10 Bizarre Creepy Public Access Shows (Video, blameitonjorge, 2016)
Will YOU find them creepy? Only one way to find out! You can watch the video here or on YouTube here, and see more of each show on the Internet Archive and elsewhere via the links below.
Ten (more on YouTube), Nine (featured article), Eight, Seven (YouTube), Six (in-depth YouTube video about it), Five (Lost Media Wiki article), Four (YouTube, official Instagram channel), Three (Vimeo, Facebook, YouTube channel with videos of this and other stuff, my own post about a clip of it back before I had any idea what it was), Two (NPR story), One (YouTube, Lost Media Wiki page)
Although few people participated in the survey, most of them indicated that they would like to know a little about these series, so I will talk a little about them here.
A background:
Although Chile has not traditionally provided much support for local children's content (Argentina is much more supportive of artists in this area), there is talent in this country.
The reason why these series managed to exist in the early 2000s, I believe, was due to several factors: few households had cable television, only a few foreign productions were licensed to broadcast during children's programming hours, and the government was stable enough to be able to produce series focused on Chilean children at the time. These factors provided the perfect setting for small local animated series to be created and have an audience to watch them.
Anyway, enough history, now I'll rank the series from worst to best. This is based solely on my personal tastes.
4th Villa Dulce
I barely remember this series, even though it has the most episodes of all the animated ones.
Similar in setting to "South Park", "Villa Dulce" told the stories of a large group of children who lived in a very small town that gave the series its name.
Despite being at the bottom of my list, it's not bad. In fact, it was the first animated series that focused on children, with children as the main characters and an understanding of its audience.
Its animation feels like it came straight out of Newgrounds, and despite being compared to "South Park", it had its own essence and style.
And even though it's not the most memorable, I must say that, musically speaking, its intro has the best rhythm.
3rd Los Pulentos
If I were more objective, I would undoubtedly put this series in last place. However, it is such an absurd product that I definitely have more affection for it than the previous series.
Los Pulentos was a 3D animated series that seems to have been made in a very short time. It feels very much like a product of its time, with hip-hop and urban art at its core, as well as coming out at a time when it was fashionable to do everything in 3D, even if you didn't know how to animate properly.
The plot follows five preteens who create a band named after the series, which is perhaps its most notable feature: the songs, which were performed by a real band (something like Gorillaz, but on a shoestring budget).
I would say it's the ultimate example of a series that's so bad it's good. The animation is very poor and has obvious flaws, the stories in the episodes are often very bizarre and random (without a very clear structure), and the characters have almost no development. But it turns out to be so funny and ridiculous that you laugh at how bad it is. Besides, it didn't take itself seriously.
As an extra piece of information, people my age often say that because of this series, we “speak poorly,” as it has many local idioms.
2nd Diego & Glot
This was, at least in my opinion, the best animated series produced during those years. However, it was unable to continue due to problems with the channel, which hastened its cancellation (it reminds me of a certain series about turtles).
The plot followed Diego, his family, friends, and his dog Glot. A city boy who lived in the country's capital (Santiago) and had different adventures. This is the series on the list that has the most references to Chilean popular culture of the time, and probably the most popular of the animated series of its time.
Its animation style is reminiscent of series such as "Daria", and in terms of story, it was somewhat reminiscent of "The Simpsons", although for children. The series often had messages that implied an appreciation of local Chilean culture, but set in the current context of the people of the time, it had quite a few clever jokes and a certain level of satire, very characteristic of Chilean humor.
The introduction to this series is my favorite visually, showing the city and also the characters in different actions, which were animations taken directly from the episodes.
1st 31 Minutos
Some of you may have heard of this series, as it was the only one at the time that managed to cross the country's borders and become internationally known.
“31 Minutos” is a puppet series, which may remind you of “The Muppets.” However, its theme was completely different. It was a puppet news program that reported on events taking place in the fictional town of Titirilquen (Santiago, to be precise; I even know the streets where some segments were filmed).
It doesn't really follow a plot, as it is intended to be a parody of traditional news programs. In its early days, it was characterized by its social criticism conveyed through humor and the absurdity of the puppets, although the segment that lasted the longest (and resonated most internationally) was the songs that were sometimes featured in Policarpo's top ranking (a character who always said “Top top top” at the beginning of his segments).
Its second film, "Calurosa Navidad" (Warm Christmas) was recently released, which could present an opportunity for the series to return in series format, as in recent years it has only released songs. And although the satirical humor has been toned down and Chilean expressions have been removed to make it more accessible to international audiences, it still retains the spark and charisma of the characters that made it so endearing in its early days.
Fun fact: The news anchor Tulio Triviño is based on a real person, and my mother always tells me that she met him when he was still alive.
I'll include the intro from the first few seasons, since those are the ones I watched when I was a kid. The melody comes from one of its songs, “Yo nunca vi televisión” (I never watched television).
That's all for now with these series. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about my childhood. Maybe in the future I'll post some of my favorite scenes (or make some fan art), but for now, that's all ✨💕
Local TV station shared this map about a winter storm that's expected for this weekend and now I am wondering if "snow snow" is a technical meteorological term and how it differs from "heavy snow".
