Vecinos is a Mexican comedy series created by actor and director Eugenio Derbez and based in the Spanish series Aquí no hay quien viva. It started airing July 10, 2005 onwards.
Starring Eduardo España, César Bono, Macaria, Mayrín Villanueva, Ana Bertha Espín, Polo Ortín†, Darío Ripoll, Pablo Valentín, Moisés Suárez, Manuel "Flaco" Ibáñez, and Danny Perea, with the star performances of Vadhir Derbez, Roxana Castellanos, Octavio Ocaña†, Tanya Vázquez, María Prado, Yolanda Martínez, Markin López, Anaís, Saíd Casab, María Rubio, Luis Gerardo Méndez, Pedro Romo, Benjamín Rivero, Carla Zuckerman, Ahrid Hannaley, Georgina Holguín, Reynaldo Rossano, and others.
Vecinos has examples of the following tropes:
- Ash Face: In the first season's 11th episode Fiesta Mexicana
, a drunk Arturo ends up covered in soot after smoking in the fireworks-filled warehouse. - Cannot Keep a Secret: One of Arturo's gags is that every time his wife Magdalena lies about anything or covering up her family's Perpetual Poverty, he ends up happily spilling the beans on her simply because he doesn't understand she is trying to lie.
- Companion Cube: In earlier seasons, Don Roque (played by Polo Ortín) carried a teddy bear dressed as a soldier, which he called "Rambo". In later seasons, after the Don Roque character was phased out (due to Ortín's death), it passed to Pedro's hands.
- Cousin Oliver:
- Luisito Jr. from the third season onwards is a toddler found and taken in by Luis and Pedro and adopted by him after marrying Silvia.
- Morrison, the son of Alejandra and Rocko from fourth season onwards.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Frankie Rivers, every time his wife or any other neighbor calls him Francisco or Pancho, he demands to be called by his stage name, which is basically his real name in English.
- Dragged into Drag: Benito, when his dad forces him to play female roles such as Cleopatra or La Chilindrina, for example.
- Goth: Alejandra, Arturo and Magdalena's teen daughter, is a sterotypical "chica darks" note
- Henpecked Husband: Arturo, Magdalena's husband. He always does as his wife says and never stands up to her. He is also the one who holds a job and takes care of the household while she just stays there enjoying their non-existent luxuries.
- Historical Longevity Joke: Every time Don Roque says an "En mis tiempos.." (In my times...) remark, Pedro replies with these kinds of jokes.
- I Never Said It Was Poison: Pedro played a prank on Sivlia by pretending to be a suitor and make her go to Canada and do a bunch of embarrassing stuff to see online. When she came back really upset, Pedro tried to reassure her that this Peter guy was not good anyway... Only for her to point out that she never mentioned her suitor's name was Peter.
- Lazy Bum: Germán. Despite being the one in charge of maintenance of the apartment, he often slacks off or plays Pocarito (sort of like poker) at work, which is reason for the neighbors to call him out.
- Manchild: Pedro, he justs mooch of Luis and spends his time playing videogames and eating junk food, without even trying to actually provide for their livehood.
- Mistaken for Gay: Luis is always assumed to be gay due to Pedro living with him.
- Mock Millionaire: Magdalena López Pérez. She pretends to be from an affluent household and tries to cover up the fact she and her family are actually poor.
- Old Flame: Chente from the episode El amor de Magda, an ex-boyfriend of Magdalena's.
- Old Maid: Silvia, played by Mayrín Villanueva is afraid os becoming an old maid. She is obsessed in trying to get married to prove her independence to her parents. She ends up failing in her goals due to either her potential suitors' personalities or the annoyances of her neighbors, until she finally gets in a relationship with her neighbor Luis.
- Open Secret: Magdalena tries really hard to hide the fact that she is poor and to act like she is high-class... Despite the fact that everyone knows the truth and no one is shy to remind her. The fact that she is living at the building with them is kind of a clear clue she isn't as rich as she says.
- Perpetual Poverty: The López Pérez family, not helped by Magdalena's attempts to cover it up, be it by lying about being the richest people in the neighborhood, refusing to pay for bought expensive goods, or stealing them.
- Playing the Victim Card: Played for Laughs with Jorjais, the local homeless man. Whenever they offer him something for some minor job, he will "complain" and throw a speech about how the "rich folk" always look down on the poor. Normally they just increase the reward a little and he happily accepts.
- Prima Donna Director: Francisco Ríos, aka "Frankie Rivers", played by César Bono. He passes the time writing scripts in a typewriter, abuses those who want to help him direct his future movies, and even forces his son Benito to act out roles for any play that he sees.
- Right Behind Me: In "Nueva administración, nueva renta", Germán starts to badmouth the former owner Doña Caridad, right when she shows up behind him.
- Shout-Out
- Don Roque's full name is Roque Balboa. Making reference to Rocky Balboa.
- Every time Frankie says he got a "new idea" for a script, his plot is always the idea of an already made movie. Among which have been Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, or Jurassic Park.
- Show Within a Show: Frankie always speaks highly of his appearance in the film La toalla del mojado (The Wet-Man's Towel). From what little can be inferred, it's apparently an '80s action movie pitting border police against drug cartels,note though Frankie's appearance was limited to merely one brief scene as a waiter.
- Speaking Like Totally Teen: Arturo López Pérez uses outdated slang and punctuates it with a "como dice la chaviza" (as the young'uns says).
- Stage Dad: Frankie Rivers, a washed-up former actor, forces Benito to become an actor despite the latter not wanting to. His wife, Lorena, sides with him.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: Pedro. He mooches off of Luis' work and refuses to get a job.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Don Roque really loves his campechanas.
