User Reviews

I can agree with most of the comments posted here. It was a great and fun show to watch. As a child,I didn't discovered "Villa Alegre" until the late seventies.

"Villa Alegre" was one of the few PBS children's show where you didn't have to stay home sick from school to discover it. Examples of shows that ran only during regular school hours would be "Inside Out", "Metric System", and "Self Incorporated". These shows and so many others never played in the late afternoons, weekends, or in the summertime. As a adult now, I wonder what schools had television sets in their classrooms as learning aids? Sadly, a whole generation of seventies's kids missed out on these entertaining educational programs that were especially designed for them!

In New York City, "Villa Alegre" ran on the three local PBS stations which were Channel 13, 25, and 31. I remember the show playing in the afternoons as well as the weekends.

The show worked so well due to it didn't hit the viewer over the head with it's message. It just centered around a Mexican community dealing with the universal aspects of everyday life. Yes, one could come away knowing how to count to ten in Spanish and how to say various words in the language as well.

As a young Afro-American who was lousy at sports, but would loved to read and watch television a lot, it was always a treat to view this show. Again, pointing to the low key approach it took, I being a quiet child, loved to watch "Villa Alegre" all by myself.

Another important element is now looking back at it, the show gave a glimpse into the Mexican community that I wasn't exposed to. As a child then, my only references would be the westerns and cartoons that played on television. But "Villa Alegre" showed real people and that was important to my development in learning about other cultures.

I would love to mention characters and plots, but because it's been a dozen and more years since viewing a episode, I don't want to commit a error of sorts. But I do remember various scenes taking place in the town's bakery and neighborhood square. As I look back now, the one character who comes to mind would be the little girl. I would loved to say her name was Maria, but I would most likely be wrong. But I do remember her in most of the scenes. If she wasn't talking, she was always listening and learning. I do remember one scene where one of the adults bought her into a store or the bakery. The adult explain that the little girl was having a bad day due to none of the other kids were allowing her into their circle of fun for that day and that she was very hurt and lonely. The baker or shop keeper allowed the girl to help out so she wouldn't feel sad. Who as a child didn't have a experience of being ignored by their friends?

Another standout of the show would be the theme: 'La,la,la,la,la,Villa Alegre!' If you brought up the show to my friends back then, the theme would be the first thing they would recite. It no surprise that most adults who remember the show will mentioned the theme.

I would loved to see this show again. To those who left similar comments about trying to find copies somewhere, one place would be the Museum of Radio and Television in Manhattan. They keep copies of old shows on file for viewing. But be forewarn, many years ago I went there in my senior year in high school looking for the PBS math show "Infinity Factory" and they didn't have it on file. All the shows mentioned here come from the same time period of the seventies. Maybe as a time factor, check their web site and see if "Villa Alegre" is a show they have copies of.

In hindsight, it's a shame of sorts there were no video recorders back then for the public home market. But maybe one day, "Villa Alegre" and so many other show will be available for viewing. It will be great to see them once again!

My favorite PBS shows in the 1970s (when I did a lot of my growing up)were "Sesame Street", "Electric Company", "Zoom", and "Villa Alegre". But I don't think they aired "Villa Alegre" in Alabama. I mentioned "Villa Alegra" to a co-worker of mine(who was close to my age) and she had no idea what I was talking about. The chief reason I liked "Villa Alegre" was because it depicted another culture. My favorite characters were Dona Luz, Lalo, El Capitan, and El Vendador. El Vendador was my favorite, with Lalo a close second. I have very many fond memories about "Villa Alegre". The song "Foods are very great in their natural state, but the foods that come from them are equally as great" comes immediately to mind.

I remember I used to watch the whole PBS kids show lineup in the mid 70s to early '80s. I didn't speak a word of Spanish but I loved watching the beginning of this show and liked to sing along with the theme. I never saw more than a few minutes of it, because my mom would inevitably decide I watched enough TV and didn't need to watch TV that I couldn't understand, and she would make me turn it off. I don't think it dawned on her that maybe I would have learned something useful.

As someone else mentioned, I also heard "Vi Allegre" in the song, but once I learned some Spanish I knew that had to be wrong. I figured it had to be either "villa" or "vida". Finally the mystery is solved.

I credit this show, along with the bilingual "Sesame Street" clips, for my interest in learning languages. I did eventually study Spanish(as well as a couple of other languages), but I wonder if I would have been more proficient if I had learned by watching this when I was younger.

It was a pleasant surprise to find residual interest in a children's program show that was aired in the 70's. I was involved in the production of the Villa Alegre television programs until the end of production. My father was the executive producer of the shows, and I was the last Line Producer of the Villa Alegre program. I noticed one cast member registered remarks on this web sight, that was nice. It was great to hear the feedback. In reviewing some of the comments, it appears the thematic curriculum, and the music caught the interest of the viewers, most importantly the bilingual programming and also some folks addressed the characters in the shows. It's important to note that some of the characters in the shows were caricatures of real people who lived in real barrios. The creator of the program introduced these folks through vision and characterizations. Many themes were introduced in the shows, i.e. natural environment, nutrition, self and others, etc.

I believe the shows had merit and brought forth issues ever present in multicultural societies and given the current growth of the Latino population such children's programming should be revisited.

The shows still have a viable heartbeat and breath and it will be interesting to evaluate these again if there is an interest in airing them again. Anyone is invited to send comments if they wish. I will make an attempt to reply if possible.

I thought the television series was wonderful; but then again, I was a production team member and may be biased in my opinion.

My name is Kenia Hernandez Cueto, I played the role of Maria on Villa Alegre for five years. I was one of the oldest child actors on the show therefore, had a better understanding of the positive impact the show had on our society. The creator and producer, Rene Cardenas (may he rest in peace) was a pioneer who was beyond his years in regards to education, diversity, music and technology. Unfortunately, when he died, so did Villa Alegre. Even as a child, I felt his urgency to want to educate children. My dream has always been to revive the show because there has NEVER been anything like it. Sesame Street is a wonderful educational program however, lacks the depth that Villa Alegre had. The reason why Villa Alegre is no where to be found is because I believe, Dr. Cardenas solely owned the rights to the show. His family has not touched it since his passing. The plethora of shows are locked up in a vault never to see the light of day. All I can say is that Villa Alegre taught me the meaning of diversity and love for education. It was the reason for completing a Masters in Education. I found my calling as a child due to the show and my very first mentor, Dr. Rene Cardenas. Who knows, maybe before my passing, I can find some of the shows that meant so much to us all and share them with you. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Funny to say but, Villa Alegre will always be a part of me. Adios Amigos.

Does anyone remember a little ditty that went something like (forgive the bad spelling) "Oh, bacamarah, oh bacamarah, oh bah oh bah oh bah, oh bacamarah, oh bacamarah, oh bah oh bah oh bah. Banga alair me chaca some thing something..." then that's repeated.. If anyone remembers the song what does it mean????? I think it came from this show, I was probably in my early teens at the time, so this is about all I recall.

I really loved this show because of the fact that it taught me another language. A shame so many children are still to this day kept away from other cultures and people. This show and the 60's and 70's in particular was on the right track when it came to trying to teach universal love and peace.

I know the show is tied up from public viewing by the widow of Dr. Rene Cardenes, which is probably why we won't see it or get a wav. of it anytime soon....

Wow, this show takes me all the way back to 1977 or maybe 1978. I used to watch this show in Headstart (Preschool)everyday. My parents were Mexican immigrants, so my brother and I were first generation here in Los Angeles, we only spoke Spanish at home. I did not understand English until I was like in first grade. So watching Villa Alegre in class was a total escape for me. I remember how I used to look forward to watching the show. It was probably the only time when I understood the dialogue. I used to watch other TV shows like Mork and Mindy. But I used to watch them for the physical comedy because I certainly couldn't understand a word of English. Unlike you guys I can't remember the theme song. But to this day I will never forget that heart-sinking feeling I would get at the end of the show. I remember that when the credits at the end of the show would start rolling, then the classroom lights would turn back on. Then I went back to my reality.

Villa Allegre was truly the vanguard of children's television programs. It proved a show could extol the importance of family, honor and even caring for the environment and do it in a bilingual format. Yes, the village may have looked a little dingy, but it showed even the poorest of villages possessed the ability or the RIGHT to be a happy place to live. I remember the children listening with rapturous wonder as the old man told his stories. I remember the short interludes illustrating how things in nature interact in harmony. The reason I remember this show is that my father worked for BCTV - Bilingual Children's Television Network. They produced Villa Allegre back in the early 70's. His boss was Dr. Rene Cardenas, a nice man from what I recall. What ticked me off about him though, was how my mother would baked many pumpkin pies around Thanksgiving and he would show up at our house and take most of them! Well - they were damn good pies. Anyway - Villa Allegre would be the only show I would let my child watch and not these "programs" which only program our children to buy lousy toys and demand sugary or salty crap to eat. Villa Allegre deserves a second chance at life on PBS, at least on DVD and not left to slowly fade into fuzzy distant memories.

Hi, I was in elementary school in Pasadena and somehow (not quite sure how) me and a group of other kids were on Villa Alegre, and we got to go to the Hanna Barbera studios to see how they made the animated film Charlotte's Web, which was new at that time. .

It was a great day. I remember we got in a bus and drove to the studios somewhere in Los Angeles. There were maybe six kids. We spent the day filming and touring the studios. We learned how the animators made the cartoon and what the animation process was (don't really remember the details, but I do remember looking at the animators' desks and them showing us their work. We had a nice lunch in the cafeteria and and the gentleman who played the host was very nice to us kids. Maybe I was in 5th grade, I cant remember. . The best part was that we got to skip school that day. I would love to be able to see that episode and show it to my grown children. Is there no way we can get a hold of these? Is there any way to contact the family to see if we could purchase an episode from them? It's a shame that this show isn't available to the public. At the time, I didn't really realize its significance. But I do remember loving the song.

I knew Pedrito one of the musicians for the show. They were originally a band, as I recall the band was called Los Quatro Amigos and they were indeed friends. I knew Pedrito who also played guitar and did a lot of the lead vocals. I knew him not long after the show had been canceled. They were living in the east bay area and played at a restaurant in Fremont, California. Before the show they had been fairly big time as Pedrito told it, appearances on the old Hollywood Palace show and all that. They were all very proud of the show and were very let down with the way things worked out.

Sorry to hear about Cheo passing. He was a very nice man, with a great smiling face. I used to take my parents to hear them play a lot, they loved it.

Do you know if Pedrito is still living?

For about 20 years no one I talked to could tell me the name of this spanish show that came on PBS untill I posted the question at The Toonarific Archive.Within a day ,a fellow user gave me a link to Yesterdayland that told about the show and how it was railroaded off the air by THE CHILDRENS TELEVISION WORK SHOP OF ALL COMPANIES!! Turns out,they didnt want ANY competition for the spanish speaking public so they sought to have their funding removed.Eventually they won in 1980 and the show was cancelled.There was also some bickering as to which of the spanish speaking comunities would have the greatest influence(Cuban,Mexican,S.American,Spanish,).It really bothered me to hear about the troubles behind the scenes that the show had.Shame on you Big Bird!

I remember watching Villa Alegre on WKNO channel 10 out of Memphis back in the early '70s. I wish the old classics like this still aired. To the actors who were a part of it and posted above, thank you for a wonderful show and wonderful childhood memories. Villa Alegre was part of my "must-see" daily line-up. I'd watch "Sesame Street", "The Electric Company", "Villa Alegre", "All Aboard With Mr. Be", and "Our End Of The Attic". I wish there was a sub-channel of the local PBS station that aired all these old classics. At 45, I think I'd still watch them again. I know this is off-topic, but it's sure sad that Fred Rogers is no longer with us.

To those of you who were fans of the show, I have two things to say:

1) Rene Cardenas is NOT dead. He is very much alive. And... 2) Villa Alegre is in negotiations to come back.

I loved this show when I was little, and I keep hoping to find it on DVDs, Netflix, or Hulu so I can share it with my kids. I remember watching it a lot on our local PBS station when we lived in San Antonio. I remember that it helped me to start learning Spanish, which was great (long before Dora and others!) One thing that really sticks in my memory was a folk tale that I think was about a bird, maybe a crow. It's so cool to hear from people who were involved with the show, and I want them to know that their work was appreciated. If anyone knows who to contact to make the show available, I'd love to know so I can write to them!

My sister and I used to watch this show on our PBS station. It followed "The Electric Company" and had "ZOOM" (our favorite) right after it...so we kinda had to watch it. Odd how we actually sat through it, learning Spanish and all. I remember the beginning vividly. It had sort of a paper maché rotating carnival with a spinning ferris wheel, and then fireworks came shooting out of it. If I recall correctly, the first half of the show was in English, then it repeated the whole show in Spanish. I remember there being a village, where people interacted with each other, and little vignettes where the would explore different things. I remember one of them being where popcorn came from. This is an early memory, so it would have to be in the early 70's when we watched it. Would love to see a compilation on DVD.

I too, like David am amazed to see the affection for our little show Villa Alegre. I am Joaquin, and played Francisco on the show for 4 years.

After reading all of your posts, I now realize what a big influence our show had at the time. I cannot express to you how great that makes me feel.

I have read so many questions on your posts, and welcome the opportunity to answer them the best that I can (we are talking almost 30 years here!) I too think there is plenty of opportunity for shows like this, especially on newer networks like SiTV and such who really promote our ethnic cultures. I really believe that our show (among others) paved the way for popular "bilingual" shows such as Dora the Explorer, Diego, and Maya & Miguel. (I have a toddler, can you tell?) I actually wish that a show such as Villa Alegre was airing today, because my daughter is growing up bilingual, and this would be a great asset in her learning.

One post mentioned that there was no "actors of prominence" on the show. I can tell you that this statement is simply not true. We were kids then, and all grew up. If you look up all of the actors (including me), you will find many, many credits to their names. Most went on to do many other things, including blockbuster movies, and huge television hits.

Thank you all for remembering this show! Joaquin Garay III "Francisco"

It's always amazing to me to find others have actually seen this show because, like the writer of the above comment, I never found anything on it on the web. Not even YouTube has any clips :( I loved this show and have very fond early childhood memories of the opening credits with the miniature amusement park/fair rides. The theme song still sticks in my head every time I say or type the show's title. I wonder why it's so hard to find footage of this show if other 70's shows were recorded. I just went on YouTube and found clips of every 70's children show I could think of. There are even multiple pages of clips from another favorite of mine, "Vegetable Soup" - also a diversity-themed children's show from that seemingly Utopian time of creativity in that arena.

My uncle was the guitar player of the show. Most of the songs he played them, and he was the guy that came out with a guitar to teach the kids a song. I watched the show all the time. Living in Brooklyn, NY it helped me learn about my culture. I remember my uncle came one day to visit us and he gave us the LP of Villa Alegre with all the songs. I remember it had the songs written in the back and all my cousins had the same LP too.

My mother still has it, with the songs written in the back. I remember "Mi hogar es en la Tierra..." as one of my favorite songs. My uncle Cheo Montalvo, died in 1995 and is now buried in Sabana Grande, PR. I have difficulties finding the original shows though. Would like to buy the collection. If anyone knows, it would be great to see the show again to see my uncle.

Hola, Amigos...de Villa Alegre...la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la la-la-la...Villa Alegre! Born in Puerto Rico 37 years ago. In the 1970's, I'd come running home from school to watch "Villa Alegre" on PBS. An only child raised by my grandparents, there weren't other kids around to talk to. I spoke English at school and Spanish at home. "Villa Alegre" helped me make sense of that duality. I adopted Villa Alegre as MY community, MY bilingual neighborhood. I moved to the US at 17. "Villa Alegre" prepared me to understand in my own skin and heart what it means to be a Latina in a multicultural society. Whereas "Sesame Street" gave me the NYC perspective of my own immigrant family, "Villa Alegre" blessed me with something completely new and beyond my litte world. Hussssshh...I still sing the uplifting theme song in the shower and in my car. Thank you, Villa Alegre, gracias! You will always be a part of me. Does anyone know where I can find that beautiful song?

I Know I'm Late But up 'til now almost every comment that was made regarding this show (thought I was crazy, thought I was the only one, asked everyone, searched every where...etc) applied to me. I am an African American man from the Lower Eastside of Manhattan and no one in my family nor any of my friends remember this show, not even my Puerto Rican ex-wife. For the past 11 years I've been thinking this and many other shows from my childhood and everything else I've found on the internet (and people remembered) but this show, I was starting to think, was all in my head. It is such a relief to see that this was a real show and I'm not crazy, and for the record, I too thought it was Vi Alerge and all I could remember was the opening theme song, "La lalala lala lala la lala La Vi Alegre" YOU GUYS HAVE KNOW IDEA HOW GREAT IT FEELS TO MAKE THIS CONNECTION, THANX!!!

All I remember was the theme song! "La la la la la la la la la la VILLA ALEGRE! La la la la la la " And they all spoke spanish and in each episode you would learn a word like "Agua" while they showed you a glass of water. Fell in the same genre as "Electric Company" and "Vegetable Soup".

It was Byron Meyers. Every so often, I would come along with him to the studio where the show was shot and edited. I remember the time they had to complete ten shows (if I recall correctly) in three weeks in summer during a flea invasion of the studio. The Captain was a cool dude, the theme song was the best on PBS, and the animation (which my step-father produced during the last years) was really neat. It is really too bad that this show has not made a reappearance on DVD at least. Though the show was definitely of its' time, the 1970's, it has a lot of positive messages in it that could certainly be helpful during this era. Byron would have been gratified to have known of the positive impact the show he helped to make with those whom have posted here.

I was an actor on the show for five years. I am so excited to read all of these comments and to know that our show has not been forgotten after all these years!!!! I would like to hear from our fans or other actors on the show. I really cannot believe this WOW. I thank you all for remembering us and am glad that you learned something from it. Cant wait to hear from all of you David "Carlitos" Yanez

This used to be shown on Channel 13 (public access in NYC) every day along with Sesame Street and Electric Company. When I was a kid, I picked up a little Espanol from it. The thing I most remember is the theme song at the start and end - I'd love to find that wav file.

I dont believe there were any actors of prominence on the show, but it was a kick

This was an EXCELLENT program! I learn spanish myself and remember my favorite characters, El Capitan, Three COlumbo, Senior Ropot, and Elena!

This show always kept me on my toes when I was a little boy. I used to watch this show, Electric Company, ZOOM, and 3-2-1, Contact, and Studio See!

Thats when REAL TV shows were out.... I search the web and STILL have not found anything relating to VIlla Alegre!

Cheers! Chris WInters