Patito Feo
Genre	Soap opera
Created by	Alejandro Stoessel Mario Schajris
Written by	Esteban Mejia and Marcela Citterio[1]
Directed by	Jorge Montero[1]
Theme music composer	Carlos Nilson Mario Schajris
Opening theme	Un Rincón del Corazón
Ending theme	Amigos Del Corazón
Composers	Laura Natalia Esquivel Brenda Asnicar
Country of origin	Argentina
Original language	Spanish
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	304 (Original) 265 (Censored)
Production
Executive producer	Leonardo Blanco[1]
Production companies	Ideas del Sur Pol-ka Producciones
Original release
Network	Canal 13
Release	10 April 2007 (2007-04-10) – 3 November 2008 (2008-11-03)

Patito Feo (in English, Ugly Duckling) is an Argentine telenovela produced by Ideas del Sur that aired in first run on Canal 13 from 2007 to 2008. After the show's success in Argentina, Disney Channel bought its broadcast rights and began broadcasting it internationally; the show subsequently became a global phenomenon.

Patito Feo is set in the Pretty Land School of Arts, a prestigious private music school on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, with a major plot line revolving around two teen girl groups – Las Populares, led by Patito Castro (Laura Esquivel) and Las Divinas, led by Antonella Lamas Bernardi (Brenda Asnicar) – who will compete to win the talent show and sign a record label.

Plot

Patricia, lovingly known as Patito, has to left her humble life in Bariloche with her mother, Carmen, to move to the big city of Buenos Aires. For health reasons, both travel so Patito can receive the medical treatment that she needs. To Carmen's surprise, the doctor of the hospital will be her unforgettable old love, Leandro, the unknown father that Patito has been waiting to find for years.

Due to her passion for music, Patito joins the Pretty Land School of Arts, where she will meet Antonella, the queen bee of the prestigious private school. Antonella is the daughter of Blanca, who is engaged to Leandro for financial reasons. Antonella is unaware that her family is made up of a group of swindlers, which is why her presumed deceased father is actually in prison in Spain.

Patito and Antonella will become best frenemies. Despite their differences, both share the same dreams: reunite with their respective fathers and became music stars. Two decisive groups will be formed at the Pretty Land School of Arts: Las Divinas, led by Antonella, and Las Populares, led by Patito, who will compete to win the talent show and sign a record label.

Cast

Background

The stars of Patito Feo: Brenda Asnicar (l.) played antagonist Antonella Lamas Bernardi, while Laura Natalia Esquivel (r.) played the title role of Patricia "Patito" Díaz-Rivarola Castro (2006)

The series started filming in 2006 in Buenos Aires. With a huge marketing push, the show started its run in April 2007 in Canal 13. In September of that year, the show started airing in the entire Spanish-speaking Latin America market on the Disney Channel and soon, the program became a sensation among kids and teens in the entire continent.

When it debuted, Patito Feo performed exceptionally not only on TV but also on merchandising sales. The soundtrack album was the best-selling album of 2008 in the country^[2] and over 100 licensed products were released. An official magazine exceeded sales expectations and had its initial print sold out within a week^[3] and a stamp album also had record sales for Panini in Argentina.^[4] The song Las Divinas was the best-selling ringtone ever in the country.

In Argentina, 400.000 tickets were sold for the first national live tour,^[5] over 150.000 in Buenos Aires and 90.000 in the litoral city of Mar Del Plata during the summer. Afterwards, the complete cast toured Latin America with over 700.000 tickets sold for shows in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ecuador, El Salvador, Bolivia and Paraguay.

In 2008, Patito Feo won the Martin Fierro Award and received a nomination for the International Emmy Award for Best Children & Young Adults program.

The show became a huge success soon after its debut. The soundtrack was the best-selling album of 2007 according to CAPIF, over 70 licensed products were released and the cast toured Argentina (with stops in Buenos Aires, where over 160,000 people saw the live concert, Mendoza, Córdoba, Mar del Plata, Rosario, Salta, Tucuman and Santa Fe) and, subsequently, the rest of South America, North America and Central America with stops in Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Panama, Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Ecuador, El Salvador, Bolivia and Turkey, selling out arenas and stadiums.^[6]

In 2008, Patito Feo won the Martin Fierro Award and received a nomination for the International Emmy Award for Best Children & Young Adults program.

Although the show was incredibly well received by the audience, Patito Feo attracted huge criticism due to the fact it glamorized the villains, a group of mean and beautiful girls that called themselves Las Divinas (The Divines). Besides being superficial, Las Divinas were also mean and bullied Patito. The fact the villains were much more popular among young girls than the main character caused concern over some groups and the issue was even on the cover Noticias, Argentina's most important current affairs magazine, under the headline "The Triumph of Discrimination".^[7]

In early 2008, under the name De Tout Mon Coeur, Patito Feo started airing on children channel Gulli in France. It soon became a huge success, being the most-watched show on the channel. A few months later, Elastic Rights bought the rights to distribute the show in Italy, Portugal and Spain.

In Italy, Il Mondo di Patty and debuted on the Disney Channel and soon became a gigantic hit. Due to the big popularity, a huge merchandising line was unveiled and Laura Esquivel visited the country to promote the show. The rights were bought by terrestrial Mediaset-owned Italia 1 which started airing the show in the Summer of 2009. Il Mondo di Patty became an even bigger success in the country, being one of the most-watched shows on the channel.

Also in 2008, Patito Feo debuted on Cartoon Network in Spain. It was very well received and became one of the top shows among young girls on cable. In 2009, it debuted on the Disney Channel and became one of the highest-rated shows on cable in Spain, topping Hannah Montana.^[8]

In Italy and Spain, the show spawned over 200 merchandising including toys, apparel, cosmetics, food items and a video game for PlayStation and a special Singstar game.^[9] The soundtrack album was certified over 5× Platinum in both countries. It was also a huge rating hit in Portugal, Greece and Turkey. In Greece, the album was certified for 11× Platinum.

With the success of the show, Laura Esquivel launched a successful Italian acting career in Italy, where she stars in movies and TV shows. Legal problems between the executive producers of the show and the production company made hard for the cast to tour in those countries. However, a new musical with local actors was licensed and, even though none of the original cast members were part of the production (with the exception of Laura Esquivel for a few special presentations), over 250.000 tickets were sold in Italy and Spain.^[9] Over 30.000 tickets were sold for concerts in Athens.

Legal problems

In late 2008, Alejandro Stoessel, creator of Patito, was fired. Disagreements between him and the production company started after two shows he was in charge of, the second season of Patito Feo and the teen-oriented show Atraccion x 4, failed to reach expectations and ended up being canceled. After parting ways with the company, he started a lawsuit against Ideas del Sur asking for a part of Patito Feo profits because he claims he was responsible for creating the entire concept. The lawsuit not only was the reason a new leg of a Latin American tour was canceled but also a European tour, where the show was also enjoying huge popularity.

After his dismissal, Alejandro Stoessel was hired by Dori Media to develop a new show targeted to kids and teenagers.

At the same time, Ideas del Sur started to develop a new youth-oriented show, Malcriados (now titled Consentidos), and chose Brenda Asnicar, who had enjoyed high popularity in her role as Antonella, as one of the lead actresses. At the same time, Dori Media and Stoessel wanted her to star in their new show, Ñeka.

Brenda finally decided to do the Dori Media project and, not satisfied with being turned down, Ideas de Sur started a lawsuit against Brenda's management since her contract stipulated she should prioritize Ideas del Sur projects over other production companies.^[10]

Finally, Ñeka was renamed Mia, mi Amiga Invisible and will debut at Mipcom in Cannes starring Brenda. But the show is also facing various lawsuits: besides Ideas del Sur, Valeria Britos, the creator of the original script (when it was titled Ñeka), is also suing Dori Media.

The lawsuit prevented the cast, especially Brenda Asnicar, of touring across Europe in 2010 to promote the show.

International release

Country	Language	Channel	Title
Argentina	Spanish	Canal 13, Disney Channel, Magazine
Albania	Albanian	Junior TV	Bota e Patit: Historia më e bukur (Patty's World: The most beautiful story)
India	Hindi	Disney Channel India	Patito Feo (Patito Feo: The most beautiful story)
Turkey	Turkish	D Çocuk, ATV, Nickelodeon Turkey, Kidz TV	Patito Feo: En güzel hikaye (Patito Feo: The most beautiful story)
Italy	Italian	Disney Channel Italy, Italia 1, La5, Boing Italia	Il Mondo di Patty (Patty's World)
San Marino	Italian	Disney Channel Italy
Greece	Greek	Mega Channel	Patty: Η πιο όμορφη ιστορία (Patty: The most beautiful story)
Cyprus	Greek	ANT1 Cyprus
France	French	Gulli / Cartoon Network / Boing (France) / IDF1	De tout mon Coeur (With all my Heart) / Le Monde de Patricia (Patricia's world)
Portugal	Portuguese	SIC, Panda Biggs	O Mundo de Patty
Spain	Spanish	Cartoon Network Spain, Disney Channel Spain, Telecinco	Patito Feo
Belgium	French	MTV Belgium	Le Monde de Patricia
Switzerland	French	MTV Switzerland
Chile	Spanish	TVN	Patito Feo
Colombia	Spanish	Caracol TV, Disney Channel
Mexico	Spanish	Televisa, Disney Channel
Dominican Republic	Spanish	Disney Channel, Antena Latina
Costa Rica	Spanish	Teletica
Honduras	Spanish	Televicentro
El Salvador	Spanish	Disney Channel
Panama	Spanish	Telemetro
Peru	Spanish	Disney Channel
Paraguay	Spanish	Telefuturo
Uruguay	Spanish	Teledoce
Venezuela	Spanish	Televen, Disney Channel
Ecuador	Spanish	Ecuavisa
Guatemala	Spanish	Disney Channel
Nicaragua	Spanish	Disney Channel
Ecuador	Spanish	Disney Channel
Bolivia	Spanish	PAT
United States	Spanish	Univision
Hungary	Hungarian	FEM3, Disney Channel Hungary
Israel	Spanish	ערוץ הילדים	פטיטו
Poland	Polish	Polsat
Czech Republic	Czech	Baltské televize	Ošklivé káčátko
Serbia	Serbian	Ultra	Ružno pače / Ружно паче (Ugly Duckling)
Montenegro	Serbian	Ultra
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Serbian	Ultra
North Macedonia	Serbian	Ultra

References

External links

• Official site (archived 2007, in Spanish)
• Patito Feo at IMDb