First the history of the series:
El Chavo del 8 is a Mexican comedy series that has gained an increased popularity in Spanish speaking America as well as in Spain, Brazil, United States (in Spanish only), and other countries. It centers around the adventures and tribulations of the title character, El Chavo - an orphan, played by the show's creator, Roberto Gómez Bolaños, and other inhabitants of a fictional apartment building, or as called in Spanish, vecindad.
Now the legend.
Has anyone ever seen the episode where El Chavo del 8 was pretending that he had been hit by a car? Because if you did, or if you lived during the time it was broadcast, you
Dead Chavo
may have noticed that there was a period of 4 months between this and the previous episode. Okay, what happened in this period of 4 months? Roberto Gomez Bolaños apparently had filmed what was supposed to be the series finale of El Chavo del 8, and is more or less like this real episode.
According to several former executives, the episode goes like this:
The chapter begins with the characteristic intro of the series, but the sound is outdated. When the vecindad comes into view, no one shows up. The gate opens as if someone were to enter, but no one goes in. It goes on like this for 2 or 3 minutes with this change of shots when you finally see El Chavo enter and hear the laugh track (the shots stop changing after this). It's in that part where El Chavo comes out of the vecindad and walks into the street.
At that time, in come Kiko and La Chilindrina. Kiko then asks La Chilindrina where El Chavo is (Kiko asks in his in-character voice, though his cheeks are not as inflated). La Chilindrina says he is in the street with tomato sauce. At the exact moment she says "the street," you will hear a horrible roar that did not appear on all versions of the tape.
After the fade-out is the scene from the episode which was broadcast (the one where El Chavo pretends to be run over), where the characters in the vecindad were crying. The sound is outdated and sobs seem to be coming from a lot more people. Just that there is a cut scene for what appears to be a commercial break.
El Chavo Lost Footage
Then there is a change to another scenario, with Doña Florinda, Don Ramon, Professor Jirafales, Kiko and La Chilindrina in front of a black background. In front of them appears to be a coffin with the body of El Chavo but he is not seen. The 5 characters are especially broken. Doña Florinda looks very gaunt, and while it appears she's just acting, her grief is highlighted even more when the camera zooms in on her face for about 5 to 10 minutes. After this incredibly long scene, Kiko and La Chilindrina say "Chavito," in heartbroken voices. Kiko is not doing his speech gimmick at this time, which raises questions as to whether he and Doña Florinda are really just acting.
After this scene is the shot of El Chavo's body.
It is here more than anywhere else that raises questions, as the body of El Chavo is actually taller than Roberto Bolano. "El Chavo's" suit is too small, and you can see that he's also too fat and his skin color is a bit too dark. Both of his legs are broken and bleeding. The cap that covers his face and his head is covered in blood, and his arms are twisted and emaciated. His trunk seems to have exceptionally clean stab wounds all over it. This scene lasts for 5 minutes, then the characteristic ending theme of El Chavo del 8 plays.
There was a period of 4 months between the time this episode was filmed and where Chespirito rejoined his team, and there is controversy over who "played" the body. It was clearly shown that it was not a dummy, and it was not any actor who had appeared as an extra or two before or after this. In addition to this, a little while back, Roberto Gomes Bolaños had said he wanted to do something that no one had ever seen on television before.
Truth In Television
Roberto "Chespirito" Gomez actually did plan on a series finale of El Chavo del Ocho with the eponymous El Chavo Sacrificing himself to save a child. He decided not to because his daughter said it could make kids try to do the same.