the lecturer Antonio Sanchez “The Gangster” retired from Puerto Rican television in December 2008 after 19 years of uninterrupted work as director of the successful evening program “No te Duermas”.
Since that date, the veteran announcer of the radio program “El Circo” by La Mega 106.9 FM You’ve been asked the same question for the last 14 years: would you go back to television to do a new show?
Sánchez’s response was always that he wouldn’t consider it because it takes too much time in a production. But the truth is, the main reason had never been revealed as candidly as it did when he spoke to El Nuevo Día in a phone interview from Miami.
Amidst minutes of laughter, El Gángster admitted that the real reason for not returning to television, aside from the fact that his current work schedule is quieter, is dissatisfaction with the end product of No You Sleep “in recent years of the Broadcast on Telemundo when it changed from one room every Monday to five days.
The past four years of the program, which maintained an average viewership rating of 38 to 40 points, have aired Monday through Friday. With that schedule came the fatigue and work-weariness of producing a program every day that the same animator admits that “he lost the original formula”.
“The hardest thing and what kept me from returning to television was doing a show for four years that you don’t believe in yourself. People remember the “not falling asleep” of the original essence, one every Monday, the other not from Monday to Friday. If you ask me what was the hardest part, it really was. Doing a show you weren’t convinced about… and that’s the real reason why, when you ask me “would you do a TV show again,” the answer is no. I ran out and said nothing more. Write it like I didn’t go back to TV because I did a lousy show for four years that I never liked‘ he captioned to laughter in reference to the format change and being on camera Monday through Friday.
Along the same lines, and in a more serious tone, Sánchez stressed that the main challenge of being on the airwaves for nearly two decades is “always looking for something different so people don’t get bored.”
“We had a lot of fun at the show. Gabriel Suau (Producer), who was also my friend besides collaborating, always told me: “The day this doesn’t amuse you, send me all#@*. That was his advice.” So it went. I said goodbye to the program in December to close everything. The initial phase was too successful and everyone who worked on the project had fun. That nostalgia and all of that will be reflected in the film,” added Sánchez, who will attend the film’s premiere next Monday. “Mondays at 9” which tells the story of the show “No te Duermas” that changed Puerto Rican television.
enthusiasm for the film
The film hits theaters across the island on November 17th. Sánchez is happy and excited to reach the big screen and relive all the emotion and nostalgia caused by the throwback to an era and the workshop so important to television. The animator estimates that the program has been constantly evolving since “when we started on Channel 7, the chairs I used for the public were loaned to me by Carmen Jovet; We’ve become the #1 show out of nowhere.”
El Gángster did not have a chance to see the film produced by Karlo Cabrera and directed by Kcho Santiago, who was a screenwriter, cameraman and foreign minister for television for 19 years. However, he knows beforehand that the feature film faithfully captures the transcendental situations from the first to the last broadcast of the SuperSiete channel Telemundo Puerto Rico. He is still sure of his friend Kcho Santiago’s directing work.
The script initially began to work in a documentary format, collaborating with David Noris, Jorge González and Kcho Santiago. Eight scenes were then shot with Puerto Rican actors starring in the interpretations of “El Gánsgter”, Gabriel Suau, Jailene Cintrón and other characters in the production.
Movie scene inspired by the series “Don’t Sleep”. (included)The television production was changed; It was the axis of heavy criticism, attempts at censorship, protests and a platform for new talent on television and all of these situations are told in the film. Complementing the story are unpublished interviews with many of the talent who worked on No te Duermas.
Some of the scenes were shot in Hormigueros, where El Gángster and Santiago are from, friends since they were kids, and the rest was shot in San Juan and Guayanilla.
The creator of the characters “Cuco Pasurín”, “Pepín Galarza”, “Súper Moncho”, “Kiko Jones”, “Doctor Selástraga” and “Minga” emphasized that he lives in gratitude for everything that happened in “Don’t Sleep” and what outer space represented on Puerto Rican television She is grateful that it was a workshop like few others in the media and that she was fortunate enough to create animations with a group of professional women such as Lourdes Collazo, Sandra Vanessa, Jailene Cintrón, Yizette Cifredo, Laura Hernandez and Daniela Droz.
The premiere gala in Montehiedra
The film premieres today, Monday, at 8:00 p.m. on Wapa Television. All the actors involved in the film, models from “No Te Duermas”, “The Powers of the Week” and personalities who marched through the TV room will meet at the big event at Caribbean Cinemas The Outlets at Montehiedra.
The production of “Mondays at 9” was supported by the Puerto Rico Film Commission with its tax incentives.
“I’m sure people will laugh again and enjoy the film as much as they have in the past. I was on TV thanks to the public and this film is for them,” concluded Sánchez.