Nothing says love like being yanked by the arms.
"Simplemente Rita" (Simply Rita) was a very unusual combination of a telenovela (Latin American Soap Opera) and a cartoon show. A scathing parody of Telenovela clichés (as well as of the life of immigrants in the United States), it was produced by a Colombian animation company for the International Telemundo network from 2001 to 2003. It was in Spanish and ran for 30 episodes. It still reruns on some Telemundo affiliates.The story was about a young woman named Rita who goes to New York City to try to achieve her dream of becoming a famous singer. She falls in love with a clueless former rich brat named José Gabriel who is also an immigrant, and her musical career is manipulated by Pete Duke, a candidate for city mayor who is desperately trying to earn the votes of the Hispanic community. Hilarity Ensues.
You can watch it online (in Spanish) here [1]
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Tropes in Simplemente Rita:
- Bilingual Bonus: Many jokes (spoken and written) are in English.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Duke's adopted son, who sides with Rita.
- Deus ex Machina: All the major problems are resolved in the last episode, in a parody of the Happily Ever After endings of telenovelas.
- Gonk: The Narrator, in an intentional contrast to his Wicked Cultured personality (he's broadcasting from a booth while wearing an undershirt and smoking a cigar.)
- Subverted in that he had surgery to look handsome for the woman he loved, only to discover she was ugly too.
- Just a Stupid Accent: Every character speaks in an exaggerated version of his national accent (including the American characters). This is a Take That! to many actual Telenovelas where the actors don't bother to adapt their accents to the setting.
- Medium Awareness: The characters occasionally mention the fact that they are on a TV show.
- Radio Drama: This is what the show is implied to be; we see the narrator broadcasting from a booth. He claims the events actually happened, but he's not exactly trustworthy.
- Serious Business: Latin food, drink and songs. To ridiculous levels.
- Not to mention their votes, which Duke is willing to do anything to get, including murder!
- Shout-Out: Several, to both Hispanic and American pop cultures. Most notably, Rita sings at the "Mala Vista Social Club", a reference to the famous Buena Vista Social Club. (Buena Vista meaning Good Sight, Mala Vista meaning Bad Sight.)
- Super-Senses: José Gabriel has a superhuman sense of taste; it's his only employable skill.
- Upper-Class Twit: What José Gabriel used to be. Now he's a lower class twit.
