El Privilegio de Mandar

Mexican political parody TV show

El Privilegio de Mandar (The Privilege to Rule, literally "The Privilege of Commanding") is a Mexican political parody broadcast by Televisa on Canal de las Estrellas. It started as a sketch on another Televisa show, called La Parodia, that parodies political, social and cultural events happening in Mexico. High ratings kept the show running. It was first broadcast on October 25, 2004, during La Parodia. Soon, the high success of the program encouraged the producers to separate it from the other show, so on January 3, 2005, it became an independent show. The show's title and theme song were inspired by the successful soap opera El Privilegio de Amar. Televisa broadcast what is considered the last episode of the series on July 9, 2006, just after the federal elections in Mexico. However, some of the actors who performed leading roles (such as Arath de la Torre, who played the role of presidential candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Roberto Madrazo) stated that in a few years, when political events have advanced, they will make a return to see how things are.

In September 2004, La Parodia was one of the most successful shows on Mexican television. Characters presented here first would later appear on El Privilegio de Mandar, like "Chente" and "Andrés Manuel". The idea of the name "Privilegio" emerged from a skit on the famous Mexican telenovela El Privilegio de Amar (The privilege of loving), so the main title was presented with golden letters and slide images, just like a telenovela. This show was first aired as a section on La Parodia, on Monday October 25, 2004, at 10pm with its first episode, "El Informe". This quickly became such a success that from January 3, 2005, it became a show in its own right, La Parodia now being broadcast on Sundays. In September of the same year, Alter Films released a DVD containing the first ten broadcast episodes of El Privilegio de Mandar. The show followed closely the world of the Mexican and even foreign politics, from the 2004 videoscandals and the Desafuero judges to the last 2006 Mexican general elections. During its broadcast, the show had several guest artists, like Consuelo Duval (from La Hora Pico and La Familia P. Luche). It won the 2005 TVyNovelas Award for Best Comic Program. The show made history as the first political parody ever aired in Mexico, where every single political person was parodied. On Saturday July 8, Televisa broadcast a special programme hosted by Mexican entertainer and actor Ernesto Laguardia, in which scenes were presented from the first episodes of the show, interviews with the actors and the people parodied, as well as "behind the scenes" specials. Televisa broadcast the last episode of what is considered the first season on July 9, 2006, just after the federal elections in Mexico. From 2004, there have appeared around 50 different characters. The January 7, 2011 edition of NuestroDetroit. com, however, reported that a second season may soon be in production with Reynaldo Lopez taking over executive producing duties. The report went on to say that at least four actors—de la Torre, the Ortega brothers, and Vale—will return to the series.

As a parody, it is kind of predictable knowing what will happen the next episode. The only thing the viewer has to do is follow the political news. For example, in 2004, Andrés Manuel López Obrador had problems with the law, confronting a desafuero judge, so in the show all the trouble was parodied for months. Not all the shows are directly related to real politics, although there is usually some political context. In February 2006, Bailando Por Un Sueño (Dancing for a Dream) was highest rating show on Televisa, El Privilegio de Mandar parodied the show as Bailando Por Un Hueso (Dancing for a Bone) a double meaning because Hueso in this context is an expression for an influence, the participants were the politicians dancing, with the idea that the winner would get some political position or influence as a result. On El Privilegio de Mandar, Mexico is parodied as "Colonia el Relaxo con x" ("Relaxo" means "mess" in Spanish. The real word is "relajo", but the "j" is changed to "x" like the one in "Mexico"), representing the bad organization of the political world in that country. The states are represented as "Manzanas" (blocks), and the president as the president of the neighbors' association. Many of the parodied names and places are word plays in Spanish, so they wouldn't be understood by many English or other languages speakers.

Andrés Manuel (Germán Ortega) — also known as El Peje — he is the parody of Party of the Democratic Revolution’s former candidate to the presidency , Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The logo of the party is parodied as El Sol Azteca referring to the sun in the yellow background and the prehispanic Aztec culture
Campa (Freddy Ortega) Ref. to Roberto Campa. He is the candidate to the presidency for the Partido Nueva Alianza
Canti (Carlos Espejel). Sometimes referred to as "Carlinflas", he is an inhabitant of Colonia el Relaxo. He represents the people from Mexico, formerly known as El Pueblo. His character is also the parody of a world famous Mexican comedian: Mario Moreno Cantinflas. Espejel played this character from 1982 to 1992, stopping because of the death of Cantinflas. He was offered to play it again in 2004, and after a while he accepted. Chente (Alfonso Villalpando) Chente is a short form for "Vicente" in Mexico (Vicente Fox Quesada, former President of Mexico). He is the president of the Colonia el Relaxo. Cuauhtémoc (Arath de la Torre) Is the first name of C. Cardenas, former candidate of the PRD for the presidency of Mexico (1988, 1994, 2000) and son of Lázaro Cárdenas del Río, president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. At first he resists the idea of Peje taking his place as candidate for the presidency but he gives him the chance. Felipe Calderón (Eduardo España) — also known simply as Felipe — he was the parody of the National Action Party’s (PAN) candidate to the presidency of Mexico, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, who is now President of Mexico. PAN party is referred to as los azules , parodying the blue color of the party’s logo. Sometimes is also represented as a piece of bread, because "pan" in Spanish means "bread". Jackson Ref. to Enrique Jackson, a congresist from PRI, as his last name is Jackson his recurrent gag was often dancing a choreography of Michael Jackson while the bass of Billie Jean is heard. La Jirafa (Yekaterina Kiev) A tall servant girl referred to as The Giraffe because of her height, she is the foil for Canti. She represents also the Mexican people when talking with Canti. She is a parody of Sara Garcia's character in Ahi esta el detalle, she always tries to keep Canti away from home as long as he only goes there to take dinner. Martita (Raquel Pankowsky) — also known as Martita Según — represents Former Mexican President Fox's wife, Martha Sahagún de Fox. She was a mandatory spouse that always tries to keep Chente on track and also sometimes she does her husband job. Roberto (Arath De La Torre) — also known as Madrazo — he is the parody of Roberto Madrazo, who was the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s candidate to the presidency of Mexico, and that political party's former leader. The party is referred to as tricolor, because the colours of the Mexican flag (green, white and red). Sodi (Freddy Ortega). It's the parody of Demetrio Sodi de la Tijera, PAN's former candidate for the head of government in the Federal District. Vocero (Jorge Arvizu, El Tata). He represents the spokesman of the former president, Vicente Fox. He currently tries to fix any error of his boss by appearing suddenly and saying "Lo que Chente quiso decir" ( actually Chente is telling ) and said a thing different than the original thing Fox said.