La vida de Rita

La vida de Rita
GenreComedy
Screenplay byManuel Iborra [es]
Directed byManuel Iborra
StarringVerónica Forqué
Juan Echanove
Pepón Nieto
María Vázquez
Macarena Gómez
Country of originSpain
Original languageSpanish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Running time70 min (approx.)
Production companyTesauro
Original release
NetworkLa 1
La 2
Release7 January 2003 (2003-01-07) –
2003 (2003)

La vida de Rita is a Spanish comedy television series. Written and directed by Manuel Iborra, it stars Verónica Forqué, Juan Echanove and Pepón Nieto. It aired on Televisión Española (La 1 and La 2) in 2003.

Premise

Rita (Verónica Forqué), Samuel (Juan Echanove) and Cucho (Pepón Nieto) own a bar where the rest of the characters hang out.[1]

Cast

Main
Guest

Production and release

Written and directed by Manuel Iborra,[6] the series meant the return of Verónica Forqué to Televisión Española (TVE) after Pepa y Pepe, also directed by Iborra.[2] The series was produced by Tesauro.[7] It consisted of 13 episodes with a running time of roughly 70 minutes.[4]

The series premiered on 7 January 2003 in prime time,[8] earning good viewership figures (4,183,000 viewers and a 23.7% share).[9] However, the interest of the viewers rapidly waned and TVE cancelled the series after the 5th episode,[10] aired on 4 February 2003.[11] 8 episodes were left unaired in the original run.[11]

About two hundred of TVE Catalunya workers denounced the replacement of the series for a documentary about bioterrorism as an alleged part of government propaganda efforts in favour of the Iraq War, voicing their "rejection of the policy of intoxication and manipulation of information that RTVE is carrying out with regard to the Iraq conflict".[12]

The full series aired in the northern hemisphere summer of 2003 on La 2.[13][14] As of 2021, the series was not available in the RTVE's online catalogue.[14]

References

  1. ^ Sanchís, Luis (7 January 2003). "Verónica Forqué vuelve a la comedia con ´La vida de Rita´". Diario de Córdoba.
  2. ^ a b c "'La vida de Rita' mezcla risa y amargura'". El País. 19 August 2002.
  3. ^ a b c Gallo, Isabel (7 January 2003). "TVE y Antena 3 renuevan la ficción con dos series en clave de comedia". El País.
  4. ^ a b c "Verónica Forqué, Pepón Nieto y Juan Echanove comienzan a grabar "La vida de Rita"". Vertele!. eldiario.es. 11 June 2002.
  5. ^ a b ""La vida de Rita" recupera para TVE al tándem Forqué-Iborra". ABC. 3 January 2003.
  6. ^ Monjas, Chusa L. (29 December 2002). "Pepón Nieto: "Lo hemos pasado muy bien y eso se comunica"". Diario de León.
  7. ^ Gómez Rodríguez, Gema María (2019). La realidad en la ficción: Las preocupaciones de los españoles en las series de televisión (1990-2010) (PDF). Universidad Complutense de Madrid. p. 480.
  8. ^ Gómez Rodríguez 2019, p. 480.
  9. ^ Gallo, Isabel (7 February 2003). "Los espectadores dan la espalda a los estrenos de la temporada". El País.
  10. ^ "Ocho series españolas que merecieron mejor suerte". Espinof. 20 November 2014.
  11. ^ a b Gómez Rodríguez 2019, pp. 100–101.
  12. ^ "Unos 200 trabajadores de TVE Catalunya se concentran para denunciar "manipulación informativa"". La Vanguardia. 12 March 2003.
  13. ^ "La 2 repone ´La vida de Rita´". El Periódico Extremadura. 21 June 2003.
  14. ^ a b "La trayectoria de Macarena Gómez en televisión, más allá de 'La que se avecina'". Detrás de la tele. 2 February 2021.