El Privilegio de Mandar (The Privilege to Rule) 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.
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.
History
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.
Synopsis
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.