August 28, 2007 (2007-08-28) – April 29, 2008 (2008-04-29)
Lalola is an Argentinetelevisioncomedy show that aired from 28 August 2007 to 29 April 2008. It was broadcast by TV channel América 2. It starred Carla Peterson and Luciano Castro as protagonists.[1] The show won nine Martín Fierro Awards for 2007, and also the Gold Prize.[2][3] A pilot for an American version, entitled "Eva Adams", was filmed for Dori Media Int'l, Sony Pictures Television, and Fox Broadcasting Company starring Rhea Seehorn and James Van Der Beek in 2009. It was envisioned as a dramedy, in the vein of how Yo soy Betty la fea was adapted for American audiences as Ugly Betty, but wasn't picked up for a regular series.[4][5]
Synopsis
Ramiro "Lalo" Padilla (played by Juan Gil Navarro) is the director of the media company "High Five", editor of the famous magazine Don, and has many women around him. Romina (played by Marcela Kloosterboer), who is in love with Lalo, decides to punish his lack of commitment to her. She hires a witch to cast a spell on him, which turns him into a very beautifulwoman, as Romina wanted him to know what it is like for a woman who is being harassed.
Lalo (now played by Carla Peterson) awakes as a woman, in a state of utter confusion. However, Lalo's friend Graciela ("Grace") Neira (played by Muriel Santa Ana) believes what happened as she heard Romina's phone call to Lalo's home saying what she did. As it seems unlikely anyone else will believe that Ramiro has been magically transformed, so Ramiro assumes a new identity: Dolores "Lola" Padilla, cousin of Lalo. Lalo "had to make an urgent trip to Germany because his father became ill", and has appointed Lola to take his place. While trying to find a way to change back, there are a whole new set of challenges to face that Lalo didn't have to experience before, both within and outside the workplace.
This telenovela has two theme songs, "Hola" and "Enamorada", both are sung by Miranda!.
International remakes
The show has been officially remade in 12 other countries: Chile, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Belgium, Philippines, Russia, India, Vietnam, Portugal, Indonesia, and Peru, but not in the United States. All of these remakes start with mostly the same initial premise but many of them head in very different narrative directions and ultimate conclusions than the original show. In addition, there is the previously mentioned un-aired American English pilot "Eva Adams" in 2009. And, in May 2023, Vix (streaming service) has announced production in Mexico City of a new series, titled "Lalola" with the same general plot description as the Argentine original.
The Chilean version was 276 episodes. In this version, after a long time as a woman, Lalo comes to learn the value of the opposite sex. He finally returns to his original sex and falls in love with Grace. About to marry Grace, wedding plans are spoiled when he once again becomes a woman. In the end, he becomes a man once and for all and marries Grace.
In the Turkish remake, a man named "Ege" enjoys the company of a woman, then never gives her a call back. She gets him cursed, and he wakes up in the body of a woman with no idea how to undo the change. As a woman, he uses the name "Ece", which is also the name of the series. There were 26 episodes made, and the show was canceled mid-season due to poor ratings. For the few episodes made, the series seemed fairly similar to the original Argentine plot-line.
September 22, 2008 in Greece; and September 29, 2008 in Cyprus
Λόλα ("Lola"), a 202 episode Greek version of the series, aired from September 2008 to July 2009 in Greece and Cyprus. The series starred Anta Livitsanou and Thanasis Efthimiadis. In this version Leonidas Lalos becomes Lola.
This 199-episode series was produced by Studio-A, and starred Hilde De Baerdemaeker, Axel Daeseleire and Roel Vanderstukken. As one might guess from the title, Louis becomes Louise.
This remake was produced by CTC Media and their subsidiary KostaFilm in Moscow. The 240 episodes began airing in Ukraine 7 months prior to airing in Russia. In this version Gosha (male) become Margot (female). Unlike the other versions, "Margosha" was divided into season 1 (60 episodes), season 2 (90 episodes), and season 3 (90 episodes).
This remake in Hindi was 120 episodes, produced by DJ's creative unit, and starring Ragini Khanna, Aamir Ali and Eijaz Khan. The story is about a man named Bhaskar Bharti, who is turned into a woman. As a woman, "she" goes by the name Bharti Bhaskar.
A Vietnamese version called Cô nàng bất đắc dĩ ("Unavoidable Girl") premiered on July 6, 2009. It aired every Monday to Wednesday at 9 PM. The series was set to have 150 episodes. Production was ultimately concluded at 100 episodes but still did have a proper series finale. In this version Trần Anh Lân (male) becomes Trần Lan Anh (female).
This remake was produced by NBP/Casa da Criação in Lisbon, and aired in both Portugal and Angola. The protagonist becomes a woman through a chemical potion rather than by witchcraft. There were 28 episodes, and the show had the audience use telephone voting to decide if the show would end with the main character remaining as Julieta or returning to being Julio.
This short series was 15 episodes, and aired in late 2010. It starred the popular Indonesian on-screen comedian couple Agnes Monica and Okan Kornelius who also appeared together in the drama Kawin Muda ("Early Marriage") in 2008. In a departure from the usual Lalola version, Okan Kornelius generally portrayed the main character as both male (Ardi) and female (going by Asmara), with Mawar Rizkina appearing occasionally as Asmara just to show the audience how the other characters are seeing her. Also, the main character was cursed due to a misunderstanding, and was not the cad the other versions made him.
The Peruvian version of Lalola was 145 episodes and starred Gianella Neyra, Bernie Paz, Cristian Rivero, and Anneliese Fiedler. The debut episode reached 20.2 points.
The original Argentine version of the series was also dubbed in 17 languages - Egyptian Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Georgian, Malay, Tagalog, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, Turkish, English, Armenian, Hindi, and Vietnamese to be broadcast worldwide.
The series was premiered on September 18, 2010 on MBC4 broadcast via NileSat and ArabSat. It airs every night at 17:00 UTC and 21:00 UTC. It's dubbed in Egyptian Arabic with its original name "Lalola".
Ramiro, Facundo and Aguirre were respectively renamed Camilo, Fernando and Andrei in the dubbing. The first three episodes aired without breaks. It's dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese.
The series premiered on April 23, 2009, replacing Telemundo’s Marina. It airs every Monday to Thursday at 3:00 PM. Starting October 2009, it airs in Malay dubbing.
The show was dubbed and aired in India as a flagship show for the channel firangi at prime timing and dual slots of 5pm and 9pm. The show had a very successful run and was remade in India by SET.
