Televisa’s “En Familia” to End Its 47-Year Run in December

It’s the end of the road for Mexico’s longest-running television show…

Televisa has announced that En familia would wrap end its run on December 20 after a run of over 47 years on the air.

En familia con Chabelo

Xavier Lopez has hosted the children’s variety show since it started in January 1968. He has always worn children’s overalls and speaks in a childish voice, even though he is now 81.

Lopez, better known by his stage name, “Chabelo,” confirmed the end of the program and said he might start another, unspecified project.

The announcement comes almost a year after the death of Mexico’s other big proponent of “adults-dressed-as-children” humor, Roberto Gomez Bolanos, who was widely known as “Chespirito.”

Chabelo’s program was not as famous in Latin America as Gomez Bolanos’ El Chavo del Ocho.

It’s Game On for El Chavo del Ocho…

He’s one of the most beloved characters in Spanish-language television… And, now El Chavo from the popular Mexican series El Chavo del Ocho is getting his game on.

Kaxan Games is set to release El Chavo next March for the Nintendo Wii. The puzzle-based game will be geared to a family audience, where gamers can play as El Chavo and compete in a series of challenges like hula-hoops and water balloons.

El Chavo del Ocho

Created by 82-year-old Roberto Gómez Bolaños (Chespirito, as he’s known), the show—which centered on the trials and tribulations of El Chavo and his fellow inhabitants of a fictional apartment complex—dates back to June 20, 1971, where it appeared as a sketch in the Chespirito show before becoming a weekly half-hour series.

In its prime in the mid-1970s, El Chavo reached 350 million viewers worldwide and was the most watched show in Mexican television.

The new video game will reportedly be part of a celebration next year to mark Bolaños’ career in television, which spans a whopping four decades.