El Chavo Makes Animated Debut… Sans Chilindrina

After what seemed like an endless wait, Univision has finally announced the Jan. 20 premiere of El Chavo del 8 animated series, the half hour series featuring -in cartoon form- all those friendly characters we, Mexicans, grew up with. But if you are a die-hard fan of El Chavo like myself, you will notice something odd in the following press statement:

Fans of the original series will be delighted to see the familiar characters that populate the neighborhood including: Quico, El Chavo’s best friend and frequent co-conspirator; Popis, the stuck-up little girl; Don Ramon, El Chavo’s perennial target of mischief and part-time father-figure; Doña Florinda, Quico’s mother; Professor Jirafales, her erstwhile suitor; Doña Clotilde, the neighborhood spinster; and Señor Barriga, the neighborhood landlord, among others.

What??? What about La Chilindrina? As it turns out La Chilindrina will be forever absent due to an ongoing dispute between María Antonieta de las Nieves and Roberto Gómez Bolaños on rights over the character. De las Nieves claims she should be entitled to monetary compensation if La Chilindrina (the character she brought to life in the television series) appears in the animated series. Roberto Gómez Bolaños claims that since he created the character, only he owns the rights to such character. This dispute still hasn’t been resolved, leaving us with an incomplete picture of the real vecindad.

All we can say about that is: Pi, pi, pi, pi, pi, pi, pi!