Year 1999. A still innocent Spain that was recovering from the ravages of 1992 hallucinated with an American series at its best, ‘Friends’, which was broadcast at that time on Canal +: It was the epitome of nineties humor, the highest point of that mixture of continuous auctions, very marked characters, iconic phrases and measured transgression. Overnight, everyone wanted their Chandler and their Monica. Many have tried, but only one managed to make its way “honoring” and, at the same time, creating a new type of Spanish humor that would evolve to this day: ‘7 vidas’.
I missed so long without talking to you
After all, that ‘7 lives’ was inspired by ‘Friends’ (those sofas in the cafeteria, those two floors where everything happened) beyond their possibilities is something that should not take us by surprise. Even a few years later, ‘I am Bea’ would borrow scenes to reproduce them as is. However, beyond jokes and situations, the series was able to go further, find a new way of making patriotic self-referential humor thanks to his recording with a live audience that indicated where they were going well and where they were not, turning a then-62-year-old character actress into a TV star in the process. ‘Friends’ would never have dared.
‘7 lives’ was a continuous flow of plots and actors: instead of six well-established characters throughout its 204 episodes, about twenty were part of the gang, from Willy Toledo’s Richard to Carmen Machi’s Aída, which would later get its own spin-off (which surpassed the original in chapters, but not in quality). But there were three characters who managed to trick the viewer, each one in a different stage of the series: Paco, Sole and Dianathe failed actress who came to play a starring role in the unforgettable ‘Empty classrooms, full hearts’.
sole, interpreted by the always immortal Amparo Baró (although it was originally going to be a man, Ramón Barea), he was the soul of ‘7 lives’ from its second season, after a series of episodes in which his personality was not sufficiently defined. It was then that he started to talk about his friendship with Fidel Castro, to deal smacks and to become the television milestone that was. The actress (who, by the way, did not have a hair in red) said that the kids asked her for spanks on the street. There is no greater recognition of success than that.
If you give me what I lost, I’ll give you what you ask
‘7 Lives’ was so fluctuating that they immediately forgot about the initial premise (David wakes up from a coma in which he has been in for 18 years after 23-F) to focus on the loves and heartbreaks of the gang in episodes that started with 40 minutes and ended up exceeding an hour, the typical pain of Spanish sitcoms. And, accustomed as we were to white and family comedies like ‘Family doctor’, ‘Farmacia de guardia’ or ‘Pepa y Pepe’, It was a complete cultural revolution.
It’s not that ‘7 lives’ was the height of transgression, far from it, but it was a declaration of intent. It was one of the first comedies that felt young, It was not made with strict rules to please all strata of society, treating all issues with decorum, nor did it have any qualms about talking about sex, politics or religion. using, revising and deconstructing Spanish topics. And, why not say it, plagiarizing jokes that worked on other sites: for example, they repeated one of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s in ‘Land as you can!’ but using Eto’o and the Frutero. It was another era!
Perhaps his references to the news of the time and some plots at this point more than surpassed turn it into a time capsule, but it’s far from stale. You have the proof right now on Netflix, which has uploaded the 15 seasons divided into 12, including the fabulous 200th live episode in which most of the iconic characters returned to the series one last time: it was too late. The audience was too low by the standards of 2006 (although it exceeded four million viewers, for which now any channel would kill) and Telecinco canceled it only four episodes later. In fact, the last one is a normal episode for which they rerecorded a final joke in which Amparo Baró assured that “Sometimes… I hear laughter”.
I am the key to your door and I have seven lives
Behind the cameras, it was not all love, of course: when Javier Cámara decided that it was time to end Paco, Amparo Baró refused to speak to him anymore. “When I left the series, he never forgave me. Never. It was a very sad conversation,” the actor commented years later, after the death of the actress. It’s not the only disappointment, but if you’re waiting for us to talk about the star clash in modern times, it’s not your lucky day. And it is that Willy Toledo and Toni Cantó did not get along badly during filming (“I wasn’t so attractive before,” the now-political man came to recognize) despite what it may seem.
Gonzalo de Castro tried to revive the series some time later, but it was already late and everyone was on their own: “It was tried, but anyway, this no longer makes sense.” AND Without Amparo Baró, it didn’t make any sense, no matter how many actors he had: Blanca Portillo, Paz Vega, Javier Cámara, Carmen Machi, Yolanda Ramos, Santi Rodríguez… All, at the same time, in the same series. Amazing.
In the end slaps, jokes, plots very similar to each other, mythical characters from history remain to be remembered of our audiovisual and three initial songs that show the change that Spain had between 1999 and 2006: from Emilio Aragón to El Canto del Loco. This was ‘7 vidas’, the series ready to start a change in the hooliganism of the Spanish series which is still influential to this day. And it’s on Netflix, just one click away. Whether you lived it at the time or not, it is time to repeat this trip.
In Espinof | 38 Spanish series that you can watch online for free