In the spring of 1998, Eugenio Derbez produced his comedy show Derbez en cuando, which ran for two seasons through late 1999 (Photo: Corey Nickols/Getty Images for IMDb).
It is one of the main access roads to Mexico City from the north and south Peripheral ring, or periphery as most call it. It is one of the main thoroughfares through the capital and although its 90 kilometers were intermittently congested, congestion did occur before the late 1990s. Two of the most important television stations on paper waged a “war” on this path, which at least caused a lot of smiles.
As you will recall, prior to 1993, Televisa was the premier company: newscasts, soap operas, variety programs, shows, etc. took place at its forums on Chapultepec Avenue (downtown) and San Ángel (south) in what was then the Federal District.
But when the government of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari dissolved the parastatal TV station Imevisión and subsequently auctioned it off to the private sector for commercial use, a group of investors – led by Ricardo Salinas Pliego – acquired the media package privatized by the federal government and thus became TV Azteca born.
Former stars of Televisa (as Patty Chapoy) found refuge in the company located on the same avenue as its competition but further south, near Ajusco. Although they are about 8 kilometers apart, that didn’t stop TV Azteca from defying him..
As early as 1997, TV Azteca was a real competitor for Televisa. There were soap operas of its own, there was an excellent nightly newscast, new faces emerged to follow him, and several of his banished celebrities decided to relocate; The attempt to arrest Chapoy for allegedly stealing Televisa content was unsuccessful and only fueled sympathy and solidarity for the fledgling television network.
At the same time, she was surprised by the departure of two of his first actors: Christian Bach and Humberto Zurita left San Ángel to produce new projects in Ajusco and the first of these was the telenovela the jackalwith Argentina.
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The promotion for this melodrama was about a war between good and evil and that it was time to take sides. It was very clear that the message was not just about the story Eric Vonn made up, but also the conflict they had over the lawsuit against the owner of Ventaneando and the Zurita-Bach couple’s decision. And if it were necessary to make it more direct, A billboard was placed directly in front of Emilio Azcárraga Jean’s company.
The comedian Eugenio Derbez, who at the time wore the Televisa shirt very well, decided to respond to the visual affront and place one in which he announced from time to time the start of his Derbez series, but beyond that he spoke about it Project made fun of his former colleagues. “I remember my show was about to be released and Christian and Humberto had just gone to Azteca. I remember it being like ‘Oh they left Televisa’ and when they put up the billboard it was like ‘Ah, how dare you?’ “It was an insult,” the actor recalled in an interview with Ventaneando.
“The famous “War of Spectacles” it was iconic. It was something very healthy (…). When it aired they offered me to rent a billboard in front of Televisa and I would watch it. “It doesn’t work for me, TV Azteca’s covers it, it’s almost in front of it.” and you can barely see it, only when you get really close it’s like it’s been spotted and… hey, what if we cracked a taunt?'” Derbez has found a way to promote himself while also defending the television station he works on.
For months, the comedian’s and competitor’s creatives “made words”: they removed the exuberant Bach to announce a serious Javier Alatorre with his news program Hechos, and Derbez came dressed as “Blanca Nueves” with a pronounced cleavage and the word “boobs”; announcing coverage of then-Pope John Paul II with a pun involving Catholic fervor and Mexico’s “Aztec country” and the response had to be softened to “FYI I haven’t even said a pope yet”. another from Pati Chapoy and Ventaneando, to which Derbez responded with “it was horrible,” the popular phrase of his “Lonje Moco.”
Chapoy was so amused that he later went on air with this character.
“We had a production worker who watched every time someone made a spectacular change. It took hours of negotiations to get the permit,” Derbez recalls.
Another major departure from Televisa was that of Conductor Paco Stanley This also replaced the Televisa forums with those of TV Azteca.
As on previous occasions, the TV channel Ajusco rented the space in front of San Ángel to announce Stanley’s program “Una tras otra”, albeit with a more frontal note for whoever started the “war of spectacles”: “It’s better to watch.” daily Una tras different than from time to time”, in direct reference to Derbez’s weekly series.
And it was that announcement that led to the Coda actor being considered a suspect in the June 7, 1999 murder of the driver. The Attorney General argued that the comedians were enemies and were waging a declaration war publicly in the public eye. public.
“They accused me of being an ‘enemy’ of Paco Stanley, but (I told them) ‘I’m not an enemy of Paco Stanley.’ (They replied) ‘Yes, but there was a poster war and you attacked.’ him,'” he recalled in an interview with Chapoy.
Derbez has not been charged, but the perpetrator of Stanley’s murder is still unknown.