continue to work as field reporters during the day as well as live on set during the show's broadcast.^[19][20][21] Just a month later, gossip journalist Pedro Juan Figueroa joined the show, leaving Dando Candela, the show's main competitor.^[22][23] His integration to the show reflected improved ratings since the show's premiere.^[24]

Travieso's transition to Dando Candela

Over a year after the cancellation of SuperXclusivo, Héctor Travieso was offered a contract with the show's main and sole competitor Dando Candela in Telemundo, which he accepted.^[25][26] According to a local source, Travieso himself called Kobbo Santarrosa before accepting, in which the latter encouraged Travieso to take the job.^[27] Travieso officially joined the cast of Dando Candela on January 13, 2014 and later quit on May 3, 2014, after shy of almost 4 months on the show.^[28] Rumors stated Travieso's resigning was due to a personal re-encounter with Kobbo Santarrosa during the 60th anniversary of WAPA-TV, where he worked with Santarrosa for 14 years, something that supposedly did not appeal the Telemundo management^[29] as well as a possible return to TV with Santarrosa, hinting the return of the gossip journalist character of La Comay.^[30]

La Comay: Aparente y Alegadamente

On September 23, 2014, Manolo Travieso-Hurst, son of Héctor Travieso announced the release of a documentary film based, which he co-produced with the film's director Andrés Ramírez, on the gossip puppet to be released on November 13, 2014. The film is mainly told via interviews conducted by Univision reporter Liza Lugo, who was a constant target of La Comay's. Those interviewed included public figures that were either involved or affected by La Comay or both as well, such as Carmen Jovet (who was a constant target as well), analyst Rubén Sánchez, former San Juan mayor Jorge Santini, radio host Jorge Seijo, LGBT activist Pedro Julio Serrano and others, especially the very own Kobbo Santarosa, interviewed in his Orlando home by Travieso-Hurst and Héctor Travieso, interviewed by Lugo to maintain an unbiased interview.^[31][32] The film's trailer premiered on October 9, 2014.^[33][34]

References