Series / Grande, Pá!

Grande, pá!

Grande, pá! was an Argentine Tv series, starring Arturo Puig and María Leal.

Arturo is a widower, with three teenage daughters. He tries to be a good parent, open and welcoming, but often gets in troubles and disputes because of their erratic childish antics. Uncle Norma tries to fill the place of her late sister as a strict parental figure, and nobody likes her. Arturo hired a nanny, María, an uneducated woman who easily understands and helps the girls. Teo, a close friend of Arturo, also helps to raise the girls.

He produces clothes for women, and fell in love with Mercedes, a rival in that market.

Tropes

• Aesop Amnesia: Jose wants a motorbike, but Arturo thinks that it is too risky, and refuses to buy her one. He agrees to share the car with her as a compromise, but after so many complications, he refuses to lend it to her it as well. She gets the money on her own, and buys the motorbike. Arturo was angry, but finally gave up, and allowed her to drive it. As you may guess, she gets stomped by a car, and Jose (and the audience) lears that motorbikes are dangerous. But, in the next episode... she's driving it again.
• And Then What?: Tired and jealous of Camila receiving all the affection and attention that she used to receive, Flo tells Arturo that she will ask the social services to be removed from the household. Arturo says that it's a great idea. She will be taken away from her family, from her house, from her school, lost everything... and perhaps then she will understand what is Camila living through a little better. Of course, Flo gave up the plan.
• Big Eater: Lucas is always ready to eat something else.
• Bittersweet Ending: María and Rita are stomped by a car, and hospitalized. María survives. Rita does not.
• Catchphrase
  • The girls: "Grande, pá!"
  • Arturo: "Qué castigo!"
  • Arturo: "Si no fuese el hijo de Chicharelli!"
  • María: "Qué lo tiró!"
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Greta simply dissapeared, and was never referenced again.
• Culture Blind: Arturo was glad when Jose got a job as a Tango singer. He attended her debut, and made a scandal about her clothes... typical tango dressing.
• Damsel out of Distress: Lando warned Arturo that María was about to date a dangerous and violent man, so he attended the same restaurant to watch for her. When she refused his advances, the man began to get violent with her, and Arturo jumped to the rescue. But María told him to stay out of it. He took the bucket of ice for the whikey, asked the man if he was still feeling hot, and threw it to him.
• Dope Slap: Exagerated. When Ramiro makes one of his antics, Arturo will strangle him, crying "Muñeco maldito!".
• The Ghost: Chicharelli sr., the father of Ramiro.
• Gilligan Cut: When Arturo strongly objects against doing something, he's likely to do it in the next scene.
• Heroic BSoD: When Lucas confessed that he had cheated Angie, she was freezed. No shouts, no insults, no crying, no nothing. Just quiet whispers asking him to go away. Then, she spent crying a whole day.
• Honorary Uncle: Uncle Teo is not Arturo's brother, just a great friend.
• It's All My Fault: María blames herself for the death of Rita, and left the house in shame.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Mercedes told Arturo that he was so sad over his defeat at a mere school parent's football match because he wants to be superman, perfect in all ways, and discovered that he's not. He denied it, but in a Gilligan Cut accepted to María that Mercedes was right.
• Karmic Jackpot: Norma broke with Teo, because of a misunderstanding. The girls stole a poem that Teo had written in the past for another girlfriend, and had it published in the school newspaper, so that it seems like a poem for Norma and they reunited. However, they forgot to remove the "With love for C" from the signature (C stands for Claudia, the old girlfriend). They could not prevent Norma from reading it, but no problem, she loved the poem. Specially that last part, as Teo calls her "Cielito".
• Matchmaker Crush: Teo started helping Lola with her crises with Arturo, and eventually fell in love with her.
• Ms. Fanservice: Greta.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Aldana helped Camila when she escaped from home and got lost, and became best friend with her. Arturo suspected her to be kidnapper at first, and some psychopath afterwards.
• No Periods, Period: Averted in the first episode. With her first period, Angie is no longer a child.
• Once per Episode: Ramiro will do some disaster at work, and Arturo will start to attack him. Then he holds himself back, close his fist and cries "if he wasn't the son of Chicharelli"
• Parent with New Paramour: The kids did not like at all the idea of their dad having a new girlfriend.
• Priceless Ming Vase: Jose is getting married, and uncle Blanca from Bahia Blanca send her a wedding gift: a vase. She found it hideous. Flo returns from school and, seeking some useless thing to put for sale in the school fair, she took the vase. Jose does not mind: she did not want it, and she's glad that there is a good use for it. Problem is when uncle Blanca comes home, and wants to see the vase. Norma bought a new one, and they go great lengths to explain first the absence of the vase, and then why Norma had it, and then why it isn't the same base, and then that Jose likes it so much that they shouldn't denounce the postal service for the "mistake"... and, when it is all settled, María broke it by accident.
• Product Placement: In the years when this show was first aired, the first seasons of The Simpsons were being aired by Telefe in Argentina as well, and became a great success. There were frequent T-shirts and wall posters of the Simpsons around, always displayed prominently.
• Promotion to Parent: Uncle Norma feels forced to act as the children's strict mother, as her sister is dead and Arturo seems like a weakling so easily manipulated by the kids. She gets a lot of "You're Not My Mother" responses for it.
• Puppy Love: Flo and Facu. He loves her so much that he asked Arturo if he would allow them to get married; but finds the idea of kissing her... disturbing.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Arturo as a parent is usually portraited as this.
• Security Blanket: Flo can not live without Rita.
• Title Drop: the kids always say "Grande, pá!" when Arturo does something cool.
• Ultimate Job Security: Arturo's assistant is completely useless, but Arturo can't fire him. He's the son of Chicharelli!
• War Is Hell: Flo and Facu were playing with toy guns, and María told them that war is a horror. Flo was so scared by the atomic bombs, that she broke the guns and organized an atomic refuge in the basement.
• With a Foot on the Bus: Facundo's mother was about to move to a distant place, and take him with her. He ran away with Flo, to try to avoid that. Her mother gave up the plan when she saw that she troubled him so much.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Arturo spends several days out of home, and he's clearly hiding something. Angie, Flo and Cami, who watch so many telenovelas, thought that he had a secret lover. They called Aldana and told her about it, expecting her to return from Rosario and fight for her love, as it happened in the telenovela that they watch on TV. Instead of that, she gets angry with Arturo, delays her return and refuses to talk with him. When she finally returns, she goes to his office and wants an answer. Arturo explains her why he was so busy lately: Rita had died, and María was hospitalized and became blind; and he could not bring himself to tell the girls either thing yet. He returns home and gave a monuental What the Hell, Hero? to the girls, and remind her that telenovela plots do not work because This Is Reality!