As an example, the 1976 episode "Festival de la Buena Vecindad - parte 2" includes a song that was supposedly registered by Carlos Villagrán after his departure from the cast, possibly causing the cancellation of the episode's distribution due to internal conflicts between Chespirito and Villagrán. Censorship: Televisa executives or Chespirito's relatives picked by hand episodes that shouldn't be distributed.This theory was supported by cast member Rubén Aguirre during an interview for Brazilian fan-site Fórum Chaves. Erased tapes: it's theorized that many early episodes from Chespirito's works had their master tapes wiped to make room for newer shows and other episodes, as Televisa executives did not expect that there would be demand for such material decades later.This is evidenced by the massive cuts done to the currently distributed episodes, as well as scene replacements done to hide video imperfections.
Unsurprisingly, many episodes from El Chavo del Ocho's sister series El Chapulín Colorado suffered the same fate. It's impossible to pinpoint the exact moment when these episodes were shelved, but it's believed that some - if not all - were still distributed until the late 80's, as evidenced by a pack sent to Brazilian network SBT in 1987, which included several now discontinued episodes. Although this means that the entirety of said productions is no longer legally available for viewing and acquisition, none of this material is considered lost and thus is not covered on this article.įrom over 250 episodes of El Chavo originally broadcasted between February 1973 and January 1980, 39 were absent from Televisa's most recent distribution package.
As the parties failed to reach an agreement and this contract was not renewed, the rights were ultimately returned to Chespirito's representative, effectively forcing Televisa to cease distribution of all productions it owns the copyright for. According to actor Edgar Vivar - best known for his role as vecindad owner Señor Barriga - this was the result of failed negotiations regarding a deal in which the network was originally allowed to use the characters for 50 years. On July 31st 2020, Televisa's rights to explore and sell productions featuring Chespirito's characters were lifted due to legal issues between the Mexican company and the comedian's heir - Roberto Gómez Fernández.
The show has experimented public acclaim in Latin America, with a notably large portion of its fanbase being comprised of viewers in Brazil. It focuses on the titular character "El Chavo," an orphan 8-year old child whose life is split between pestering his adult neighbors and getting in trouble with the other kids on the vecindad. "Los novilleros," one of the show's undistributed episodes.Įl Chavo del Ocho (1973-1975), later known as just El Chavo (1975-1980), is a Mexican sitcom based on characters by comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños, best known as "Chespirito" (a nickname meaning "Little Shakespeare").