[eccp]

The show is still on air in Chile in one of the largest TV channels. I'm in my late 30s and I remember the show was rather old already when I was a kid :-)

Now seeing the show with the eyes of an adult feels like a portrait of a much simpler but much poorer era. El Chavo (mexican slang for "the kid") was a boy who slept inside a barrel in the shared patio of a slum ("la vecindad") where most of the action happens. With plenty of physical humor, El Chavo was frequently hit in the head as a punishment in the show, specially by Don Ramón, a character which would never find a job and was always hiding from the landlord.

It's the kind of show it would never pass if it were to be filmed on this date, but we grew up watching it and learning to love it, in the same way we loved racist cartoons by the Warner Bros. or those old episodes where the Flintstones were heavy smokers.

[swah]

El Chavo (mexican slang for "the kid") was a boy who slept inside a barrel in the shared patio of a slum ("la vecindad") where most of the action happens.

Interesting! In portuguese they made it into a name ("Chaves").

Some say that El Chavo Del Ocho ("The kid from 8") actually lived in the apt. 8, and just liked hiding in the barrel ;)

To me, when Ramon hit El Chavo it was funny, like Chaplin or The Three Stoges slapstick humor.

(But I agree it would be banned in this politically correct days.)