El secretario

El secretario
Genre	Sitcom Telenovela
Written by	Claudia F. Sánchez Catalina Coy[1]
Directed by
Starring	Juan Pablo Espinosa Stephanie Cayo Martín Karpan[1]
Theme music composer	Fabo Romero, Jimmy Pulido López[1]
Opening theme	Sólo tú (Jimmy Pulido)
Composers	Fabo Romero, J. Pulido
Country of origin	Colombia
Original language	Spanish
No. of episodes	152 (Colombian broadcast, irregular running time) 123 x 1h (international version)[2]
Production
Executive producer	Juan Andrés Flórez
Producer	Manuel Peñaloza[1]
Production location	Bogotá
Camera setup	Multicamera
Release
Original network	Caracol Televisión
Picture format	480p (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	22 August 2011 (2011-08-22) – 30 March 2012 (2012-03-30)
Chronology
Related shows	Porque el Amor Manda
External links
Website

El secretario (The Secretary) is a Colombian telenovela produced and broadcast by Caracol Televisión from August 22, 2011 to March 30, 2012.

Plot[]

30-year-old Emilio Romero (Juan Pablo Espinosa) was living in New York City working as a pizza delivery guy, despite his background in finances. He finds out through a Facebook-like social network that he has a 6-year-old daughter in Bogotá, and decides to come back to Colombia, but he is broke. One of his clients (), who turns out to be a Gangster, pays his plane tickets with the condition of taking a suitcase full of clothes. When arriving to Bogotá, customs police find the suitcase has a double bottom packed with thousands of dollars. Romero co-operates with justice and is released under parole. He meets his daughter Valentina (Hillary Vergara), who lives with her mother and Emilio's ex-girlfriend Lorena () and her stepfather Franklin Sotomayor ().

With no money in his pockets, Emilio managed to find a place to live: an apartment whose former tenant () is to be evicted. There he meets Gertrudis Dudis Buenahora (Margalida Castro), his new neighbour. Emilio also accepts (reluctantly at first, as he had applied to be an accounting assistant) a job as a secretary at Industrias Copito, a toilet paper company. His immediate bosses are Mario Segura (), the operations manager and the owner's half-brother, and Antonia Fontalvo (Stephanie Cayo), the workaholic commercial manager and fiancée of Félix Segura (Martín Karpan), the company's owner. Félix has a clandestine affaire with Paola Zorrilla (Andrea López), Antonia's best friend.

As the only male secretary of the company, Emilio is mocked by the other secretaries and his male coworkers. Mario hates him because Antonia hired a male secretary in order to keep Mario's sexual instincts away from his former secretary, Yensi (). Though loyal, optimistic, kind, and efficient, Emilio is clumsy and gets easily into trouble, specially with Félix; nevertheless, Antonia constantly defends him and stands by his side.

Cast[]

• Juan Pablo Espinosa as Emilio Romero García, the secretary
• Stephanie Cayo as Antonia Toni Fontalvo, Industrias Copito's commercial manager, Emilio's boss, Félix's fiancée
• Martín Karpan as Félix Segura, Industrias Copito's owner, Antonia's fiancé
• as Mario Segura, Industrias Copito's operations manager, Félix's half-brother, Emilio's boss
• Andrea López as Paola Zorrilla, Antonia's best friend, Félix's lover
• as Valentina Redín, Emilio and Lorena's daughter
• as Lorena Redín, Valentina's mother, Emilio's ex-girlfriend
• as Franklin Delano Sotomayor, advertising executive, Lorena's husband
• Margalida Castro as Gertrudis Dudis Buenahora, Emilio's neighbour
• as Delfina, Félix's secretary
• as Olga Lucía Linares, secretary, interested in Emilio
• as Yensi Catalina López Pereira, former secretary of Mario
• as Kelly Milady Díaz, secretary, secret lover of Patricio
• Sara Corrales as Lucila Janet Castillo, secretary (ep. 25-51)
• as Patricio Conde, tax assistant
• as Álvaro Humberto Patequiva, auditory assistant
• as Julián Aguirre, accounting assistant
• as Ernesto Castillo, human resources chief
• as Heriberto Cuéllar aka Don Omar, mafioso
• as Pedro Dávalos, former tenant of Emilio's apartment (ep. 1)
• as María Puentes, the attorney in charge of Don Omar's case (ep. 1, recurring from ep. 25)
• as Albita, Félix's maid
• as Flor, Lorena and Franklin's maid
• as Rodolfo, Copito's security guard
• as Yamid, Antonia's pilates coach
• as Michael Jair Riaño, aka Sangre azul, head of a gang related to Don Ómar and Félix
• as Jaime Acosta, Félix's lawyer, involved with Don Ómar
• as Valentina's therapist
• as Eugenio, Copito's tech guy (ep. 6, 65, 74)
• as José Octavio Linares, Olga's father
• as Patricio's father, a family lawyer
• Hugo Gómez as Alberto Ayala, foreign trade minister
• as Íngrid Ayala, Valentina's friend, foreign trade minister's daughter
• as Apolonia, Patequiva's wife (from ep. 72)
• as Agobardo Manosalva, Félix's guardian (ep. 68-96)
• as Gina, Mario's therapist (from ep. 71)
• as Nelson Moreno, Delfina's son, auditory assistant, replaces Patequiva (ep. 86-104)
• as Amalia, Valentina's teacher
• as Mario's mother (from ep. 131)
• as Jacques, executive of a French company (ep. 8, 9, 140-148)
• as an executive of a French company (ep. 8, 9)
• as Phillipe, executive of a French company (ep. 140-148)
• as a cab driver (ep. 7, 8, 9, 71, 73)
• as Darío, Félix's guard
• as Fermín Polanía, Antonia's plumber (ep. 10)
• as an advertising executive at Industrias Copito (ep. 11, 12)
• as Restrepo, Minister Ayala's bodyguard
• Rafael Pedroza as Tote, gang member
• as Bandola, gang member
• as drunk manager of a club (ep. 20)
• as Father Lucas (ep. 21, 22, 54-58)
• as a nurse (ep. 24)
• as a policeman (ep. 24)
• Eileen Moreno as Dora Méndez, Emilio's secretary at the trade ministry (ep. 25–33; 142-144)
• as César Aristizábal, Emilio's coworker at the trade ministry (ep. 25-33)
• as Camilo Turbay, Emilio's coworker at the trade ministry (ep. 25-33)
• as waiter at restaurant Las Castañuelas (ep. 23, 28)
• as manager at restaurant Las Castañuelas (ep. 23, 28)
• as Amaranto, the guard of the building where Paola lives
• as a recycler (ep. 31)
• as a member of the congregation Lucila attends (ep. 32)
• as a guard at the trade ministry (ep. 33)
• as a policeman (ep. 33, 62, 63, 83, 93)
• as a policeman (ep. 33)
• as Adolfo Ortiz, representative of a bank (ep. 34)
• as a tailor at the boutique where Antonia buys her wedding dress (ep. 42)
• as minister Ayala's wife (ep. 47, 55-57)
• as Father Adolfo, a Catholic priest presiding a pre-wedding course (ep. 48)
• as a doctor at the hospital (ep. 49)
• as a receptionist at the hospital (ep. 49)
• as a guard at Antonia's house (ep. 52, 63)
• as a receptionist at the hotel (ep. 55-57)
• as a news presenter (ep. 55-56)
• as Torres, a member of the Attorney General's Office's CTI (ep. 57, 62, 63, 95)
• as a police official (ep. 58)
• as a family judge (ep. 60, 61)
• as a taxi driver (ep. 61, 62)
• as a passer-by stumbling upon Dudis (ep. 62)
• as an INPEC guardian (ep. 64, 96)
• as a psychologist treating Dudis (ep. 64)
• as a television journalist (ep. 64)
• as a supermarket costumer (ep. 66)
• as Giancarlo, Yensi's old friend, hired by Mario to kidnap Antonia (ep. 66, 67)
• as an employee at an internet cafe (ep. 71)
• as an employee at a hotel in Cartagena (ep. 71)
• as Tadeo, meets Mario at a gay disco (ep. 72)
• as John, meets Mario at a gay disco (ep. 72)
• as a guard at Mario's building (ep. 72, 73)
• as a thief (ep. 77, 83, 84)
• as the leader of a mariachi band (ep. 77, 78)
• as Camilo Rojas, a representative of a real estate company (ep. 81)
• Maya (Stephanie Cayo's dog) as Gina's pet (ep. 85)
• as the driver of a van where Emilio gets kidnapped (ep. 90, 95, 96, 97)
• as a member of the Attorney General's Office, the leader of the rescue operation for Emilio (ep. 95, 96)
• as Lucio, boyfriend of Mario's mother (ep. 134-144)

Music[]

The theme song is Solo tú, by in-house composers Fabo Romero and Jimmy Pulido López; the latter performs the song. Music by Afro-Colombian electronica band Systema Solar (Mi kolombia, Sin oficio, En los huesos) is featured in many episodes. In episode 12, most secretaries and the administrative area humiliate Emilio by performing a choreography with Daniela Romo's 1983 hit Pobre secretaria, which Emilio and Antonia sing in karaoke in episode 52. In episode 45, many Copito employees perform a choreography with Bomba Estéreo's 2008 hit Fuego. Vallenato singer appears on episode 72 singing a cappella Cuando quieras quiero; in the same episode Mario dances Kool and the Gang's Ladies Night. In episode 98, Tú by Stephanie Cayo is featured. Other songs already used by Caracol TV in other telenovelas, such as 's Otra vez (ep. 5), 's Ya mi soledad (ep. 76) and 's Sin tu fe (ep. 29), are also featured.

Reception[]

After watching the first episode, television critic Javier Santamaría stated that the telenovela is similar to other Caracol TV series such as Nuevo rico nuevo pobre and and that it does not have anything "special;" he criticizes Argentine actor Martín Karpan but praises Espinosa for his "commitment and energy."^[3] Days later, his perception of the telenovela improved, praising its incidental music and stating that, since it is a comedy, it is "unavoidable" to see "caricatured characters."^[4]

Ómar Rincón, writing for El Tiempo, slams Karpan, Mendoza, and López calling their characters "un-bear-able," and says that at Industrias Copito "no one works, everyone yells." Rincón praises the plot, "it sounds plausible, it's sweet and creates empathy [with it]," and actors Espinosa and Cayo.^[5]

At gossip website lafiscalia.com, pinksauce praises its opening sequence, its scenes taped in New York, and the visual effects, but found some inconsistencies from the legal point of view on Emilio's return to Colombia, and criticizes Espinosa, Mendoza, Karpan, and Cayo, as well as the costume design and the make-up.^[6] Diana C., from telenovela portal todotnv.com, claims that the love story with unresolved sexual tension between Emilio and Antonia is "weak," though praises the "cuteness" brought by Emilio's daughter, and the fact that Cayo and Karpan don't hide their native accents (Peruvian and Argentinian, respectively); she praises most main actors, except López.^[7]

Ratings improved during its first week and, after having started in fifth place among the programmes broadcast in prime time,^[8] it finished third after the fourth episode.^[9] On 22 September 2011, it climbed to second place and became the most watched telenovela in Colombia that day.^[10]

Awards and nominations[]

India Catalina Awards[]

Source:;^[11] the event is part of the Cartagena Film Festival^[12]

TVyNovelas Awards[]

Source:^[13]

International broadcast[]

In October 2011, El secretario premiered on Telesistema 11 in Dominican Republic.^[14] WAPA-TV broadcasts the telenovela in Puerto Rico since December 2011.^[15] El secretario premiered 9 January 2012 on Repretel (Canal 6) in Costa Rica,^[16] and 13 February 2012 on Chilean network La Red.^[17] In Ecuador it premiered 11 June 2012 on TC Televisión.^[18]

In Malaysia, it premieres on 8 October 2012, via Astro Bella and Astro Mustika HD (in HD) at 4:00pm.^[19] While the Mexican remake, Porque el amor manda, airing on Canal de las estrellas also premieres on the same date.

References[]

External links[]

• (in Spanish) Official website
  • (in Spanish) Demo reel (Caracol TV Internacional, with English subtitles)
• El secretario at IMDb