Lalola is an Argentine television comedy show broadcast by América 2. Directed by Gustavo Luppi, Diego Suárez, Marcelo Suárez, Mariano Ardanaz and Nicolás Mazzi, it stars Carla Peterson, Luciano Castro, Muriel Santa Ana, Rafael Ferro, Agustina Lecouna and Sandra Ballesteros. It aired from August 28, 2007 to April 29, 2008. The show won nine Martín Fierro Awards for 2007, and also the Gold Prize.
A pilot for an American version, entitled Eva Adams, was filmed in 2009 for Dori Media Group, Sony Pictures Television, and Fox Broadcasting Company starring Rhea Seehorn and James Van Der Beek. It was envisioned as a dramedy, in the vein of how Yo soy Betty la fea was adapted for American audiences as Ugly Betty, but it ultimately wasn't picked up for a regular series.
Synopsis Ramiro "Lalo" Padilla (played by Juan Gil Navarro) is the director of the media company "High Five", editor of the famous magazine Don, and has many women around him. Romina (played by Marcela Kloosterboer), who is in love with Lalo, decides to punish his lack of commitment to her. She hires a witch to cast a spell on him, which turns him into a very beautiful woman, as Romina wanted him to know what it is like for a woman who is being harassed.
Lalo (now played by Carla Peterson) awakes as a woman, in a state of utter confusion. However, Lalo's friend Graciela ("Grace") Neira (played by Muriel Santa Ana) believes what happened as she heard Romina's phone call to Lalo's home saying what she did. As it seems unlikely anyone else will believe that Ramiro has been magically transformed, Ramiro assumes a new identity: Dolores "Lola" Padilla, cousin of Lalo. Lalo "had to make an urgent trip to Germany because his father became ill", and has appointed Lola to take his place. While trying to find a way to change back, there are a whole new set of challenges to face that Lalo didn't have to experience before, both within and outside the workplace.
Cast and characters
Theme songs This telenovela has two theme songs, "Hola" and "Enamorada". Both are sung by the band Miranda!.
International remakes The show has been officially remade 14 times. All 15 versions are listed below. Of these, the 2009 pilot for the United States is the only version that never aired. All but two of the rest were brought to a successful conclusion, with the Turkish and Mexican versions cancelled without fully concluding the story. All of these remakes start with mostly the same initial premise but many of them head in very different narrative directions and ultimate conclusions than the original show. (A hidden table at the bottom of this section briefly describes the differences.)
Region/Country Network/Channel Production Company Native title of remake Original airing Info Ref. América 2 Dori Media Contenidos,Underground Contenidos Lalola August 28, 2007 The original version of Lalola lasted 150 episodes and inspired 14 remakes for other countries. Canal 13 Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN),FremantleMedia Lola September 26, 2007 The Chilean version was 276 episodes. Originally intended to run 150 episodes like the Argentine version, Chile's Lola had the story extended an additional 126 episodes before finally concluding. Atresmedia: Antena 3, Nova Zebra Producciones Lalola July 6, 2008 This 160 episode Spanish remake stars Marina Gatell. Antena 3 chose to compress episodes 133–160 into 6 summary episodes 133–138, reducing their episode total to 138. However, immediately after Antena 3 concluded the series, Nova chose to fully air the final 28 episodes as originally intended. Both Antena 3 and Nova are part of Atresmedia, who licensed the show from Dori Media International. Kanal 1 (ep 1-20) Fox Türkiye (ep 21-26) Medyapım Ece August 4, 2008 The Turkish remake was produced by Medyapım. 20 episodes were aired by Kanal 1, then the show moved to Fox Turkey, which aired 6 more episodes before the show was canceled due to poor ratings. The Kanal 1 episodes ran around 48 minutes each, while the Fox episodes ran around 78 minutes each. ANT1 Ena Productions Λόλα(English: "Lola") September 22, 2008 in Greece; and September 29, 2008 in Cyprus Λόλα ("Lola"), a 202 episode Greek version of the series, aired from September 2008 to July 2009 in Greece and Cyprus. The series starred Anta Livitsanou and Thanasis Efthimiadis. VTM Studio-A LouisLouise September 24, 2008 This 200-episode Dutch language series starred Hilde De Baerdemaeker, Axel Daeseleire and Roel Vanderstukken. GMA Network GMA Entertainment TV LaLola(Stylized lal♂l♀) October 13, 2008 This 85-episode Filipino language series starred Rhian Ramos as Lola and JC de Vera as Facundo. Wendell Ramos portrays the male version - Lalo. 1+1STS CTC Media, Kostafilm Маргоша(English: "Margosha") February 7, 2009September 7, 2009 This Russian language remake was produced by CTC Media (STS) and their subsidiary KostaFilm in Moscow, but the 240 episodes began airing in Ukraine on 1+1 seven months prior to airing in Russia on CTC. Unlike the other versions, "Margosha" was divided into season 1 (60 episodes), season 2 (90 episodes), and season 3 (90 episodes). Seasons 1 and 2 generally followed the 150 Argentine episodes, while the third season extended the storyline. FOX, Sony Sony Television,Woodridge Productions,Fanfare Productions Eva Adams March 20, 2009 This show starred Rhea Seahorn, Will Arnett, James Van Der Beek, Kat Foster, and David Denman. Only the pilot episode was made, and the show was never picked up. Sony Entertainment Television (India) DJ's a Creative Unit Bhaskar Bharti May 25, 2009 This remake in Hindi was 120 episodes starring Ragini Khanna, Aamir Ali and Eijaz Khan. VTV3 Công ty Cổ phần Sáng tạo (Creative Media), Kiet Tuong Ltd “Cô nàng bất đắc dĩ”(English: "Unavoidable Girl") July 6, 2009 A Vietnamese version called Unavoidable Girl premiered on July 6, 2009. It aired every Monday to Wednesday at 9 PM. The series was set to have 150 episodes, but was trimmed to 100 episodes with the story still brought to its conclusion. TVITPA 1 Nicolau Breyner Produções (NBP)/Casa da Criação Ele é Ela(English: “He is She”) October 31, 2009 This remake was produced by Nicolau Breyner Produções (NBP)/Casa da Criação in Lisbon, and aired in both Portugal and Angola. There were 28 episodes, and the show had the audience use telephone voting to decide how the main character would end up. Indosiar Soraya Intercine Films Pejantan Cantik(English: "Beautiful Stud") December 6, 2010 This short series was 15 episodes, and aired in late 2010. It starred the popular Indonesian on-screen comedian couple Agnes Monica and Okan Kornelius who also appeared together in the drama Kawin Muda ("Early Marriage") in 2008. Pejantan Cantik ran for 3 weeks, but the story ran for 6 weeks. The second half of the story was titled Marisa, premiering on Indosair December 27, 2010, immediately following Pejantan Cantik. Frecuencia Latina Network Imizu Producciones Lalola(Stylized lal♂l♀) January 20, 2011 The Peruvian version of Lalola was 145 episodes and starred Gianella Neyra, Bernie Paz, Cristian Rivero, and Anneliese Fiedler. The debut episode reached 20.2 points. Vix Dori Media International,Atenea Media Lalola February 2, 2024 The Mexican version of Lalola (announced 5 May 2023) is produced by Dori Media International for Vix and stars Bárbara de Regil and Alejandro de la Madrid. Two seasons were produced, then the show was cancelled. This left a total of 19 episodes, 9 in season 1 and 10 in season 2.
The various versions of Lalola differed in detail. The setting was usually a men's magazine, however the show was set in the country of each version, and the dialog was in the language or dialect of that country. Names of characters differed, and many of the less significant incidental subplots differed. Below are descriptions of the main plots only to show how they differed.