By IPS Correspondents
SANTIAGO, Jul 6 2004 (IPS)

The television programme ”Los Pincheira”, inspired on a legendary band of cattle rustlers, is the undisputed victor in Chile of the ”war of the TV series” for the first half of this year.

The series by Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) avenged the state-run network’s defeat in late 2003 by Canal 13, of the Catholic University, which swept the audience ratings with ”Machos”, a drama series now being shown with notable success in Spain and Uruguay.

TVN is beginning a campaign to promote ”Los Pincheira” abroad, aiming to expand a market that has largely eluded Chilean ”teleseries”, as they are known here in Spanish.

In general, the Chilean dramas have not been able to compete with the TV shows coming out of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.

Meanwhile, at home, the Pincheira bandits are raking in profits for the state broadcaster as the viewing audience continues to grow.

Premiering simultaneously with ”Los Pincheira” on Mar. 8 was ”Hippie”, a series that Canal 13 hoped would repeat the success of ”Machos”.

”Hippie”, centred – obviously – on the movement that marked the 1960s, started out with a slight advantage in the ”war of the TV series”, earning ratings of 32.2 points, versus 30.7 points for ”Los Pincheira”. But the roles were reversed shortly thereafter: the hippies began their decline and TVN’s rustlers have maintained a steady rise – which triggered a crisis in Canal 13’s drama department in which Galaz handed in his resignation.

As the ratings ”championship” of the first half of 2004 draws to a close, ”Los Pincheira” has a stable audience worth 35 points, while ”Hippie” has had to settle for 25 points in the ratings game.

The ”People Meter” numbers indicate that each time ”Los Pincheira” is broadcast during the prime time hours beginning at 19:00 local time, some 420,000 televisions are tuned in to TVN in this country of over 15 million people.

The state-run network is more than recuperating the money invested in the series, filmed mostly with outdoor scenes in natural landscapes.

When ”Los Pincheira” premiered in March, there were no commercial breaks in the show, but after a few weeks it had attracted five sponsors – and the advertising rate during the show has increased since.

TVN is charging the equivalent of 8,400 dollars per 30-second spot during ”Los Pincheira”, compared to 6,000 dollars in late March.

Now the network, with only three advertisers, takes in more than 150,000 dollars for every broadcast Monday through Friday of its surprise success series.

”Los Pincheira” is the story of the Molina family – three brothers and a sister – who practically overnight lose their parents and all of their belongings and land.

They make the decision to become cattle rustlers, and are joined by a rebel son of a wealthy family, and they become known in the Chilean countryside as Los Pincheira.

With all the ingredients typical of the genre, the series incorporates passionate dramas in a mix of evil deeds, grand gestures and stereotyped characters, who of course include a good-hearted priest and an aristocratic woman who refuses a marriage of convenience and falls in love with the leader of the bandits.

Set in the early 20th century, ”Los Pincheira” stands out for its cinematography, shot in Chile’s dramatic natural landscapes. And there are the rural scenes of a creek – popular with male audiences – in which the female characters bathe semi-nude.

Horseback-riding scenes just about everywhere, armed robberies, cattle thieving, plundering of houses and fires mark the action of this ”telenovela”, whose characters are handsome in their wide-brimmed hats and ponchos, making use of the elements typical to the ever-popular Westerns.

A main attraction of the TV show is the role of Trinidad Molina, a female bandit in ”Los Pincheira”, played by Paz Bascuñán, a rising young star, granddaughter of former Chilean president Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994).

Two well-known actors, Francisco Reyes, who plays leader of the rustlers, and Tamara Acosta, the aristocrat who falls in love with him, round out the cast.

”La Ley”, the internationally famous Chilean rock group helped market ”Los Pincheira” by providing the musical theme for the programme – and which is bringing in hefty profits since being released on compact disc.

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