Spainards love their local 'Betty'
Telenovela redo big hit with auds
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The triumph of Telecinco's "Yo soy Bea," a Spanish reversion of Colombia's ugly-duckling telenovela phenom "Yo soy Betty, la fea," over Televisa's Mexican remake, "La fea mas bella," aired by rival Antena 3 TV, will goose the burgeoning biz of Spanish TV fiction redos.
But they're no slam-dunk here.
Several pioneering U.S. series reversions have done just so-so. "Bea" is an exception that has yet to prove any reversioning rules.
"Bea" vs. "Fea" turns out to be a non-contest.
Antena 3 bowed "Fea" on June 26 at 4 p.m. in afternoon primetime.
Tallying soft 11%-14% shares, "Fea" was shunted to 12.30 p.m. on July 10 to avoid "Bea," which Telecinco began airing July 11 at 4.30 p.m.
"Bea" has swept to 26.4%, beating Telecinco's September 21.2% average. It's doing better than Telemundo's smoldering smash in Spain, "Hidden Passion" (23.4%), or the original Antena 3-aired "Yo soy Betty, la fea" (23.4% over 2001-02).
Why such a crushing victory?
"For Antena 3 to show the Mexican remake of a Colombian soap they had already shown seems ... to say the least ... rather pointless," says analyst Fabian Lares, at Espirito Santo Investment.
"However, 'Yo soy Bea' is the Spanish adaptation of this format, which wasn't seen by the Telecinco audience, which is not necessarily the same afternoon audience Antena 3 has," he adds.
"The skedding's very good, straight after the popular celeb TV show 'Aqui hay tomate,' " argues Laura Molero, an analyst at audience research company Corporacion Multimedia.
"We've tried to up the comedy, pace and tenderness," says "Bea" producer Emanuela Spinetta at Grundy Prods.
They succeeded. "Yo soy Bea's" achievement is Bea herself: a dowdy, compassion-inspiring creation with a furrowed forehead, owlish glasses, expansive eyebrows, a brace and dresses the color and design of old shower curtains.
In comparison, U.S. series reversions this year have been at best solid: Sony's adaptation of "Married ... With Children" for Cuatro matched its 6% channel share; Sony and local producer Globomedia's "Party of Five" bowed at a lowly 1% for La Sexta.
Fiction redos will no doubt grow in Spain.
"Bea" and "Camera Cafe," a French office comedy format, are two of its rare new fiction hits; original Spanish productions regularly clunk.
But reversions are costly, depriving producers of international rights. And, for U.S. remakes, they've yet to prove moneyspinners.
Spain's upscale auds seem to prefer original U.S. shows.
