What on earth could be better than a big-budget U.S. hospital drama? A Colombian imitation of a big-budget U.S. hospital drama, of course. Or so thinks RCN television director Shonda Rhimes…
The show is “La Corazon Abierta,” based entirely on the popular American medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” which has gained a huge international following since it started five years ago.
Prepare yourself for the same romance, the same heartache, the blood and the same guts – just with a bit more of a Latino vibe. And perhaps not so much of the big-budget.
Minor adaptations to the original show had to be made, because of Colombia’s different medical situation.
“We had to make some modifications, because the medicine in the United States works marvelously.”
But that’s not to say that the show’s creators haven’t put their all into the project.
With a whole new (fake) hospital built for the set and the employment of over 2,000 extras, the producers have pulled out all the stops with this copy-cat project – even calling in real doctors to train the actors in how to pull off a convincing quadruple bypass.
So in a reverse of what happened with hit U.S. show “Ugly Betty” – which was based on Colombian soap opera “Yo soy Betty la fea” – let’s see if “La Corazon Abierta” manages to make big bucks like its North American counterpart.