Seriéphiles who want to show off their national fiction have an obligatory subject with ‘Tell me how it happened’, the longest-running series on Spanish television whom we will soon say goodbye to forever.
Our particular ‘Those Wonderful Years’ was born in 2001 and has 22 seasons behind it. TVE can boast of a series informative, dramatic, funny and endearing with which millions of viewers have connected in more than 20 years of history.
Follow the adventures of the Alcántara while they themselves live the history of Spain was, for a long time, a real pleasure. But series lovers live in a terrible sentence. New series appear every year, treasures to enjoy and collect. In my case, ‘Tell me how it happened’ was relegated to that place called ‘I have to catch up’.
Recently, at last, I was able to meet her again… And this is what I found.
Sign on your macro story
‘Tell me how it happened’ began its journey with a great event: the victory of Massiel at Eurovision. And he finished his first season with another main course: the arrival of the man to the moon.
Always has been very powerful in historical events that he chose and how the characters lived them, often even being protagonists without clashing with the verisimilitude of the plot.
In season 22 that we said goodbye to this year, the same thing happens. We are in the years 1993-94 and we have that Roldán escape, that Toni, as general director of Information Relations of Moncloa, has to weather; we have the rise of movement skinhead and the terrible murder of Lucrecia Pérez; but we also have ETA or issues that directly concern feminism and equality…
‘Tell me how it happened’ had two directions: to become an eternal soap opera, even a bit sappy; either evolve with the demands of the public Spanish, increasingly conversant in series, with fiction from all over the world at the reach of a click. Well, over the years, its scriptwriters and especially coordinators such as Eduardo Ladrón de Guevara, Alberto Macías, Ignacio del Moral or Patrick Buckley have known how to maintain the bar.
Although perhaps the casual and humorous tone that the series had in its first seasons has suffered. The characters have gone from being mere citizens to co-participating in crucial events. This has given the plots a lot of intensity, making it a adult and committed series.
the children have grown
Of 1968 to 1994, 25 years have passed since Carlitos (Ricardo Gómez) began to narrate the facts with his childish vision. Everything has happened in this series: from the business lurches of Antonio (Imanol Arias) to the departure and return of Inés (Irene Visedo); from marital crises to the erratic vocations of its protagonists.
The characters have evolved a lot, not only because of the maturity that comes from the simple fact of growing up, but also because the plots have brought them face to face with ghosts that they didn’t even imagine could exist. The fight against drugs of Inés or Carlos or the female empowerment lived by Mercedes (Ana Duato) have been some examples.
Although I do think the essence of those characters has been maintained. Above all, there is the fundamental pillar that Herminia (María Galiana) supposes, a practically immortal woman born in 1899 and who in 1994 remains like a rose. Surely, when ‘Tell me how it happened’ began, nobody could imagine that it would last 22 seasons on the air and, at this point, nobody is willing to give up one of the most emblematic characters, defended by an actress like Galiana.
Of course, the passage of time has made these children grow up and become adults with their own families. The universe of ‘Tell me how it happened’ has expanded little by little but surely. And the children of Toni, Inés and Paquita are no longer children either, but adolescents who are the protagonists of hard times, which bring us fresher plots and conflictsairing out some moth-eaten cabinets.
A generational change that does not make us forget that some of the best actors in our country have gone through the chapters of this Grupo Ganga saga. Fernando Fernán Gómez, Tony Leblanc, Juan Echanove, Terele Pávez are some prominent examples. A level that remains very high with recent additions such as Nacho Fresneda or Kiti Mánver, with that lost sister of Mercedes who is giving so much play.
Season 23, the end of ‘Tell me how it happened’
After having told us about the social, economic and political transformation of our country, having gone through economic and family bankruptcies, having embraced more and more a tone thriller that has become the inalienable genre of the most cutting-edge fiction, ‘Tell me how it happened’ not only maintains, but also has improved in its plots and twists. But, does the audience accompany him?
the era of streaming It has taken its toll, like all open TVs. They have to deal with that premise that used to be ‘normal’ and now we try to avoid at all costs: the dictatorship of schedules. Why does someone have to tell us what time and what day we have to enjoy fiction? In addition, the viewers are tremendously unfaithful lovers and difficult to please. Even if a product is of indisputable quality, we get tired of that facility, we look for new references.
the top of the Compartir in this series it was lived in season three, with a screen share of 41.4% (now it is impossible to imagine that almost half of the people who are watching TV are all yours). Season 22, on the other hand, has garnered a average 9.3%. This terrible difference has not gone unnoticed by those responsible for public television always on the wire of controversy. We have a great series but what good is that if no one watches it?
Very recently we learned that the producer and the chain they work on a miniseries, a season that could have no more than nine chapters but that closes the plots. It would start shooting this winter and could count on the return of some characters like Carlos or Karina. And although many of us stop following it or have become hooked sporadically, we will surely follow the end of ‘Tell me how it happened’ as if we were saying goodbye to something very much ours. Let’s hope it’s as dignified and grand as it deserves.