Amor en custodia (Mexican telenovela)

Amor en Custodia Pasiones Prohibidas
Developed by	Emilia Lamothe
Starring	Margarita Gralia Sergio Basañez Paola Núñez Andrés Palacios Fabiana Perzabal Carmen Madrid Veronica Merchant Irene Arcila
Narrated by	Margarita Gralia
Opening theme	"Abre tu Corazón" Olga Tañón
Country of origin	Mexico
No. of episodes	236
Production
Executive producer(s)	Emilia Lamothe Mario O. Garcés José Solano Román Villaseñor
Running time	48 minutes
Release
Original network	TV Azteca
Original release	September 12, 2005 – August 11, 2006
External links
Website

Amor en Custodia is a Mexican television drama, inspired by the popular Argentine telenovela of the same name, and developed and produced by Emilia Lamothe. Amor en Custodia focuses on and satirizes the lives of socialite teens and young adults growing up in Mexico city. It deals with sexuality, drugs, money, jealousy and other issues.

It first aired on June 19, 2005 in Mexico City, on Canal 7, and was broadcast nationally a day later by TV Azteca. The pilot episode was also made available as a free download on the series' official website.^[1]

The series was first shown in the United States by Azteca America on July 18, 2005, and the final episode of the final season was broadcast in Mexico on September 12, 2008 and in the USA on October 3.

Amor en Custodia holds the record for longest TV series in Mexico, with eleven seasons and 280 episodes.^[2]

It has been shown in more than 13 countries, including the USA, Europe, Japan, Thailand, and Latin America, and has been translated into English, French, Japanese, and German.

Production

Conception

The project was originally intended as a film, to be made by Zeta Films, with La Mujer de Mi Hermano's creator Jaime Bayly set to write the screenplay, actress Angélica Aragón to star as Paz Achával Urién, and Bárbara Mori to portray Paz's daughter Barbara. The film never went into production and was ultimately canceled.

The project was later redesigned as a TV-movie, for Televisa, but again the production was canceled.

Development of the show, this time as a TV series to be shown on TV Azteca, finally began on January 5, 2005, when TV Azteca gave it a put pilot commitment, with Emilia Lamothe as writer and executive producer.^[3] In February 2005, the network confirmed the pilot order, and Mario O. Garcés was named as co-writer.^[3]

Music

Pop singer Alexandre Pires was credited with the music selection used on Amor en Custodia, though the cast played a part in the choice, and even recorded some of their own songs for inclusion.

In contrast to his usual style of Spanish independent music and alternative rock artists, Pires largely used pop songs for the Mexican version, and current Top 40 hits for the American version. He explained, "Since the show is based on high class profiled families, I'm going for more pop-ish sounds, for the USA version. I want to attract new viewers, so I will be using some top 40 English songs from the best artists today and from great artists internationally."^[4]

The opening theme chosen was Abre tu Corazón, performed by Olga Tañón.

Broadcasting history

Originally scheduled to air on June 13, 2005, the initial episode of Amor en Custodia was delayed by a week. As a result, the previously planned two-hour season special of La Academia was edited down to one hour to accommodate it. It finally made its television debut on Canal 7, in Mexico City, on June 19, 2005 at 10:00 p.m. TV Azteca broadcast the first episode nationally the following day, at 9:00 p.m.

In the United States, Amor en Custodia premiered on Azteca America, on July 18, 2005 at 9:00pm, a month after the original Mexican showing.

The first episode was provided as a free download at the series' official website on June 30, 2005.

At the end of the first season, TV Azteca canceled the Canal 7 showing due to poor reception by the public.

The series was suspended in Argentina between November and January, over a dispute concerning the rights to the story. During the suspension, TV Azteca repeated the first episodes, hoping that the series would later return. However, it did not return to the air in Argentina, except for the last episodes of the first season.

Cast and characters

Featuring four main character roles, the majority of the cast was assembled from January to March, 2005. Bárbara Mori was originally cast as the female lead, Barbara, but due to scheduling problems she was forced to pull out and was replaced by Paola Núñez.^[5] Margarita Gralia was then signed to play Paz.^[6]

Andrés Palacios auditioned for one of the lead roles, Pacheco, but was made second choice after Sebastián Estevanez. However, before filming began, Estevanez had to pull out for personal reasons and Palacios got the part.^[7]

With just a month before the scheduled release of the first episode, Sergio Basañez was cast to play Paz's love interest, Manuel.^[8]

In the 8th season, and some of 11th season, Sebastián Estevanez appeared as Barbara's boyfriend and bodyguard.

The rest of the cast were chosen as the series continued, and by early July 2008 casting stopped as the series was coming to an end.^[9]

Cast

(*) Transferred from "guest star" status to main cast mid-season.

Reception

Mexico and USA ratings

In Mexico the first episode of the series was watched by 4.12 million viewers, ranking as the number 2 most watched show of the night, just behind TV Azteca's "La Academia". In the USA it was viewed by under 2 million, ranking at number 12 overall on the night, and number 1 Spanish-language show.

With a first-week figure of over 12 million viewers, the show became the most watched show on TV Azteca and Azteca America, and also the highest-ranking Spanish-language television show for the years 2005 to 2007.

During its fourth season, audiences increased by 20% percent between the months of December 2006 and February 2007. The 8th season was the most critically acclaimed, but lowest-rated, season, with fewer than 5 million viewers in the USA and Mexico together.

The series finale attracted more than 14 million viewers in Mexico, and around 2.67 million viewers in the USA, making it the most watched series finale for a Spanish-language TV series. The show holds the record for the longest-running series in Mexico, with eleven seasons and 280 episodes.

Seasonal ratings

Seasonal ratings based on average total viewers per episode in Mexico and the USA:

Notes:

• A year encompasses 3-4 seasons of a series in Mexico
• American and Mexican viewers are combined for the total average per-season viewers
• Rank is based only on the Spanish-language release - English-language releases are not counted

Critical response

Amor en Custodia initially received strong reviews. Due to its pedigree as an adaptation from the Argentine version, it was one of the most anticipated new shows of 2005. The first week showing garnered positive reviews from sources such as Ventaneando, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Yahoo!.^[10]

Controversy

During the eighth season, a character named "Mauro Mendoza" was introduced as a love interest for Barbara, and some of the scenes from that season were edited for international release because of their sexual content.

In Mexico, the series' was re-rated from A (all ages) to C+ (adolescents 16+) because of scenes of violence, bad language and sex. In the USA it was re-rated from TV-PG to TV-MA for seasons 8 and 9, but was later re-rated to TV-14. The original version was only shown in Mexico, with a cut version being shown in the USA.

DVD release

There was originally no plan to release the series on DVD, but with the success of bootleg DVD versions in Mexico, the USA, Europe, and Argentina, and Internet piracy, a 2-disc DVD was released on February 13, 2007.^[11]

The DVD only contained the first four seasons, and every episode carried English, French and Spanish subtitles. On its first week of release the DVD sold almost 12,000 copies in the USA, debuting at number one on the "Top Selling Latin DVDs,", but by its second week it dropped off the list.

Remake

As of July 23, 2012, Nicandro Diaz Gonzalez is producing Amores verdaderos, an upcoming Mexican telenovela for Televisa.^[12] Eduardo Yáñez, Erika Buenfil, Sebastian Rulli and Eiza González will star as the protagonists, while Mónika Sánchez, Marjorie de Sousa and Francisco Gattorno will star as the antagonist.^[13]

References

External links

• Official Site
• Amor en Custodia at the Internet Movie Database
• Amor en Custodia at the Internet Movie Database
• Amor en Custodia at Yahoo! TV
• Colombian Version, synopsis, pictures and cast