Casados Con Hijos (Argentine TV Series)

''Casados con hijos'' is the Argentine remake of the American television sitcom '' Married... with Children'' (1987–1997) created by Michael G. Moye and Ron Leavitt. It was originally broadcast from 12 April 2005 to 28 December 2006 on the Telefe channel, consisting of 212 episodes across two seasons. It was shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The series stars Guillermo Francella, Florencia Peña, Érica Rivas, Marcelo de Bellis, Darío Lopilato, and Luisana Lopilato.

Reception

Filming began in January 2005, and on 12 April the show premiered on Telefe, with a measurement of 28.9 index points of television audience in Argentina in its first episode. However, the audience could not be maintained and the measurements remained at an average of 18 points, having reached a minimum figure of 7.7 points. After being moved to a different time, viewership of re-runs of the first season managed to surpass the original broadcasts, making it one of the most watched programs of 2005 and 2006.

The success of the episodes already broadcast forced the television station to carry out a second season. It premiered on 14 August 2006 at 9:30 p.m. ( UTC-3), reaching an average of 33.3 audience index points, being one of the most-watched fictional series that year. In total, the series has 212 episodes, with 137 in its first season and 75 in the second.

The success of the series transcended the borders of Argentina, and it was also broadcast by local channels in Uruguay. It also managed to be one of the most viewed series in Paraguay, Peru and Romania, where it was broadcast under the name ''Familia Argento''.

The show has become a cult series on Argentine television and Telefe has reaired it from 2007 to the present, broadcasting episodes at random with a moderate audience, both in the first afternoon, as in prime time.

Cast

In ''Casados con hijos'', the adventures of the Argento family and the environment that surrounds them take place within the neighborhood of Bajo Flores in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their neighbors are a newly married banking couple named Dardo and María Elena Fuseneco.

Protagonists

* José "Pepe" Argento (Guillermo Francella)
José Argento was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is the son of Francisco Argento and of an unknown mother.

Pepe is a very rude, insensitive, and selfish person who does not think of anyone but himself. He does not listen or pay attention to anyone, and is also vain, macho and pessimistic.

On a dubious date sometime in the 1980s, he meets Mónica Potrelli. They enter into a courtship and marry. After that, he married Moni and had two children named Paola and Alfio. Pepe is a passionate Racing Club fan who played for the Tristán Suárez Social and Sports Club for more than 9 years.

Pepe is a man disgusted with the life that he's living and tired of his family, which causes most of his sorrows. He works as an employee in a shoe store with an exaggeratedly low salary, while putting up with his annoying clients. He cares a lot about business and does anything to get it.

Pepe is always unlucky; in almost every episode he aims to achieve something that favors him, but it always fails because of the intrusion of the characters either by accident or of their own free will.

He frequently steals objects from Dardo and María Elena because he does not have enough money to buy things due to his low salary and his family's high spending.

Pepe always seeks to be recognized or honored by his neighbors but unfortunately no one ever manages to recognize him.

* Mónica "Moni" Potrelli de Argento (Florencia Peña)
Mónica Potrelli was born in Tostado, Santa Fe, Argentina. Moni is between 38 and 40 years old.

Moni is Pepe's wife and Alfio and Paola's mother. Moni is the representation of a somewhat incompetent, clumsy, extravagant housewife who is sexually unsatisfied by her husband. She is always exaggeratedly made up, wears bracelets and necklaces, and wears loose, brightly colored clothes. She has tangled and prominent blonde hair.

She is not in charge of cleaning the house or buying food and likes to spend all afternoon and sometimes all day watching soap operas or teleoffer programs sitting on the couch while talking to her mother on the phone and drinking mate, something that Pepe and María Elena often criticize. She is also a fan of Susana Giménez and the television show '' Susana Gimenéz''.

Moni is a disaster at cooking, which her family frequently complains about.

Moni always wants to have sex with her husband, something that Pepe always refuses to do due to the lack of interest and hatred he has for his wife.

* Paola Argento (Luisana Lopilato)
Paola Argento was born in 1988. The clothes that Paola wears are very varied in terms of shape and color, although she frequently appears dressed in short skirts and generally light-colored T-shirts.

Paola is the most clumsy member of the Argento Family. She lacks tact and wisdom. She does not know how to write, say or read most of the words well. Her clumsiness has gotten her or anyone around her into trouble. They usually call her "moron". She is a fan of Britney Spears.

At times, she is quite aware, such as when she engages in some kind of discussion with her brother, where she often appears as having more life experience, mainly in the sexual realm, although, she is actually naive on the subject.

In the second season she is not seen much because Luisana Lopilato was recording the telenovela
''Alma Pirata