45 RPM (original title 45 revoluciones) is a Spanish TV series, and the tenth joint effort of Bambú Producciones and Atresmedia (an alliance that previously brought us the likes of Hispania, Gran Hotel, Velvet and Cocaine Coast). Its first and only season aired on Atresmedia's main channel Antena 3 from March to May 2019, and it is available on Netflix since August of the same year.
The series is set in the early 60's, in a Spain still under The Franco Regime. Amateur rock musician Robert Aguirre (Carlos Cuevas) crashes a matinee concert at Circo Price, one of Madrid's most iconic venues, and before getting arrested by the police, his impromptu performance manages to impress talent manager Guillermo Rojas (Iván Marcos). Determined to help Robert make it big, Guillermo bails him out of jail and offers him his managerial services, then returns to former employers Golden Records, Spain's top record label, with a big idea: Futura Records, an imprint of Golden focused on the modern trends of music that are sweeping the European scene and slowly creeping their way into Spain. Despite the reluctance of his former boss Zabala (Israel Elejalde), he is granted a three-month probation by the label's new owner Don Alfredo (Joan Pera).
Guillermo enlists the help of secretary Maribel Campoy (Guiomar Puerta) as his assistant in the launch of Futura, but things will not be easy for any of them as, along the way, Guillermo's past mistakes come back to haunt him, Maribel struggles with her mother not accepting that she'd rather pursue a career than a marriage, and Robert deals with a heart disease that will probably kill him in months.
This was the first show on which Atresmedia enforced its reduced runtime policy, which cut episode lengths from Spain's standard 70 minutes to 50. Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out as the channel expected, and 45 RPM holds the dubious honor of being the lowest-rated original series in Antena 3's 30-year history.
Tropes seen on this show:
- The Alcoholic: Guillermo is repeatedly called out over his heavy drinking.
- Anachronism Stew: It's 1962, but most episodes have Robert performing Cover Versions of songs that would be released many years later, such as "Human", "Hey, Soul Sister", "Bad Romance" or "Don't Stop Me Now". The latter is particularly meaningful, as he performs it in the series finale during his last concert.
- Artistic License – History: Episode 12 has Robert and Fanny compete in the televised national final to represent Spain in the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest. While they did get the actual Spanish entrant right (José Guardiola), TVE did not hold a televised national final that year; Guardiola was instead selected internally. Besides, the jury's out on whether Los Truenos would have been able to perform alongside Robert, as most Eurovision acts back then were solo vocalists, duets at most, with an orchestra.
- Dead Artists Are Better: Invoked in Robert's farewell letter to Maribel, as he says that his passing should make for great publicity for his second album if he doesn't make it out of the heart surgery alive.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Guillermo is (understandably) annoyed when Zabala takes all the credit during the official launch of Futura, after having tried to stop the project for so long.
- Enemy Mine: Guillermo and Zabala eventually bury the hatchet to take down Vidal.
- Everybody Smokes: This being The '60s, several of the main characters, up to and including Robert and Guillermo, are often seen with cigarettes in their mouths.
- Everyone Has Standards: After Eugenio Vidal, chairman of rival label Hispamusic, buys 51% of Golden Records and triples Futura's budget, Guillermo feels guilty because his department getting all that money means that a lot of people he has known for years are likely to be laid off, as Vidal doesn't hide that he wants to close down Golden and merge Futura into Hispamusic.
- Family Versus Career: This trope is the reason why Maribel rejects Diego's marriage proposal on the first episode, which comes right after Guillermo has given her an active role in Futura and she no longer is just a secretary, as she doesn't want to lose the biggest career opportunity she's ever been given to marry and have children.note
- Former Child Star: Fanny took up acting at a very young age, and regrets not having had a proper childhood. Somewhat downplayed in that, unlike most cases, she managed to keep her career going when she became an adult.
- Gratuitous Italian: Guillermo advises Robert to sing in Italian for his Guild audition, because the jury usually loves it. Problem is, Robert doesn't know a word of Italian, but still auditions with "O Sole Mio".note
- In Vino Veritas: At the premiere party, a drunk Fanny finally snaps and vents her frustrations on Vidal, calling him a Manipulative Bastard who stole her childhood.
- The Last Dance: Due to his heart disease, Robert treats Futura as his last shot at making it as a performer.
- Last-Name Basis: Pretty much everyone addresses Zabala by his last name, with his first name (Pedro) popping up very rarely.
- Local Hangout: The Ondas bar, where Guillermo seems to spend more time than at home and Robert gets his first actual gigs.
- Majority-Share Dictator: Vidal buys 51% of Golden's share to actively obstruct the company's activity in favor of Hispamusic, even if he does see potential in Futura, which he gives triple its previous budget... at the expense of having its top star fake a relationship with an actress and changing up the tour on the fly because the alleged girlfriend will be in a different city from the one he's supposed to be playing in.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat:
- For at least the first half of the series, Zabala seems to exist for the sole purpose of blocking Guillermo every step of the way. He opposes the creation of Futura Records, and it's heavily implied that he spoke to the director of radio show Escaparate de éxitos to demand Robert's performance be canceled.
- Robert runs into this on episode 2, as one of the members of the jury that has to decide if he is admitted into the Guild of Show Workers (which he legally needs if he wants to perform professionally) is a former client of Guillermo's who holds a major grudge on him because of his failed career.
- Publicity Stunt Relationship: After appearing in a movie, Robert is asked to stage a relationship with Fanny, the female lead, to help its promotion. Eventually, Fanny herself snaps after her boss asks them to take the farce all the way to marriage.
- Record Producer: Salvador Quintana, the producer hired by Zabala to oversee Robert's album, falls into the Acrimonious category, as he fails to connect artistically with Robert and keeps demanding he slow down the tempo of every song, but doesn't overtly bully him. Eventually the Futura team has enough of Quintana and Guillermo locks him out of the studio while Maribel takes over production duties. Maribel counts as an Invisible producer as she decides that the best course of action is just letting Robert do his thing (not to mention that Quintana still gets the credit).
- Relative Error: Maribel mistakes Robert's sister Clara for his ex-girlfriend when she first sees them together.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The morning after Fanny's meltdown (see In Vino Veritas), the rest of Hispamusic's artists start walking out of the company en masse... and Guillermo and Zabala take advantage of it to sign some of them to Golden in an attempt to stop Vidal from shutting down the company.
- Slave to PR: According to Vidal, what matters isn't the truth, but what the public believes. He handles Fanny's career following that principle, forcing her to make Strictly Formula movies and albums and locking her into a Fake Relationship with Robert in the name of the promotion of one of said movies. Her real fiancé ends up leaving her when Vidal wants to extend the farce for far longer than initially planned.
- Your Days Are Numbered: The second episode has Robert reveal to Maribel that he only has six months to live due to a heart illness.
