MADRID Terrestrial broadcaster Telecinco is licking its wounds after the flop of drama skein "Vientos de agua," trumpeted as its most ambitious project in budget, production and artistic quality.
Helmed by Argentina's Juan Jose Campanella ("Son of the Bride"), the rags-to-riches-to-rags saga set against the backdrop of immigration between Spain and Argentina received rave reviews.
But viewers hated it.
Its Jan. 3 bow averaged a 16% audience share the first night and 13% the second, 6% below the channel average. It lasted just three weeks in primetime and now airs after Friday midnight.
Its failure may shape TV drama in Spain for years -- and signal more trash TV.
"The lesson from 'Vientos' is that Spanish audiences want pure entertainment," says Eduardo Garcia Matilla, prexy of Corporacion Multimedia.
After "Vientos," echoes media commentary Web site quedario.com, "who will dare ask channels to invest in quality programming?"
"Vientos" lacks the upbeat nouveau riche thrust of cheaper, more popular fiction.
Pubcaster RTVE's 1970s-set "Cuentame como paso" charts a humble family collecting all the pricey toys of a Spain suddenly flush with cash.
Telecinco's own top-rating "The Serranos" follows Santi and his brother, doltish bar owners who, nevertheless, own a chalet in Madrid.
"Vientos" may have far higher production values -- Campanella describes the skein as "13 movies" -- but, by comparison to its rivals, it's a much darker tale.
Action begins in 1934 as miner Andres leaves his tough life in rural Spain to find work in the port of Buenos Aires.
Cut to 2001: Andres' architect son Ernesto goes bankrupt in Argentina's "corralito." He flies to Madrid and gets a garret in Lavapies, a third-world immigrant barrio.
"Spaniards don't care about immigrants or foreigners," a somewhat disappointed Campanella concedes.
The action defers to character detail; lighting is shadowy, period colors dun brown.
And the series doesn't pull its punches. Spaniards in the 1930s come off as illiterate peasants. Their descendants largely cold-shoulder Ernesto.
The fallout from "Vientos" has already hit the usually dominant Telecinco, which has lost market share.
Telecinco and Antena 3 have minted moolah, raising advertising prices. As these approach Euro norms, both look increasingly to market share to drive up share value.
But the skein isn't a complete washout.
It proves that Spain can produce top quality drama, comparable to an HBO production, and is, as newspaper El Mundo puts it "a slap in the face for trash TV merchants."
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