Cover of an album with episodes of the soap opera ‘Cuna de lobos’ / Via IMDb
cradle of wolves It was one of the few soap operas to grab a country’s attention, so much so that even Jacobo Zabludovsky, head of Televisa’s star nightly news, devoted a large portion of her space to the story of a ruthless matriarch capable of anything to preserve the caste of the family. It was the biggest televised event in Mexico between 1986 and 1987, but also in Latin America.
Accustomed to stories in which the protagonists must suffer different catastrophes one after the other in order to be happy, Carlos Olmos, the author of the melodrama, broke with this line and focused all the attention on the villain in the television version, “Catherine Kreel”masterfully interpreted by María Rubio.
His ruthlessness, zero qualms, manipulation, cold blood to kill, and iconic patch to match what he was wearing are so ingrained in popular culture that when you come up against (or think you’re going to face) a terrible opponent suffering), might think she’s going to face her own version of ‘Catalina Creel’.
But before cuna de lobos became the phenomenon everyone was talking about, it was scorned by Televisa and aired at 5pm. “Nobody believed in this projectthe only people who supported them were Mr Emilio Azcárraga Milmo and Mr Víctor Hugo O’Farrill and they put them there waiting to see what would happen,” Alejandro Camacho told the La Cueva de Álvaro podcast.
Tigre Azcárraga’s intuition did not betray him and little by little the telenovela rose in the TV bar, but the success was unknown to the cast, which also included Rebecca Jones, Diana Bracho and Gonzalo Vega.
“We never noticed it because we went to work at 8 a.m. and stopped recording at 11 p.m. We never knew what the phenomenon was until one day I met Jacobo Zabludovsky and he said to me: ‘Alejandro, you know? what’s going on with the telenovela?’” added Camacho.
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After nearly eight months and 170 episodes, the end was inevitable and on June 5, 1987, everyone was waiting to see the famous villain’s fate sealed.
“It was chaotic. At the airport, those who checked the bags suspended their activities to watch the soap opera while people waited. I live in the periphery and on this last day I was struck by the silence that reigned, that is to say, people did not leave. It was a great satisfaction and I realize that success was there for everyone,” said María Rubio in 2011 in an interview for the Excelsior newspaper.
That evening, Zabludovsky dedicated the opening of his 24-hour newscast to the soap opera. “Tonight you, and so can I, sleep peacefully. Cuna de lobos ended, today was learned the horrific truth of a story that made it from fiction to the front pages of the newspapers this afternoon: ‘Catalina Creel’, he took his own life when he finds out that in a last-ditch effort to finish off his stepson (Vega), his son (Camacho) has switched places on the plane that would later explode in mid-air.
But the story didn’t end that way: the last scene suggested that he was reincarnated as his grandson, a theory the author never dared to refute.
While it’s true that more than 30 years ago Televisa had no competition on the small screen, Cuna de lobos set a record of its own within the television network: scoring 50 points per day, the last episode had an audience rating of 73 points, something that still remains has never been seen on national television before.
The impact was such that the TV network had to repeat the last episode so, yes, all of Mexico could make sure the terrifying ‘Catalina Creel’ really died… didn’t she?