7 Vidas | |
---|---|
Created by | Nacho García Velilla |
Starring |
Amparo Baró Paz Vega Gonzalo de Castro Anabel Alonso Santi Millán Blanca Portillo Carmen Machi Javier Cámara Santi Rodríguez Guillermo Toledo María Pujalte Eva Santolaria Cristina Peña Yolanda Ramos Marina Gatell Leandro Rivera Pau Durá Florentino Fernández |
Country of origin | Spain Italy |
No. of seasons | 15 |
No. of episodes | 204 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes per episode |
Release | |
Original network | Telecinco |
Original release | January 17, 1999 | – April 16, 2006
Chronology | |
Followed by | Aída (2005–2014) |
7 Vidas is a Spanish sitcom which aired on Telecinco from 1999 to 2006. Its title translates as "7 lives" and the symbol of the sitcom is a cat, in reference to the belief that cats have 7 lives (two lives less than cats from English-speaking countries which are popularly considered to have nine lives).
It was originally inspired by the American blockbuster Friends.
At its start it wasn't a great audience success, but over time, the show continued and gained more and more popularity series after series, making it the most popular Spanish TV series of all time.
It was in 7 Vidas that the now internationally famous actress Paz Vega and other Spanish actors first became household names in Spain.
The sitcom tells the story of a group of friends in Madrid. David (Toni Cantó) was in a coma for more than 18 years and suddenly awakes and starts discovering the new world in which he lives. His neighbour, Sole (Amparo Baró) is an old woman with a penchant for slapping anyone who behaves in a way she dislikes round the back of the neck. Sole soon becomes one of the show's most popular characters. Other characters were Sole's sexually frustrated son, Paco (Javier Cámara), Carlota (Blanca Portillo) David's single sister and Laura (Laurita to her friends) (Paz Vega), their cousin from Seville (with her colourful Sevillian accent), initially Paco's principal love interest and then David's.
Characters came and went, and by the end of the sitcom the only character who had appeared in the first series and lasted until its end was Sole. Other long-standing characters, and the two most popular, in addition to Sole, were Gonzalo (Gonzalo de Castro), a waiter who later became a main character and Carlota's husband (although they were later divorced), and Diana (Anabel Alonso), a frustrated actress, and a naïve lesbian. She was the first homosexual character in Spanish television who didn't follow stereotypes.
The script of the show was well known for poking fun at current events, politicians and celebrities and often contained a lot of risqué jokes.