End of an era: Morandé con Compañía changes its name and restructures with the departure of its animator

When exactly 20 years of Morandé with Company on screen, the program will undergo a radical change.

After the channel assured that the humor space would return in March, it is known that this return will be without its founder, the animator Kike Morandé. And even more, that all this is due to a major restructuring, which includes a change in the name of the program, new segments and a reduced cast, now presenting itself practically as a new television project, say sources linked to the production.

These days, in fact, the show’s scenography has been completely dismantled, which until recently remained in the studio where the humorous space traditionally takes place.

“This was discussed (Kike Morandé) with everyone when the year ended, when the settlement was given to everyone,” model Vanesa Borghi, who accompanied Morandé for the last eight years on the program, tells La Tercera. “I had discussed it with everyone as a possibility, only that many times a possibility or a crazy idea may change as the days go by,” he adds.

In fact, he says that this would not be a recent decision for the animator. “Even before the social explosion, Kike told me that he wanted to continue in the field, to continue enjoying his family. Although he enjoyed the program a lot, out there he wants to be more of a spectator, laugh at home, not spend all the time traveling to work. I think that suddenly there comes a time to enjoy family, and the pandemic has taught us that. Kike is already his age, he has been on television for thousands of years, and I think he more than deserves a break if he wants, ”he says.

About his own permanence in the project, Borghi comments: “I have been in Moran and I have enjoyed it very much, it is beyond an economic or labor issue, the human group that I got there, which I value, I will continue to have it, whether I work or not work in Moran. But now I am also doomed to continue growing and not only make the mentions, such as the role that I was fulfilling in the program, but today I am trying to develop more as an entertainer and that is why I am believing in this project ”, she says about the program Conscious Living de La Red (1:00 pm), which debuted in November.

“There are conversations, but I don’t know, because there are many factors that one has to consider. For me it was going to enjoy and laugh with a friend, who is Kike, but now everything will be different. So if they decide not to continue with me I have no problem, because for me they were wonderful years ”, Borghi concludes.

Somehow, the show comes to an end, at least as it was known until now. And at the same time, a measure that has been sounded on more than one occasion in recent years is taking shape.

In 2011, for example, the year was closed by announcing that emissions would go from five to two days a week (Friday and Saturday). Around this measure, rumors of a possible end arose, which Morandé ruled out in the same program. “No one will be left without work,” he said in the last chapter of that year, and assured that it was not the end of the program, “although it seems fired.”

Since 2019 Morandé with Company underwent another change, broadcasting only on Fridays. Although in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic and restrictions on recording and producing content, Mega put the program back on Saturdays for a while, with “the best” of its broadcasts.

In recent years, the project has undergone more profound changes, related to its own humorous proposal. At first, the bet was for a more classic humor, close to the magazine show -with exponents such as Daniel Vilches or Che Copete, accompanied by sculptural models-. But in the last period he turned to a more familiar humor, especially with the debut of the Behind the Wall section.

“I think the program has to change, it has to adapt,” thinks Borghi. Although he acknowledges: “Although everything revolves around what the actors do, for me Kike is the soul of the program.”

For his part, the comedian Beto Espinoza, an emblematic former member of the cast, thinks: “Kike has been further away for a long time, since the creation of El Muro he decreased his participation, that is, with El Muro, Kike was not necessary.”

Regarding the departure of Morandé, Espinoza considers that “it is regrettable, because the Kike is an emblem, it is the creator, the founder, the essence of the program. But times have also changed, and I feel that it is also good to step aside “, and adds:” the social explosion did its thing with Mega. Many of the animators, including Kike, were founded. But we must not ignore what he did, regardless of what you liked or did not like, it is 20 years of the program ”.

Precisely, Morandé was one of the faces of Mega questioned after the social outbreak -as happened with Patricia Maldonado or Karol Lucero-, relating his figure and that of his program with a sexist and misogynistic humor.

One of the most complex media episodes that the animator experienced occurred in February 2020, when he was conducting the Rio Bueno Festival, where he faced a massive audience for the first time after October 18. “Today we have a spectacular night. If they don’t like me, too bad. Let’s enjoy what’s out there ”, replied Morandé in front of the blunders and shouts for him to leave. Finally, he chose to get off the stage and not present the rest of the artists again.

In November of last year, actors like Belén Mora -in the online program Partners 3.0- and Kurt Carrera -on the page 7- portal, made public that Morandé with Company ended their season early, which resulted in the end of their contracts.

From the channel, however, it was reported that in recent years that was the mode of operation of the Kike 21 production company: making annual contracts with its participants. At the beginning, the program recruited its cast through fee tickets, but little by little they began to formalize that link through contracts that were renewed every January.

Some members of the cast say that despite this modality, every end of the year they talked with them, leaving certainty of the continuity of the program.

On this point, Beto Espinoza rescues: “Of the few production companies that I know in Chile, it is by far the one that has been the most responsible and loyal to its people. There is respect with them, I saw it until I left, which was finally due to an economic adjustment issue, but I did not leave angry. So my respect to the producer and Kike, who have been loyal to their people until now ”, says who is currently part of the night program Tight, of the network.

But this time the conversation about the end of the cycle was done in advance, not in December but in October.

Part of that is related to how the year 2020 happened. The pandemic meant that the program could not register as usual, resorting to repetitions of its best moments in its broadcasts on Fridays and also some Saturdays. Then some teleworking humor segments were incorporated.

Faced with this inconvenience and the economic crisis that hit TV, it was necessary to make adjustments to the cast’s salaries, which allowed them to keep their salaries until the last months of the year.

For the same context, the channel assured that the new season of Morandé with Company I would return not in the same summer but in March.

Finally, what has happened since then to date is that the headquarters behind Kike 21 and the channel itself are working on a new formula for the program, leaving behind its traditional structure. The production company is also currently concentrating its efforts on another project: the star of talents. Got talent, which debuts in March.

In parallel, the name of actor Fernando Godoy, today part of Mega’s dramatic area, sounds like a possible successor to Kike Morandé, as revealed by the program Me late TV +, if it is resolved to keep a figure in the animation.