Paumas Sauvajes

Paumas Sauvajes (Wild Palms) is the longest running (although, not the first) Telenovela in Montreiano broadcasting history. In this respect it is unusual for the genre, but its incredible popularity allows it to be continually renewed each season. It is broadcast on TeleMontrei, the most popular boradcasting network in Montrei. It aired on TeleMontrei in 1995, and has been running every since.

Premise

Paumas Sauvajes focuses on the lives of 8 main characters in the fictional affluent city of Las Paumas deu Rio, said to be located along the southern shores of Montrei, near the city of Santa Barbara. The city is said to be a playground for the rich and famous. The characters of the show work for a modeling agency called Stilo Futuro, and the show focuses on aspects of the life of the rich and famous, the 8 main characters, and the web of connections between them.

Storylines

While the show is an ensemble cast, it usually follows the heroine, Isaveu Cano, who rose from her rural roots in central Montrei, to work as a model at Stilo Futuro, a lifelong dream of hers. Her innocence and beauty immediately drew the attention and desire of the top photographer of the agency, Arturo dela Tor. Arturo was also the on again off again lover of the president of the company, Evalina Campos, onetime supermodel, and mother of Isaveu's unintentional rival Salomé Campos, the top model of the agency.

Salomé was originally assigned to take Isaveu under her wing, but then was used by her mother to destroy Isaveu after Arturo became enamored of Isoveu. Salomé's father, and Evalinas estranged husband Victor, who is the vice president of the company is a closeted homosexual. He is also the lover of Arturo (who was revealed later in the series to be bisexual and the "mistress" that Evalina assumed Victor to be seeing).

Victor also keeps a young male model, Antonio Santos as his young lover, and has been conditioning him to replace Evalina as president of the agency. Antonio warmed up to Isaveu quickly, and realized the schemes that Evalina and Salomé were up to. Best friend of Antonio and fellow model Catarina Angeus also warmed up to Isaveu's and frequently helps to foil many of Salomés schemes. The top male model in the agency, Cristiano Aragón is the lover of Salomé and unbeknownst to all of the characters is actually the long lost brother of Isaveu.

Characters

• Isaveu Cano - Protagonist and heroine of the series. She came from poor rural roots to become a model at the Stilo Futuro agency, to fulfill a lifelong dream to become a model. Her innocence often leads her into situations where the show's main antagonist, Salomé Campos takes advantage of her, due to Arturo dela Tor being enamored of Isaveu. She was originally taken under Salomés wing, but when Evalina Campos found out that her lover, Arturo was in love with Isoveu, Evalina and Salomé began to create schemes to make Isoveu's life a nightmare.

• Arturo dela Tor - Head photographer and director of the agency's art and design department. He is Evalina Campos' on again, off again lover, but became enamored of Isoveu the first photoshoot he had with Isoveu. It was later discovered that Arturo was bisexual, and one of Victor Campos' lovers. Arturo was the main reason Victor and Evalina grew to become estranged of each other. As Arturo became obsessed with Isoveu, Evalina Campos grew Jealous and decided to destroy Isoveu rather than Arturo.

• Evalina Campos - The president of the Stilo Futuro agency. She was at one time a supermodel, and when she decided to retire from modeling, decided to start her own agency in the city of Las Paumas deu Rio, an affluent city in southern coastal Montrei. As she and her husband, Victor grew to become estranged, she began a relationship with Arturo dela Tor (who was the reason Evalina and Victor became estranged). Evalina plans to eventually fire Isoveu, but irrationally believes that if she does, Arturo will leave her, and her company to work for the rival agency, Imagen. Therefore, she would rather destroy Isoveu mentally, and is constantly scheming to get Arturo under her full influence. She has also been secretly embezzling money from the agency, and is being blackmailed by Cristiano Aragón.

• Salomé Campos - Salomé is the daughter of Evalina and Victor Campos, and girlfriend of Cristiano Aragón. She is the top model at the agency, and is considered to be a lying, scheming, manipulative woman. Due to being the daughter of the president and vice president of the agency, she has little chance of being fired, much to the dismay of most of the models and employees of Stilo Futuro. Most of her schemes are subversive, and designed to ruin her enemies financially and emotionally. She has been conditioned by her mother to be fully loyal to Evalina, and does whatever her mother wishes. She has been used as a tool by Evalina to destroy Isoveu, to draw the attention away from Evalina. She is also in line to be the future president of Stilo Futuro.

• Victor Campos - Vice president of Stilo Futuro, estranged husband of Evalina, and emotionally distant father of Salomé. He was revealed in the first season to be a closeted homosexual, and the lover of Arturo, who was revealed in a major plot twist to be the mistress Evalina assumed Victor to have. Despite being Arturo's lover, he views their relationship to be casual, rather than emotional, and as such does not have the harsh feelings for Isoveu that his wife has. Victor keeps in secret a young male model at the agency as his other lover. He has been grooming this model to be his successor, and eventually take over the company from Salomé after she is to become president.

• Antonio Santos - Antonio is one of the top male models of Stilo Futuro, and also the young protegé of Victor. Everyone assumes he is close with Victor due to Victor being a mentor, rather than what it is, a relationship. Antonio is being conditioned in secret by Victor to take over his role as Vice president, and then eventually as president of the company, and ousting Salomé. Knowing what Evalina and Salomé are often up to, he has become a friend of Isoveu, and helps to foil many of Evalina and Salomé's schemes against isoveu.

• Catarina Angeus - Catarina is another model at Stilo Futuro and best friend of Antonio. Like Antonio, she knows what Evalina and Salomé are up to in regard to Isoveu, and also helps to foil many of their schemes. She came from an abusive family, and was originally from the capital city. She also became a close friend of Isoveu, and has taken over where Salomé originally had, as a mentor to Isoveu in Stilo Futuro and Las Paumas deu Rio as a whole.

• Cristiano Aragón - Cristiano is the top male model at Stilo Futuro. He is the lover of Salomé, with whom he has a very stormy relationship. He is rather indifferent towards other characters, and is the type of person who looks out only for himself, but will use whoever he sees as useful to attain his goals. He is connected with the mob group in Montrei known as la Caxa Negra (black box). He has been secretly extorting money from Evalina and blackmailing her, threatening to expose her embezzling. Later, he was discovered to be the long lost brother of Isoveu, who Isoveu's family gave up as a child due to the poverty his parents faced at the time.

Controversy

Paumas Sauvajes was considered to be the raciest, most groundbreaking show on Montreiano television due to its themes of marital infidelity, homosexuality and bisexuality. Family groups frequently call for it to be taken off the air, and Alta California has banned the show from being broadcast there (although bootleg copies are popular in Alta California), due to what it calls "questionable morality".

Popularity

The popularity of the show is often attributed to its extensive use of over the top, campy dialogue and scenes. The depiction of the rich is considered to be more fantasy than realistic, and the confrontational scenes generally result in frequent physical confrontation, and sharp tongued, catty, sarcastic, vicious jabs. It is notable in that the homosexual elements are not stereotyped, however. The popularity of the show has kept it in constant renewal, and it has moved on from being mostly about Isaveu, to focusing each season on one of the other characters (although Isaveu remains prominent). The current season is focused on Cristiano's blackmailing of Evalina, and Evalina's embezzelment of the Agency's profits.