The Stray Cat

The Stray Cat
Genre	Telenovela Romance Drama
Created by	Inés Rodena
Starring	Maite Perroni Daniel Arenas Erika Buenfil Laura Zapata Manuel Ojeda
Opening theme	"Vas a querer volver" by Maite Perroni
Country of origin	Mexico
Original language(s)	Spanish
No. of episodes	121
Production
Executive producer(s)	Nathalie Lartilleux
Location(s)	Ciudad Neza Bordo de Xochiaca (landfill) Mexico City, D.F. Taxco de Alarcón, Guerrero New York, NY (USA)
Running time	42-45 minutes
Production company(s)	Televisa
Distributor	Televisa
Broadcast
Original channel	Canal de las Estrellas
Picture format	480i SDTV 1080i HDTV
Original run	May 5, 2014 – October 19, 2014[1]
Chronology
Preceded by	Por siempre mi amor
Followed by	Muchacha italiana viene a casarse[2]
Related shows	La gata (1968) Rosa Salvaje (1987)

The Stray Cat (Spanish title: La Gata) is a Mexican telenovela produced by Nathalie Lartilleux for Televisa. It is a remake of the Venezuelan telenovela La Gata, produced in 1968 and Mexican telenovela Rosa Salvaje produced in 1987.^[3]

Maite Perroni and Daniel Arenas stars as the protagonists,^[4][5] with Erika Buenfil as the adult protagonist, while Jorge Poza, Mónika Sánchez^[6] and first actress Laura Zapata stars as the antagonists.^[7]

As of May 5, 2014, Canal de las Estrellas is broadcasting La Gata weekdays at 4:15pm, replacing Por Siempre mi Amor. Production of La Gata began on February 10, 2014. The last episode was broadcast on October 19, 2014 with Muchacha italiana viene a casarse replacing in the following day.

Univision broadcast La Gata since September 1, 2014, replacing De que te quiero, te quiero weeknights at 7pm/6c. The last episode was broadcast on February 13, 2015, with La sombra del pasado replacing it on February 16, 2015.^[8]

Plot

Maite Perroni is "La Gata"

The story takes place in the outskirts of Mexico City in Bordo de Xochiaca (a landfill), where a girl Esmeralda 12 years old who is always "disheveled and dirty" like a "Stray Cat" (una "Gata"). Esmeralda is a young neighborhood girl who grew up without her parents and learned to be happy with what little she had. She was raised from childhood by an elderly woman named Doña Rita who exploited her by making her go ask alms, sell candy and newspapers. Esmeralda could neither read nor write. She meets Pablo Martínez Negrete, a high society rich boy who teaches her to read and write and with whom she becomes friends. Since then Esmeralda notices that he is the first person to call her by her name and the first person who really truly cares about her. But Pablo's mother opposes his friendship with "The Stray Cat".

Several years later, Esmeralda grows up and becomes a beautiful young woman who still does not read nor write and has not changed since childhood. Pablo realizes that his feelings for The Stray Cat are more than that of a friend and feels confused as to what he feels for Esmeralda. Esmeralda starts looking for work, thanks to Pablo, as she does not want to keep asking alms and she does not want him to give her money. Lorenza, Pablo's mother, strongly opposes the friendship between Pablo and Esmeralda and alienates her from him. Pablo is pushed to fall in love with Mónica a girl who comes from "a good social position" and is also his "cousin".

Agustín, Pablo's father, convinces Pablo that he should study his masters abroad and marry Monica once he returns, a plot to separate him and Esmeralda. Pablo and Esmeralda decide to marry secretly before he goes abroad. From New York Pablo emails his father Agustín and asks him to help him fix travel papers for Esmeralda so she can reunite with him in New York. Pablo's father pretends to want to help him but has no interest in helping his son. Instead he plans to have Esmeralda kidnapped. Two men walk in to Doña Rita's hut where they find Esmeralda alone,there the two men grab her and carry her out wrapped in blanklet and throw Esmeralda into the trunk of a stolen car. Esmeralda's friend Damián is going to her hut when he notices that one of the men is carrying something. Damián calls and whistles to his friends. They drive away but are soon closed in by the carriage. Garabato tells them that if they mess with one of them they mess with all of them. Garabato and the gang scare of the men and force open the trunk and find Esmeralda wrapped in the blanket.

After several months Esmeralda gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Doña Rita who has always sought to benefit from "La Gata" forces her to marry Domenico "El Italiano" Almontem. Esmeralda having no other solution agrees to marry him only to purchase medicine for her children who are sick.

Fernando "El Silencioso" gets out of jail and vows to take revenge on those who locked him up injustly for using self-defense. Esmeralda later meets "El Silencioso", her biological father. He takes her into his house and promises her that he wants to be a father to her and a grandfather to her children. Pablo returns from abroad to marry Mónica believing Esmeralda had betrayed him. He believes that the twins are not his and that she has a relationship with El Silencioso. Esmeralda becomes a beautiful well-educated woman and is determined to fight for his love. The Stray Cat will have to use her strong character to get the love of Pablo back.

Cast

Confirmed in February 14, 2014.^[9][10]

Mexico broadcast

La Gata premiered on May 5, 2014, and earned 17.7 points of rating in its 4 p.m. time slot. It was the third highest rated telenovela of the evening on Canal de las Estrellas.^[11]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
• La Gata at the Internet Movie Database