Floricienta

Floricienta
Florencia Bertotti starring as Florencia 'Flor' Fazzarino-Santillán Valente in the Argentine soap opera Floricienta.
Created by	Cris Morena
Opening theme	Floricienta (1) Corazones al Viento (2) Florencia Bertotti
Country of origin	Argentina
Original language(s)	Spanish
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	361
Production
Running time	45 min
Release
Original release	15 March 2004 – 2 December 2005
Chronology
Followed by	Alma Pirata
External links
Website

Floricienta (American Spanish: [floɾiˈsjenta]; known in English as Cinderella) is an Argentine family friendly telenovela based on the Cinderella story. It originally aired from 2004 to 2005, but continues to be broadcast in almost 70 countries. Some international channels airing Floricienta are TVE International, Disney Channel Latino, and Disney Channel Europe. It is also available in the United Kingdom on the BSKYB satellite line-up.

The lead roles were portrayed by two-time Martín Fierro-Award winning actress Florencia Bertotti, and Juan Gil Navarro, Isabel Macedo and Benjamín Rojas. The show was created by Cris Morena and was produced by Cris Morena Group in association with RGB Entertainment.

The series became a global phenomenon for children and teens throughout Latin America, Israel and various parts of Europe.

The telenovela spawned over 200 licensed products. The tour was attended by over 1 million people in Latin America and Israel including over 100 concerts in Teatro Gran Rex, ten shows in Luna Park stadium and four at Estadio Vélez, all in Buenos Aires.

The show was adapted by Bandeirantes in Brazil (Floribella), SIC in Portugal, TVN in Chile, RCN Televisión in Colombia and Televisa in Mexico. In an interview with Radio 10, Cris Morena announced she sold the American rights for Disney.

Overview

When it seemed Cris Morena couldn't top her previous hits, she surprised again with Floricienta, which was her biggest hit since Chiquititas '98 in Argentina and her biggest international hit alongside Rebelde. The title, Floricienta, is a mix of Flor (the main character, Florencia, nickname) with Cenicienta (Cinderella).

Floricienta was a modern re-telling of Cinderella. The story was especially developed by Cris as a starring-vehicle for Florencia Bertotti which was cherry-picked by the producer.^[1]

There are a few similarities between the show and another Cinderella modern re-telling, the movie A Cinderella Story such as the Converse sneakers instead of the glass slipper but the movie and the show were in production at the same time (Floricienta premiered on Canal 13 in March 2004 while the movie debuted in the United States in July).

Floricienta was critically acclaimed for its fun storyline and dialogues, creative editing and post-production and the charisma of the main actress, Florencia Bertotti, and became the biggest licensing brand in Argentina in 2004 and 2005. Over 300 licensed products were available during the shows two-years run and even Floricienta branded apples were put on market.^[2]

Floricienta started with 14 points in its first episode and by the first season finale the show achieved ratings of over 30 points with the death of Federico at the end of the first season, being the biggest Cris Morena produced hit in history, even topping Chiquititas 98 ratings. The first season was the highest-rated afternoon-slot show in Canal 13 history.^[3]

After the huge twist in the end of the first season, many fans of Federico didn't liked how the story turned out after his death and drifted away from the show. The ratings for the second season suffered because of that but the show continued to be huge and won its time-slot. The TV show ended with Floricienta marriage in front of a huge live audience and the finale was also a hit, with 25 points.

Floricienta, as most Cris Morena productions, had huge Broadway style live musical in Teatro Gran Rex during the Winter vacations. Demand for tickets were extremely high with some concerts selling out in less than five minutes. In 2004, to satisfy the demand, the cast played two concerts at Estadio Vélez Sarsifield with over 80.000 people attending.

In 2005, another musical was done and it was also a huge success with tickets selling out in minutes. Because of this, eight extra shows were played in Luna Park stadium in Buenos Aires. After the show ended, the complete cast (with the exception of Fabio DiTomassio who pulled out after disagreements with the production company) waved goodbye in front of 40.000 people at another sold out concert at Vélez Sársfield stadium. The musical was also presented in Rosario, La Plata and Mar del Plata.

The two Floricienta albums were also very successful, with the first album being the third best-selling album in 2004 and the 10th best-selling album in 2005 and with the album from the second season being the biggest seller in 2005 according to CAPIF.

Floricienta was also a huge phenomenon in most of Latin-America where it was aired by broadcast channels and at the Disney Channel, where it was as popular as the American shows such as Hannah Montana and That's So Raven. While Rebelde was, without a doubt, Cris' biggest hit in Latin America, Floricienta was the first original CMG production that achieved phenomenal success on the continent (since Rebelde was a remake by Televisa co-produced with CMG). The cast sold out huge stadiums all over Latin America, including Mexico, where no Argentine show had ever achieved such a huge success (even though the show had only aired on cable). The show cast also sold out concerts in Tel-Aviv, Israel although the success didn't reach Rebelde Way-level of hysteria in the country. Over 1 million people attended Floricienta tour in Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Israel, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay among many other territories.^[4]

Floricienta, alongside Rebelde, was the biggest youth-oriented show in Latin America in 2004-2005 being aired in every single country and selling out stadiums in Central America, South America and Europe.

In 2004, a Brazilian version was produced, named Floribella. It doubled the ratings of Rede Bandeirantes at its timeslot, over 40 products were released and the two CDs achieved platinum certifications. In 2006, a Portuguese version was also aired at SIC and was a massive hit. The first CD was one of the most CDs sold on the Portugal´s story and over 150 products were released in the country. Because of the massive success of the show, SIC bought the rights to 3 other Cris Morena shows: Alma Pirata, Rebelde Way (currently on air) and Chiquititas (aired in 2007).

A version from Chile (also called Floribella) was also produced with great acceptance and the Mexican version (Lola...Érase una vez) also did well. There was also a Colombian version and the rights were bought for Greece, Russia, among other countries.

In an interview with Radio 10 in February 2009, Cris revealed Disney had bought the rights for an American remake.^[5]

Background

Floricienta is loosely adapted from the story of Cinderella (Cenicienta, in Spanish-speaking countries) and also presents some comparisons to the film The Sound of Music. The plot revolves around Florencia (Flor), a poor but dreamer, rash, vivacious, cheerful and happy Italian Argentine girl whose life changes when she meets Federico Fritzenwalden, the older son of a very rich German Argentine family whose parents died in an accident. Federico is the head of the family and has 5 younger siblings (Nico, Franco, Maia, Martín, Tomás) living with him in a big house. Fede has a bitter, cold, strict, rigid and lonely personality until he falls in love with Flor upon meeting her. But Fede has a girlfriend, Delfina (the witch), who wants Federico's money. Federico's brothers hate Delfina, but when Flor comes to the Fritzenwaldens' residence, hired by Fede as the nanny, everybody loves her.

Floricienta was influenced by the original Cinderella story in many ways:

• Fede is referred to as "Flor's Prince Charming."
• Flor's trademark is her shoes (in the pilot, she loses one of her shoes at Fede's house when she is initially hired as a singer for a party, and Fede searches for her).
• Flor is helped by her godmother, Titina, throughout the series.
• One plot twist is that the villain, Malala, is revealed to be Flor's stepmother, making her rival, Delfina, her half-sisters, and Sofía her other half-sister.
• Flor claims to see fairies throughout the series.
• The fact that Flor is a maid, who marries into wealth and nobility.

At the end of the first season, the show has a big twist.

Federico, after realizing that his girlfriend Delfina was lying to him all the time, leaves her at the church during their wedding and goes to Flor. Then after a while he dies in an accident, saving Máximo Calderón de la Hoya who then gives his Body to Federico's soul. In the second season Flor falls in love with Máximo and they get married in the end. They also have 3 children and a very strong love that came from the part of Fede inside Max.

Cast

First season worldwide broadcasts

Country	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule	Notes	Latest Episode
Argentina	Canal 13 Telefe	March 15, 2004 March 1, 2012	6:00 PM 5.30 PM 18:30 PM / 7 PM	Monday to Friday	December 2, 2005 December 21, 2012
Guatemala	Canal 13 (Guatemala)		weekends	10 am - 12 am.
Italy	Cartoon Network	April 7, 2008	17.30 PM	Changed name - "Flor, speciale come te"	May 5, 2009
Latin America	Disney Channel	December 2004 - January 2005	1:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:30, 10:00 PM		September 2007
Israel	Jetix Fox Kids		7:00 PM	First season - Fox Kids Second season - Jetix	August 31, 2006
Spain	TVE1 / TVE2, Disney Channel, Sony Entertainment Television en VEO			The first season is available on official DVD's
Europe, Asia, Africa	TVE Internacional		4:40 PM		August 2007
Venezuela	La Tele		7:00 PM	2nd season on RCTV
Peru	ATV
Greece	ET1, Star Channel	2005 2006 July 9, 2012	02:30 PM Saturdays and Sundays at 12:00	Star Channel earned the rights to reair the series	November 2007, still on air
Hungary	RTL Klub	February 1, 2005	3:40 PM Monday-Friday	Reruns on Hálózat TV, Sorozat+ and Poén!
Ecuador	Ecuavisa			2nd season on Teleamazonas
Bolivia	Red Uno
Dominican Republic	Antena Latina - Canal 7
Lithuania	BTV			Changed name - "Pelenės istorija"
Costa Rica	Repretel Canal 6
Panama	TVN
Paraguay	Telefuturo SNT	August 9, 2004 August 13, 2012	5:00 PM	Monday to Friday	May 10, 2005 January 10, 2013
El Salvador	TCS Canal 4
Mexico	Disney Channel		7:00 PM weekends
Canada	Nuevo Mundo Television
Cyprus	ANT1 Cyprus	July 2007	Season 1: Weekdays 19:00, Season 2: Monday-Friday 14:00
Kosovo	KTV	January 2007	17:30 p.m.Monday-Friday
Portugal	SIC, Disney Channel, SIC K		23:30 p.m Monday-Friday
Bosnia and Herzegovina	OBN	January 2008	4:00 PM Monday-Friday
Puerto Rico United States	CaribeVisión,	March 31, 2008	6:00 PM Monday-Friday
French Speaking Europe & Africa	Cartoon Network	April 7 & 14, 2008	5:30 PM, 6:45 PM		October 14, 2010
Ukraine	Novy TV	February 2005, 2006	approx. 16:30 PM Monday - Friday
Albania	Shijak TV	November 2009	Monday - Friday
Chile	Disney Channel	March 2006	Monday - Friday 19:00 PM		October 4, 2007
Romania	Kanal D	November 2011

Second season worldwide broadcasters

Songs

References

External links

• Italian Site of Florencia Bertotti and "Floricienta"
• Official Foro De Florencia Bertotti y Floricienta En Kosovo
• TodoFloricienta
• Sitio
• Floricienta, official french blog
• Floricienta, official french site
• Floricienta on IMDb