XUXA
Oh Xuxa. Brazilian kids TV show Xuxa was a staple of Spanish language television in the late eighties and early nineties. Every week, she would wow her audience with bright, fun and groovy sets, including a hot pink lip adorned space ship. Her shows took place in front of a live audience of happily smiling children with Xuxa clad in her signature outfit of hot pants, thigh high boots and shoulder-padded jacket dancing, singing and spreading the word of love and acceptance. There was always a game portion with Chicos vs Las Chicas competing by doing activities like straddling a big greased cylinder and pushing themselves along racing to the finish line. I never saw a show where Xuxa wasn’t moved to tears at some point by a heartwarming story. Oh, and the paquitas-her cheerleader dance team who made their own claim to fame. Unfortunately, the early 90’s american version lost a lot of the wow factor. It’s difficult to find clips of the Brazilian one, but here a few goodies.
Xuxa World Cup Special 1990- Xuxa once dated Braziian soccer star Pele; this clip has the cool spaceship at the beginning
Xuxa sings her hit song “llarie”- bad video copy, but the energy is palpable
Las Paquitas de XUXA- ahhh…the Paquitas!
The Daily Psychedelic Video 