Lalola is an Argentinian Gender Bender comedy-romance Telenovela first broadcast in 2007-2008 and starring Carla Peterson, Luciano Castro and Muriel Santa Ana.
Ramiro "Lalo" Padilla is a charming and handsome magazine director for the media company "High Five", in charge of editing their successful magazine Don. Lalo is also a shameless womaniser and one of his jilted lovers decides to get revenge by recruiting a witch to magically turn him into a woman.
Lalo goes to bed himself one night and wakes up to following morning to discover he is now a beautiful woman. With only his female best friend radio host Grace (herself with a unrequited crush on Lalo) to help 'Lola', as the new woman calls herself has to deal with being a woman, pretending to be her own cousin, explaining away the disappearance of 'Lalo' and last but not least dealing with her complicated feelings with her handsome and good natured co-worker Facundo...
The series was commercially and critically successful and inspired remakes in 12 countries (see list below). There was also an attempt to produce an American English television series called Eva Adams in 2009 which would have starred Rhea Seehorn and James Van Der Beek, but it was never picked up. The unaired pilot is available on Youtube
. And, production has just begun on a new Spanish language remake (titled Lalola) being made in Mexico City for the VIX streaming service. The argentine original has been dubbed in 17 languages for broadcast worldwide.
- Chile as Lola - 276 episodes
- The titular character switches back to being a man, then back to a woman, then finally back to a man.
- Spain as Lalola - 160 episodes
- Turkey as Ece, 26 episodes
- The show was cancelled mid-season due to poor ratings.
- Greece as Lola - 202 episodes
- Belgium as Louislouise - 199 episodes
- Philippines as Lalola - 85 episodes
- Russia as Margosha - 240 episodes
- India as Bhaskar Bharti - 120 episodes
- Vietnam as Cô nàng bất đắc dĩ ("Reluctant Girl") - 100 episodes
- The show was originally to have 150 episodes like the Argentine version, but ultimately concluded at 100.
- Portugal as Ele é Ela (“He is She”) - 28 episodes
- The transformation was due to a chemical potion rather than witchcraft.
- The audience telphone voted to decide if the series ended with the main character returning to male or remaining female. He returned to male.
- United States as Eva Adams (2009) - 1 episode
- A pilot was made, but never aired and wasn't picked up
- Indonesia as Pejantan Cantik ("Beautiful Stud") - 15 episodes
- Peru as Lalola - 145 episodes
- Mexico as Lalola - production just begun in 2023
- Chile as Lola - 276 episodes
Lalola contains examples of:
- Attractive Bent-Gender: 'Lalo' is a handsome man with much female attention and as the beautiful 'Lola' she attracts several men.
- Beta Couple: Pato and Soledad hook up early on, with their sexcapades (including getting caught in the act in the office) forming a comedic foil to the more emotional and angsty Lola/Facundo/Natalia triangle.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Natalia, the daughter of Lola's boss is technically in her very early twenties but otherwise fits the more negative side of this trope to a tee. She's vain, catty, scheming, immature and airheaded.
- Can't Stay Normal: At the end of the telenovela, Lola decides that she doesn't want to be Lalo again. She decides to remain a woman and she and Facundo end up together as a couple.
- Chained to a Bed: Lola hires a prostitute to come to Jerkass Gaston's house and handcuff him to the bed, making him late for an important meeting. The prostitute then puts lipstick on him, writes "SOY UN CAPULLO" (loosely, "I'm a bastard") on his chest in lipstick and takes pictures, which Lola hangs up around the office. It's fantastic.
- Character Title: The title is a combination of the nicknames of the main character: 'Lalo' and 'Lola'.
- Different for Girls: Much of the comedy and reactions from other characters comes from Lola trying to adapt to the cultural 'rules' of femininity, under instruction from Grace. Especially early on Lola, even when dressed in very feminine clothing and makeup, tends to have very masculine body language, has no idea how to wear heels and tens to sit with her legs in male fashion (either wide apart or with with the ankle of one leg resting on the other knee.)
- Early-Installment Weirdness: While the show had a comedic element from the beginning the first dozen or so episodes leaned more towards drama with a relatively realistic and understated characterisation (at least by telenovela standards.) Starting from around episode 13 or 14 the series turned noticeably wackier, with comedy sound effects, imagine spots and increased presence for inherently over the top and ridiculous characters like Natalia. Lola went from being the odd one out in a fairly normal workplace whose employees tended to party hard after hours, to being one of the more grounded characters in a completely dysfunctional workplace.
- First Law of Gender Bending: Lola and Grace track down the witch who turned him into a woman, and she agrees to turn him back (after laughing for a while). They hold hands, she starts her mystic chanting... and promptly falls backward, dead.
- First Period Panic: An entire episode is built around Lola's first period and the epic disaster it turns out to be, even if the chaos is played largely for comedy. To begin with it hits Lola at the worst possible time when she is on an already extremely awkward 'date' with Facundo, she is wearing a white dress and has to abandon the restaurant without a word. In the pharmacy (after getting advice from Grace on the phone) Lola is too self-aware and humiliated to buy tampons and tries to hint to the chemist behind the desk what she wants. The chemist looks at the late twenty something/early thirtysomething woman in front of her, asks if it is Lola's first time and at Lola's vigorous nodding produces... a pregnancy test. Things don't go any better when she eventually gets tampons and towels and tries them on in their bathroom with Grace advising behind a door.
- Foreign Remake: The show was remade in several countries, both under it's original title (in Peru, Philippines and Spain) and under different titles (Louis Louise in Belgium and Bhaskar Bharti in India.) Some including the Chilean version diverged notably from the original in plot and character.
- Gender Bender: The plot follows the formerly male Lola as she struggles with being suddenly turned into a woman.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As a man Lalo was shallow, a womaniser and a commitment-phobe but he was also honest in business and unlike his nastier co-workers Gaston and Teo was not an outright misogynist, with his best friend being Grace even before he is turned into Lola.
- The Mind Is The Plaything Of The Body: In an early episode Lola meets a very beautiful, very feminine lesbian at a bar and brings her home. The woman is exactly the type of date Lalo would have casually slept with, but try as she might Lola can't bring herself to even kiss the other woman - even with all her memories and personality the same she just doesn't have the same preferences anymore.
- Nice Guy: Facundo is a sensitive, modest, hard working decent guy who Lalo barely acknowledged as a man (as a woman on the other hand her feelings about him are much more confusing...) Lalo's best friend Grace is likewise very sweet natured and helpful.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Literally, given the plot is set in motion via a magical curse. Lola is a very beautiful woman on the outside but still has a masculine identity and she struggles to come to terms with it.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Grace has known Lalo since they were children and has had romantic feelings towards her best friend for a long time.
