Los exitosos Pells (in Spanish, "The Successful Pells") was a 2008-2009 Argentine telenovela.
The Pells are Martín Pells and Sol Casenave, the main hosts of the "Mega news" news channel, who are a happy married couple as well. But when the lights go off, things are not that nice: Martín Pells wants to leave Mega News and sign instead for rival channel "M Noticias". His boss Franco Andrada attacked him and left him in a coma, and escaped. And then, he found a poor actor, Gonzalo Echagüe, that was exactly like Martín Pells. He hired him to impersonate Martín Pells, both for the TV and in his private life, so that nobody suspects the fate of the real Pells. But, after accepting the deal, Gonzalo discovers that the "happily married" couple is just for the cameras: Martín and Sol are distanced, she is in love with a news reporter, and Martín has a gay relation with Tomás Andrada, the son of his boss.
It is later revealed that Martín and Gonzalo are not so similar because of a cosmic coincidence, but because they are twin brothers, separed at birth.
Gonzalo Echague actually falls in love with Sol, and try to seduce her with his "real" identity. It works, but when he reveals the whole charade, she does not believe anything, and considers that he's Martín pells playing a cruel joke on her. Without solid evidence of his real identity or knowledge about the location of Martín, Gonzalo can not get her to trust. He finally proved it when he is temporarily awaken by Andrada, Gonzalo discovered that and followed him with Sol, who saw the both Pells.
Franco forbids Gonzalo to be with Sol or to announce the whole charade to the public, and tries several things to force him into obedience. Martín Pells awakes again, and join forces with Gonzalo and Sol. In the end, Martín goes with Tomas to a distant country, and Gonzalo stays with Sol, still acting as Pells to the cameras.
Los exitosos Pells contains examples of:
- Affably Evil: Marcela, leader of "M Noticias".
- Camp Gay: Tomás and the real Martin Pells. Charly as well.
- Catchphrase: "You want news, you've got them" is the catch phrase of the Show Within a Show.
- Convenient Coma: But not to get rid of a character, the whole plot involves a Convenient Coma.
- Foreign Remake: Remade in Poland in 2011 as Wiadomości z drugiej ręki.
- Happily Married: Averted and played straight (yes, both). For the public, Martín and Sol Pells are happily married, but they are not: Martín is gay, and Sol has a lover. But in the end, Gonzalo Echague (who was masquerading as Martín Pells, but not to her) gets happily married with Sol, and the real Pells leave to another country with Tomás... and nobody in the public ever suspects that something was amiss.
- Identical Stranger: Gonzalo is hired to stand in for Pells because he looks exactly like him. See Separated at Birth below.
- Identity Amnesia: Thwarted. When the real Pells woke up for the first time, he had amnesia. But not that amnesia, he remembers who he is and mantains his personality: he simply forgot the part that he was about to leave Mega News.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The Pells are based on César Mascetti and Mónica Cahen D'Anvers, hosts of the "Telenoche" news spot of Argentina for several years, who are a known married couple. Of course, everything else beyond that was made up for the plot; as far as we know, César was never replaced by some impostor.
- Separated at Birth: Martín Pells and Gonzalo Echagüe.
- Show Within a Show: The plot revolves around the Mega News news program, and its competitor, M Noticias.
- The Stoic: Amanda.
