The History Of A Former DStv Channel, Carlton's SelecTV

Carlton Select was UK's leading entertainment channel owned by Carlton Television. It originally launched in June 1995 as SelecTV, by the independent production company of the same name, before being purchased by Carlton in 1997 who relaunched it as Carlton Select.

During 1985-1991, the channel was part of a bid for an ITV franchise after the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) prevented them from purchasing Thames Television and were only fortunate to provide a news service to the channel.

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Other aspects that occurred in that timeframe was the purchase of Ladbrokes (Central), the sports betting company owning up to 30% which finally gave them its first stake in a terrestrial broadcasting company.

During 1992-1994, Carlton launched a news station London News Network as part of a joint venture with London Weekend Television broadcasting news and other regional content and acquired full ownership of Ladbrokes.

They also faced some heavy backlash from the Independent Television Communication (ITC) for providing a wide range of "unimpressive and very disappointing" programmes for the ITV network which were "neither distinctive nor noticeable high quality".

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Between 1995 and 1996, Carlton launched its first channel Carlton Food Network and SelectTV was introduced broadcasting various content from their Food Network alongside other content like Airline, Birds Of A Feather, The Golden Girls and Yesterday's Dreams.

It also formed part of DStv's initial offering when it was introduced in 1995 and was eventually purchased by Pearson a year later.

SelecTV programming traced back to the 80s and Carlton Select was introduced in 1997 as part of an attempt to change the image of the channel of course there was not much difference from either one as the timelines were kind of close to each other.

Things were only moving up for Carlton as they were able to launch DTT platform British Digital Broadcasting as part of a joint venture with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) before having full control as ITC forced BSkyB to retract and purchased a Racks Film Distributor which had  740 films in their collection.

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In 1998, The Guardian publishes a series of articles alleging the wholesale fabrication of a 1996 Carlton documentary, The Connection which had purported to film the route by which heroin was smuggled into the United Kingdom from Colombia. An internal inquiry at Carlton found that The Guardian's allegations were in large part correct and the ITC, fines Carlton £2million for multiple breaches of the UK's broadcasting codes.

Around that period, BSkyB launched their DTT service carrying their set of channels alongside Carlton Select, Carlton Food Network (another DStv channel) and new entries Carlton Kids, Carlton Cinema and Carlton World.

A year after the launch, Carlton began phasing out the company name from all their products and it wasn't until the 2000s that Carlton Select, Carlton World, Carlton Kids were eventually discontinued.

Carlton World followed shortly after and Carlton Food Network became a joint venture with Sainsbury to form Taste CFN which lasted a year leaving Carlton with a movie channel, Carlton Cinema.

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Carlton partnered up with BSkyB (now Granada PLC or Sky UK) to launch ITV Digital from existing brands and that lasted a few months as well. Granada PLC had various brands which were scrapped for ITV1.

Carlton Cinema ceased transmission and in 2003 the Carlton brand was no more as it merged with Granada PLC to form ITV PLC. All the products from Carlton were credited to ITV.

ITV PLC went on to form an international channel ITV Choice (formerly Granada UKTV, Granada TV and ITV Granada) which some may see as a reincarnation to SelecTV and various other entertainment channels from the two former brands.

Just like every other carnation, ITV Choice was eventually discontinued by 2020 in its last region Africa. There hasn't been a reason for the sudden dismal in various other markets but the local provider in Africa being MultiChoice opted to supply their content to various other channels.

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ITV Choice brought shows like Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Tipping Point, The Jonathon Ross Show, The Chase and Doc Martin. Modern and original programming that past counterparts had the misfortune of excluding.

In the end, ITV hasn't been successful in the linear space with the likes of BBC and regional providers. Of course, ITV provides various channels in the UK with Ginx TV also being British being the only linear channel available internationally.

But if you look at it the content can be viewed on multiple stations globally so that has to count for something.

Nickelodeon Had A Sports Channel

Nickelodeon is a channel known for many things they've usually been able to balance live-action with cartoons while making sure there's something for everyone. Things may have changed when they put all their eggs in a basket with SpongeBob SquarePants and The Loud House but you can't really blame them with how famous they are.

Nickelodeon likes to play it safe, what they're currently offering isn't the same from what was seen a decade or two. Let's dive into one of the topics from the previous decade, NickGas.

Nickelodeon's Games And Sports For Kids (NickGas), originally debuting on the main channel it served as a programming block airing what the name implies game shows. By 1999, they decided to turn this block into an official channel of the same name.

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One of the most memorable shows there at the time was Nickelodeon's GUTS where players compete against each other in extreme sports. It was well received lasting a few years on air and getting a decent audience.

This was some of the other content you'd find different from Nickelodeon. Other programs available on the channel included Legends Of The Hidden Temple which centred on a lost treasure protected by guards where players would have to walk into a temple answering questions about history.

Legend Of The Hidden Temples was conceived in the 90s and not all the content was necessarily new if you wanted such the bumpers would help. The channel also featured a bunch of segments recommending people to sports or games. It was one of the few brands where you wouldn't mind watching a commercial.

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Although being another Nicktoons, NickGas had shorts which kept audiences glued to the screen. Of course, all good things must come to an end.

There was no official reason for its discontinuation on December 2007. However the end only became the beginning as it transformed into TeenNick which is just Nicktoons but for live-action shows or content for older kids.

Although the channel is dead, NickGas has been referenced on several occasions take for instance The Loud House had an episode on one of their programs Double Dare. Some of the content found under the brand were often revived for the modem era.

The Count Of Monte Cristo: The Story That Inspired eMedia's Is'phindiselo, Telemundo's The Boss And ABC's Revenge

Edmond Dantès, a handsome, promising young sailor, skillfully docks the three-masted French ship, the Pharaon, in Marseilles after its captain died en route home. As a reward, Dantès is promised a captainship, but before he can claim his new post and be married to his fiancée, Mercédès', a conspiracy of four jealous and unsavory men arrange for him to be seized and secretly imprisoned in solitary confinement in the infamous Chateau d'If, a prison from which no one has ever escaped. The four men responsible are:

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1. Fernand Mondego, who is jealous of Mercédès' love for Dantès;

2. Danglars, the purser of the Pharaon, who covets Dantès' promised captainship;

3. Caderousse, an unprincipled neighbor; and

4. Villefort, a prosecutor who knows that Dantès is carrying a letter addressed to Villefort's father; the old man is a Bonapartist who would probably be imprisoned by the present royalist regime were it not for his son's, Villefort's, influence. Villefort fears, however, that this letter might damage his own position, and so he makes sure, he thinks, that no one ever hears about either Dantès or the letter again.

For many years, Dantès barely exists in his tiny, isolated cell; he almost loses his mind and his will to live until one day he hears a fellow prisoner burrowing nearby. He too begins digging, and soon he meets an old Abbé who knows the whereabouts of an immense fortune, one that used to belong to an immensely wealthy Italian family.

Dantès and the Abbé continue digging for several years, and from the Abbé, Dantès learns history, literature, science, and languages, but when at last they are almost free, the Abbé dies. Dantès hides his body, then sews himself in the Abbé's burial sack. The guards arrive, carry the sack outside, and heave the body far out to sea.

Dantès manages to escape and is picked up by a shipful of smugglers, whom he joins until he can locate the island where the treasure is hidden. When he finally discovers it, he is staggered by the immensity of its wealth. And when he emerges into society again, he is the very rich and very handsome Count of Monte Cristo.

Monte Cristo has two goals — to reward those who were kind to him and his aging father, and to punish those responsible for his imprisonment. For the latter, he plans slow and painful punishment. To have spent fourteen years barely subsisting in a dungeon demands cruel and prolonged punishment.

As Monte Cristo, Dantès ingeniously manages to be introduced to the cream of Parisian society, among whom he goes unrecognized. But Monte Cristo, in contrast, recognizes all of his enemies — all now wealthy and influential men.

Fernand has married Mercédès and is now known as Count de Morcerf. Monte Cristo releases information to the press that proves that Morcerf is a traitor, and Morcerf is ruined socially. Then Monte Cristo destroys Morcerf's relationship with his family, whom he adores. When they leave him, he is so distraught that he shoots himself.

To revenge himself on Danglars, who loves money more than anything else, Monte Cristo ruins him financially.

To revenge himself on Caderousse, Monte Cristo easily traps Caderousse because of his insatiable greed, then watches as one of Caderousse's cohorts murders him.

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To revenge himself on Villefort, Monte Cristo slowly reveals to Villefort that he knows about a love affair that Villefort had long ago with the present Madame Danglars. He also reveals to him, by hints, that he knows about an illegitimate child whom he fathered, a child whom Villefort believed that he buried alive. The child lived, however, and is now engaged to Danglars' daughter, who is the illegitimate young man's half-sister.

Ironically, Villefort's wife proves to be even more villainous than her husband, for she poisons the parents of Villefort's first wife; then she believes that she has successfully poisoned her husband's daughter by his first marriage. With those people dead, her own son is in line for an enormous inheritance. Villefort, however, discovers his wife's plottings and threatens her, and so she poisons herself and their son. At this point, Dantès is half-fearful that his revenge has been too thorough, but because he is able to unite two young people who are very much in love and unite them on the Isle of Monte Cristo, he sails away, happy and satisfied, never to be seen again.

Countdown To The Wildest Stories From Dark Side Of The Ring

10. Ric Flair's actions

Plane Ride From Hell was one of the worst instances of nothing going to plan. On that fateful day during WWE's tour of the UK. The plane was delayed for 7 hours and they were on a charter plane WWE stars consumed alcohol and waited for the plane to get going unfortunately the plane stayed long enough for the stars to consume multiple carts of alcohol. While some fooled around with Dustin Rhodes or his wife, Brock Lesnar and Perfect Brawley even cutting of Michael Ace's ponytail.

Things went wrong in a different direction, Ric Flair wore a robe with nothing underneath. According to a flight attendant and several other people, the wrestler cornered her in a plane forcing her to touch him. No one who knew bothered to help except Dustin Rhodes.

Tommy Dreamer revealed the flight attendant a bribe and compared the situation to his haircut which led him to get suspended from Impact Wrestling while Ric Flair possible losing any chance of getting into AEW.

9. Owen Hart's death

One of the saddest episodes of Dark Side Of The Ring, WWE had planned his entrance at the last minute which led to tragedy where he would fall and pass from the impact.

It was revealed in the show that the original plan was to have him lowered from the ceiling but they instead used a new rigging system from one they had initially.

It turned out that the rig that was holding Owen had been built for a sailboat which was designed to hold 6 pounds of pressure. On top of that his wife and son blamed WWE for his death and chose not to let him into the Hall Of Fame. According to people at the scene, Owen Hart's last words before plummeting to his death was "LOOKOUT".

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8. Life of Dino Bravo

Bravo was a heel of a wrestler who enjoyed a rich lifestyle. In Montreal, he was famous and respected and was suppose to face Hulk Hogan. WWE couldn't handle having their Babyface being booed at so they swapped the matches and event.

Bravo signed a new deal with WWE which would see him with new look but was repackaged as a heel. When it came time for him to retire, he didn't know what to do as he didn't save money and to try and keep his lifestyle going worked with his uncle in a crime family and a year later he would be found dead with drugs worth $400000 being confiscated.

7. Jimmy Snuka

The controversial wrestler sparked attention for allegations made on the death of his wife. Even before Snuka had killed Nancy. The family had doubts about him with her mother being supportive of their relationship.

There was a time where Snuka would struggle her throat and slapped her and she fled the scene seeking comfort with her sister who encouraged her to exit the relationship but continued on until her death.

Snuka was under investigation as he told different versions of his wife's murder saying she would fall and hit her head and that she was sleeping while he had a match.

There were allegations that WWE founder Vince McMahon offered Nancy's mother hush money of which hasn't been confirmed as there was no evidence of course the case was reopened and Snuka was unable to stand trial due to his dementia and cancer.

6. Godfather Hates Pimps

Despite his character being a pimp, it turned out in his personal life he had a history with pimps before WWE he worked as a bouncer. It was revealed he would hit any pimp that entered the strip club.

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5. Brawl For All

JBL wanted to find out who was the toughest man in the locker room though Vince Russo was the one who conceived it. Russo didn't like JBL for the way he was bullying everyone so he figured someone would embarass him.

All those involved suffered immensely while JBL was forced to eat dirt.

4. New Jack's storyline

Jack passed away around the time he was trying a minor who had hoped to face him. Hunter Ray punched him in the face and Jack angry stabbed him multiple times only for Jack to get arrested. Red came to visit him in prison hoping to turn it into a storyline and he agreed and the two never contacted each other again.

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3. The killing of Bruiser Brody

One of the most disturbing stories, Brody was one of the most respected wrestlers with his style being influencal. Invader and Brody didn't like each other.

When Invader came to WWE, Brody beat him badly which resulted in Invader holding a grudge. Brody went to WWC and told that he was owed money there. They were also talks of him becoming minority owner there.

Tony Atlas said the locker room there was tense and Brody wasn't looking good asked Tony to sketch a sign. Atlas came with a towel to speak with Brody and heard a punch only to see Invader holding a knife trying to stab Brody again and Tony protected him and laid him on the floor.

The ambulance arrived 45 minutes later, he needed surgeries for the cuts and bruises and Brody was alive when he left the hospital and died later in the morning. No one was arrested, Invader (Jose Gonzalez) got off saying it was self defence while police thought it had something to do with their jobs.

Brody was portrayed as a loving husband and father in Dark Side Of The Ring.

2. North Korea

In 1995, WCW teamed up with North Korea to hold a wrestling event. Ric Flair, Scott and Rick Steiner and several others made the journey. Muhammad Ali managed to make the event thanks to the organizer of the event, Antonio Anoki.

According to Eric Bishop, there was an attendance of 300000 with the audience being forced to attend. A group of wrestlers were confronted by security after trying to play pool. Scott getting his call interrupted as he had to fight with the country.

According to Too Cold Scorpio, he had considered playing the role of Warrior Hog with him taking a hit with a chopstick. Chris Benoit urged him not as he would regret it and Scorpio listened.

1. Grizzly Smith

He wrestled between the 50s and 70s and was father to including Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Rockin' Robin, and Sam Houston. Despite Jake being the most famous no one knew he was part of a wrestling family.

His siblings were estranged to each other as they lived separately for part of their childhood where Jake had to live with his grandfather then abusive husband.

Jake was sexually assaulted by his stepmother when he told his father she abused him. He found out Grizzly had been doing the same to his sister Robin from the time she was 8.

Robin revealed her mom left with her when she told her of the situation. Grizzly's fifth child was married and had a child by the time she was 18 then she was kidnapped and her husband was convinced although no body was found.

Robin believed that her father may have some involvement in the death of her sister. One time, he showed up at her house with a 9 year old girl and discovered Grizzly had been treating her the same way as her.

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The Story Of The Ugliest Woman In The World To Gave Up Her Dignity To Feed Her Children

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A Difficult Fate

A loving mother would do anything for her children, and Mary Ann Webster (Bevan after marriage) isn’t an exception to this rule: she wasn’t afraid to become an object of ridicule or show her unusual appearance. She had a goal — to feed her children by doing whatever it took. Mary had to overcome cruelty, mocking, and insults from people who wanted to see “the ugliest woman in the world.”

Mary’s life was pretty ordinary. She was born in London to a large and rather poor family. She had to start working very early and was a nurse in a hospital. Mary was a very attractive lady who dreamed about having a big family herself. Her dream came true: at the age of 29, she got married to Thomas Bevan and gave birth to 4 children.

Later, Mary started experiencing health problems: she suffered from migraines and muscle and joint pain. Doctors couldn’t understand what was going on. But she barely had time to focus on her health since her family needed her.

The Disease Reveals Itself

Mary started suffering from another symptom: abnormal facial growth and distortion, which led to her “homely” appearance. The young Mrs. Bevan turned into a creature who only slightly resembled a woman.

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This disease is called acromegaly, a neuroendocrine disorder that results in an excess amount of growth hormones in the body, which leads to bone, internal organ, and soft tissue enlargement. The disease is often accompanied by headaches and muscle pain. In most cases, acromegaly occurs due to a benign tumor, known as a pituitary adenoma.

Today, doctors can cure this disease successfully, but at the beginning of the 20th century, Mary was in a desperate situation. Each day, she saw her beauty fade away.

An Unpleasant Title And A Check

Mr. Bevan always supported his wife and stood by her side, but his destiny had its own plans. After 11 years of marriage, he died, and Mary became a widow with children and almost no money.

After her husband’s death, Mary accepted any job she could get to try to feed and care for her children. However, she wasn’t offered a good job because of her appearance and people in the streets used to insult her and make fun of her. So, each work day was a challenge.

Things were getting worse and worse until Mary found out that there was something called The World’s Ugliest Woman contest. So she decided to take part in it since the prize was a really big sum of money. She managed to win the contest, but the mass media started writing unpleasant articles about her, and it was really hard for her to read them.

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But Mary turned her situation into a stable income. By the way, this contest is still popular in England, but they put the emphasis on frowning now.

Circus And Freak Show Performances

In 1920, she was invited to work in the US and appear in Coney Island’s Dreamland show. She took part in these performances where she had to demonstrate her appearance by wearing certain clothing items that highlighted her unattractiveness and masculinity.

There were other people with unusual features in these shows too: a bearded woman, dwarfs, giants, and Siamese twins — they all were freaks who had to make people laugh or feel like they had seen something unusual.

The audience really liked these cruel shows and Mary was one of the most popular actresses in her group. We only can assume how difficult it was for her to be an object of ridicule. But she overcame all of her challenges for the sake of her children.

She spent most of the remainder of her life in a circus. She had a chance to return to Europe only once, in 1925, when she visited Paris where she took part in an exhibition.

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Unfortunately, most people who suffer from acromegaly don’t live very long. Mary died in 1933, at the age of 59. Before she died, she asked her children to bury her in England. This difficult destiny of a loving mother proves that anyone who’s brave enough can nail it.

Of course, we may say she that didn’t have a choice and that it was her only chance, but she wasn’t afraid to use this chance and she turned her disease into a source of income. We don’t know what would happen if she wasn’t sick. We probably wouldn’t know anything about her.

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Meet Amado Carrillo Fuentes The Man Behind Telemundo Africa's Lord Of The Skies

As the legend goes, Amado Carrillo Fuentes left his small village around the age of 12, telling people: “I won’t come back until I’m rich.” He kept his word. Carrillo went on to build a multibillion-dollar empire and become Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficker.

The head of the Juarez cartel, Carrillo earned the nickname “Lord of the Skies” because he used private planes to smuggle cocaine. He filled the pockets of Mexican officials to keep them looking the other way and leveraged the threat of violence to keep people in line.

As his power grew, however, so did scrutiny from Mexican and U.S. officials. Carrillo fatefully decided to undergo plastic surgery to evade detection. But instead of leaving the hospital a new man, Amado Carrillo Fuentes died in his recovery room.

Matched

The Rise Of The Powerful ‘Lord Of The Skies’

Born in the small village of Guamuchilito in Sinaloa, Mexico, on Dec. 17, 1956, Amado Carrillo Fuentes grew up surrounded by agriculture — and drugs. Though his father was a modest landowner, his uncle, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, led the Guadalajara cartel.

Around the age of 12, Carrillo announced that he was leaving his parents and 10 siblings to make it rich. He traveled to Chihuahua with nothing more than a sixth-grade education and began to learn the ins and outs of drug trafficking from his uncle. Ernesto eventually put his nephew in charge of overseeing drug shipments.

From there, Carrillo shot up the ladder. He consolidated his power in 1993 by assassinating his friend and former boss, Rafael Aguilar Guajardo. With Aguilar dead, Carrillo took over his Juarez cartel. He soon earned the nickname “Lord of the Skies” because he chartered planes to smuggle cocaine from Colombia to the U.S.–Mexico border.

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For the most part, however, Carrillo was careful to stay out of the limelight — even as his power and fortune grew. After his death, the Washington Post called Carrillo one of Mexico’s “most mysterious men.”

“He lived discreetly – no wild shootouts, no late-night disco hopping,” the paper wrote. “Few pictures of him appeared in newspapers or on television. He was from a new breed, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration liked to say, a low-profile kingpin who behaved like a businessman.”

Amado Carrillo Fuentes seems to have viewed drug trafficking as exactly that — a business. To a priest who encouraged him to leave his life of crime, Carrillo demurred. “I can’t retire,” he told the priest. “I have to keep going. I have to support thousands of families.”

Behind the scenes, though, Carrillo was very much a drug lord. He amassed a net worth of $25 billion — a fortune second only to Pablo Escobar’s — ordered some 400 murders, and enjoyed torturing his victims.

Carrillo also held influence over Mexican government officials, whom he paid to turn a blind eye to his activities and take out his rivals. By targeting his competition, they could claim to be anti-drug while leaving the Lord of the Skies alone. Even Mexico’s top anti-drug official was in Carrillo’s pocket.

Matched

Regardless, his activity drew attention from law enforcement. In 1997, he barely evaded capture when Mexican agents raided his sister’s wedding. The Lord of the Skies had grown, in the words of a senior U.S. drug official, “too big, too notorious.”

Well-aware of his own notoriety, Amado Carrillo Fuentes decided to take a drastic step. As he mused about moving his operation to Chile, Carrillo resolved to undergo severe plastic surgery to change his appearance.

The Surgery That Killed Amado Carrillo Fuentes

On July 4, 1997, Amado Carrillo Fuentes checked into a private Mexico City clinic under the alias Antonio Flores Montes. For eight hours, he underwent surgery to drastically alter his face and remove 3.5 gallons of fat from his body.

At first, it seemed that the procedure had gone off without a hitch. Nurses wheeled Carrillo to Room 407 in the Santa Monica hospital that evening and left him to recover. But a doctor doing rounds early the next morning found Carrillo deceased in bed. The drug lord was 42 years old.

After confirming Carrillo’s identity via fingerprints, the D.E.A. and the U.S. government announced that Amado Carrillo Fuentes had died of a heart attack. Their announcement caused ripples of shock — and disbelief. Many believed that Carrillo had faked his death and skipped town.

To counter this idea, officials released a gruesome photo of Amado Carrillo Fuentes’ corpse at his funeral. But rather than tame the rumors that he’d faked his death, the photo inflamed them.

Matched

“Those aren’t his hands,” an unconvinced barber told a journalist from The Los Angeles Times, after seeing the photograph of Amado Carrillo Fuentes in a newspaper. “Those are the hands of a classical pianist.”

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Carrillo’s cousin gave later credence to the rumors that Amado Carrillo Fuentes’ death was faked when he declared, after the drug lord’s funeral, “Amado is fine. He is alive.”

Carrillo’s cousin went on, “He had surgery and also had surgery practiced on some poor unfortunate person to make everybody believe it was him, including the authorities.”

American agents vehemently denied that Carrillo had slipped through their fingers. “The rumor [that Carrillo is alive] has as much credibility as the millions of sightings of the late Elvis Presley,” the D.E.A. said in a statement.

Indeed, allies of Amado Carrillo Fuentes didn’t act as if he had simply skipped town. Four months after his death, the three doctors responsible for his surgery were found in steel barrels along the side of a highway.

They had been partially encased in cement before someone had ripped out their fingernails, burned them, and killed them. Two doctors had cables still wrapped around their necks; the third had been shot.

Further muddying the waters, the doctors were later charged with murder. Mariano Herran Salvatti, the head of Mexico’s anti-drug agency, said at the time that that the doctors had “with malice and with the intention of taking [Carrillo’s] life… applied a combination of medicines that resulted in the death of the trafficker.”

Matched

The Aftermath Of Amado Carrillo Fuentes’ Death

The sudden death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes left a power vacuum. After the botched surgery, his top lieutenants battled each other to fill his shoes, as his old rivals fought to supplant the powerful Juarez cartel.

Out of the fray, Carrillo’s younger brother Vicente Carrillo Fuentes — called “The Viceroy” — seized power. But he couldn’t stop the cartel’s decline. Battered by the powerful Sinaloa cartel, led by El Chapo, the Juarez cartel suffered a prolonged slump, capped off by Vincente’s arrest in 2014.

As for the Lord of the Skies himself? He’s enjoyed an odd, second life as a character on Netflix’s Narcos, played by José María Yazpik.

But outside of the world of television, says the D.E.A., Fuentes is gone — dead. He may have escaped “earthly justice,” noted D.E.A. administrator Thomas A. Constantine, but he is “sure there is a special place in hell for those like him who have destroyed countless lives and devastated families on both sides of the border.”

That is, unless he did slip away under cover of night with a new face, a new name, and the determination to operate forevermore from the shadows.

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Meet Paquita Gallego The Woman Behind One Of Telemundo Africa's Most Popular Series My Heart Beats For Lola

Telemundo is expected to air My Heart Beats For Lola (Mi Corazon Insiste En Lola Volcan) later in the week and although some can't stand the near sight of the salamander here's a series I recommend you to watch which is the 1998 classic I Love You Paquito Gallego (Yo Amo A Paquita Gallego).

Also read:

- Simply Maria has a release date on TLNovelas

- The Scent Of Passion coming soon to Telemundo

- More about TLNovelas upcoming series Keeping My Family Together

- Overcoming Fear coming soon to TLNovelas

- Malverde: The Patron Saint coming soon to Telemundo Africa???

- Overcoming Heartbreak and Overcoming The Past coming soon to TLNovelas

- In March, E! will also be hosting the Oscars live from the red carpet and launch the cover bands

- The Search For Frida March 2022 teasers

- Upcoming programming for Telemundo Africa

- Nurses March 2022 teasers

- The Homemaker, The Accidental Mayor and Happily Ever After coming soon to Star Life

Believe it or not most of Telemundo's popular shows were derived from somewhere. Take for instance, Lord Of The Skies (El Señor De Los Cielos) which was based on the life of Amado Carillo Fuentes known to viewers as Aurelio Casillas and Queen Of The South which was derived from a book of the same name.

My Heart Beats For Lola joins the never ending list of shows that never ending list with I Love You Paquita Gallego and before you feel like skipping this article take some time to do research on the show and you'll discover a lot more to that series.

Cristina Umaña played the titular character which resembled Carmen Villalobos' Lola Volcan. The only difference was the identity of her father was never revealed as her mom who apparently was a rape victim who died later on the series alongside her aunt died and Paquita had a skin rash forcing her to be homeschooled.

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- Kara Sevda and Kuzgun airing on Timeless Dizi Channel

- Globoplay and Televisa upcoming programs

- Studio Dragon unveil a list of Korean dramas part of which are for tvN

- The Daughter-In-Law coming soon to Zee World while a repeat of The Vow debuts on Zee One

- tvN unveils a bunch of music and variety shows

- This City Will Come Behind You coming soon to Timeless Dizi Channel

- Pantaya working on several new shows featuring several Telemundo and TLNovelas cast members

Compared to The Search For Frida, the changes Telemundo made when adapting I Love You Paquita Gallego is very remarkable. If I had to be honest, I'd rather watch the original as the show appears to be more darker.

As mentioned, Paquita's mother died earlier in the show while Lola's mother was there till the very end but was distant throughout the show as she was held prisoner by the lost love. Who do you think filled that plot of Lola's mother in I Love You Paquita Gallego seeing that she passed on?

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TRAGEDY 💔: The True Story Of Disney's Beloved Fairytale Princess, Pocahontas

Many tales have been told about Pocahontas, but not all of them are true.

Pocahontas has been romanticized throughout American history, thanks in no small part to the accounts of English settlers John Smith and John Rolfe, and of course, the 1995 Disney animated movie. But who was the real Pocahontas?

To help dispel the many myths surrounding the popular Native American figure, here are some facts that originate from Native American oral history and contemporary historical accounts.

Pocahontas was actually her nickname

Born around 1596, Pocahontas was actually known as Amonute, and to those closest to her, Matoaka. The name Pocahontas, in fact, belonged to her mother, who died while giving birth to her.

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- The suicide anthem Gloomy Sunday

Devastated by his wife's death, Pocahontas' father, Chief Powhatan Wahunseneca of the Pamunkey tribe of Virginia, called his little daughter Pocahontas as a nickname, which meant "playful one" or "ill-behaved child."

A spirited young girl who liked to do cartwheels, Pocahontas grew up to be a brave and intelligent leader and translator on behalf of her people.

There was no romance between Pocahontas and John Smith

By the time 27-year-old Smith and the rest of the English colonists arrived on Native American lands in 1607, Pocahontas was probably around 10 years old. Despite Smith embellishing the idea of a romance between them in order to sell books that he'd later author, they were never involved.

What is true is that Smith spent a few months with Pocahontas' tribe as a captive, and while there, he and Pocahontas taught each other basic aspects of their respective language.

Pocahontas would later marry Indian warrior Kocoum at age 14 and shortly give birth to their son "little Kocoum."

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- Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard - the woman who drugged and confined her daughter to a wheelchair

Pocahontas didn't warn Smith of a planned assassination against him

While Smith was being held prisoner, Chief Powhatan grew to trust him. In 1607 the chief decided to offer Smith a "werowance" role, which was the tribe's way of acknowledging him as an official leader of the colonies, giving him access to coveted resources such as food and better land.

Smith would later allege that while he trained to become a werowance, Pocahontas warned him of a deadly plot against him, and thus, saved his life. However, contemporary accounts show that if a Native American chief was honoring a man, there would be no threat to his life.

Additionally, children were forbidden to attend a werowance ceremony, so Pocahontas wouldn't have been present.

Pocahontas was not traded to the English; she was kidnapped and raped

With tensions rising between the Powhatan and the English, rumors spread that Pocahontas was a prime target for kidnapping. Hoping to prevent future attacks by Native Americans, English Captain Samuel Argall made those rumors a reality and took the Chief's beloved daughter away with him after threatening violence against her village.

Before leaving, Argall offered a copper pot to the tribe and later claimed the two parties had made a trade. Forced to leave her husband and small son, Pocahontas boarded an English ship, not knowing that colonists had murdered her husband Kocoum shortly after.

While captive in Jamestown, Pocahontas was raped by possibly more than one colonist — an act that was incomprehensible to Native Americans. She grew into a deep depression and had a second son out of wedlock. That son would be named Thomas Rolfe, whose biological father may have actually been Sir Thomas Dale.

Pocahontas was not an eager goodwill ambassador of the New World

The story of Pocahontas marrying tobacco planter Rolfe for love is highly unlikely, especially considering Rolfe was under great financial pressure to somehow forge an alliance with the Powhatan to learn their secret tobacco curing techniques.

In the end, he decided the best way to win over the Powhatan was to marry Pocahontas, who all the while was being forced to wear English clothes, convert to Christianity and adopt the name, Rebecca.

Out of fear of being kidnapped himself, Chief Powhatan didn't attend Rolfe and Pocahontas' wedding ceremony and instead, offered a pearl necklace as a gift. He'd never see his daughter again.

To help further fund the tobacco business in the colonies, Rolfe took Pocahontas and son Thomas with him to England to show the court the "goodwill" between the colonists and Native Americans. Thus, Pocahontas was used as a prop, paraded around as an Indian princess who embraced western culture.

Although she was considered in good health right before leaving England, Pocahontas suddenly fell ill and died after dining with Rolfe and Argall, the man who kidnapped her. The tribesmen who accompanied Pocahontas on the trip believed she was poisoned.

At the time of her death, Pocahontas was around 21 years of age. She was buried in Gravesend, England at Saint George’s Church on March 21, 1617. The location of her remains is unknown.

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EVIL🔞: "Gloomy Sunday" The Song That Caused Suicides

If you're under 18 then this isn't for you

“Gloomy Sunday,” came to existence during one of history’s bleakest moments. Written in 1933 by Hungarian pianist and composer Reszõ Seress against the backdrop of the Great Depression and an increasing fascist influence in Hungary, and originally recorded in 1935 by Pál Kalmár, the song is something of a plea for mercy as humanity is at its worst. Seress’ original published lyrics were titled “Vége a világnak,” or “The World Is Ending,” and reflected a growing sense of horror and despair at the state of the world. A key sample lyric translates to “Meadows are coloured red with human blood/There are dead people on the streets everywhere,” just to give a frame of reference for the level of darkness that Seress’ composition harbored. No wonder it’s been blamed for anywhere between 17 and over 100 suicides.

To hear “Gloomy Sunday” is to be blanketed in tragic beauty. The song’s minor key melody is at once incredibly catchy and ominously dark, crafted to evoke a sense of despair that transcends language. While Seress’ song became an international hit, eventually being recorded by Billie Holiday in what’s now probably the most famous version of the song, one need only hear the emotion in Kalmár’s gently aching voice to know the pain behind the verses. (Not to mention the vintage crackle of the nearly 90-year-old song gives it a particularly ghostly quality.) Yet its origins stem from something as simple as a breakup, Seress having written the song after the end of a relationship. That the song delved so deep into such harrowing personal feelings initially proved to be an obstacle for the songwriter in his attempt to have it published. One publisher reportedly said, “there is a sort of terrible compelling despair about it” about his reluctance to publish the song.

And yet, in spite of this, “Gloomy Sunday” eventually became a hit. More than that, it became a standard, recorded in many languages by countless artists, including Billie Holiday, Sinead O’Connor, Mel Tormé and Sarah Vaughn. But to hear the lore about the song, it’d seem to have some kind of sinister power over the people who hear it. It’s not even corporeal, but it has a massive body count. Some of the various accounts of its supposed, morbid misdeeds include: a shoemaker whose suicide note quoted the song; a girl in Vienna drowning while holding its sheet music; a man who shot himself after telling loved ones the song wouldn’t leave his head; a woman in London who overdosed while listening to “Gloomy Sunday”; sheet music was found in the apartment of a shopkeeper in Berlin who hanged herself—the list goes on, and those are only the apocryphal accounts that have managed to live on in the near-century since the song came into being. It’s a merciless fiend of a song, almost supernatural, like the video in The Ring you see before you die. Which, perhaps, makes my repeated listens to the song over the past week ill-advised. If it did, in fact, cause the carnage attributed to it.

Because of the epidemic of suicides in the aftermath of the song’s release, and possibly because of it, Hungarian authorities supposedly discouraged broadcast of the song. A more extreme version of the song was that it was banned, and an even more extreme one yet was that it was even banned in the US and UK, where its popularity spread. None of this, at least according to Snopes, can be corroborated, but it’s entirely understandable if broadcasters and the government were a little on edge because of what they were hearing. And to be fair, it is a mournful song. Gloomy, even! It’s not at all surprising to hear that deathrock icons Christian Death later covered it or, for that matter, doom metal band Pallbearer, whose version is actually quite stunning. But it does take a certain frame of mind to hear this song and not feel a sense of dread. “Terrible compelling despair” doesn’t seem at all exaggerated in describing the song, though that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s quite pretty, and its earliest versions, particularly in the original Hungarian, are utterly haunting.

Also read:

- Murder of Dee Dee Blanchard - the woman who drugged and confined her daughter to a wheelchair

In some sense, the monstrous stories about “Gloomy Sunday” wreaking havoc seem to be a distraction from the genuine sadness surrounding the song. The landscape in which it was released was one of the darkest of the 20th century, as prosperity declined and iron-fisted hateful authoritarians rose. And we’re in a landscape now, globally, that mirrors the era in too many ways. And Hungary, up through the ’80s, had one of the highest suicide rates of any country in the world, which suggests that “Gloomy Sunday” was merely a reflection of the despair that surrounded it, rather than its cause. Most tragic of all, however, Seress himself dying after jumping off of a building in Budapest in 1968, which makes it the sole concrete connection among all of the stories out there. (There is also a story about the woman who broke up with him, initially inspiring the writing of the song, dying herself after hearing it, though there’s no evidence or documentation of this, just secondhand telephone games with the dead.)

Given all the baggage that “Gloomy Sunday” carries, it’s a song that’s easier to analyze than enjoy. Can one simply listen to a song that’s supposedly such a powerful, overwhelmingly dark presence without context. Can it be enjoyed for what it is? It can, possibly. But with the flood of information that’s already been disseminated, there’s more context than song, at this point. In 2019, it can’t be separated from its reputation as “The Hungarian Suicide Song,” for better or for worse. To hear it, however, it’s impossible to shake the lingering eerie feeling that it leaves with you. Beware of its hitchhiking ghosts.

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Synopsis For TLNovelas Africa Upcoming Series Simply Maria/Simplemente María

María is a beautiful, strong, and resolute woman who lives in a small town in Mexico. She has a simple life without any luxuries and she doesn’t need any. She enjoys being around her family.

Don Juan attends a party in the town, determined to make some money with his gamecock. He places a bet on it, but he loses before Isauro. He gets a debt that he can’t afford to pay, but Isauro takes advantage on the situation and offers him to call off his debt in exchange for his older daughter, María… and Don Juan takes his offer.

When she learns that she must move in with a man she doesn’t want to live with, María decides to leave her life behind and escape to the capital city. All she has there is her friend Pina, who helps her get a job as maid.

María works very hard, thus, when her birthday comes, Pina practically yanks her out to get distracted and celebrate her arrival to adulthood in Xochimilco. Alejandro meets her there; he gets mesmerized by her beauty and starts courting her.

Pina acknowledges her friend is falling in love with Alejandro and she introduces her to a young man whom she considers to be a better catch for her: Professor Cristóbal. He is a good-hearted man who teaches her how to read and write and, over time, he grows fond of her.

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- In March, E! will also be hosting the Oscars live from the red carpet and launch the cover bands

- Viewership stats for Glow TV, Zee World, Star Life in January

- NXT: Level Up coming soon to the WWE Channel

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Meanwhile, Alejandro uses of promises that he is not planning to keep to take advantage of María’s innocence. She never had a boyfriend before, so she surrenders to him. She hopes to marry him when she learns she is pregnant, but Alejandro refuses to do so, arguing that he must finish his studies. Angry, María decides to raise her child on her own.

When her baby is born, María is jobless and homeless as well, but she finds a home in Doña Felicitas’ tenement; she is Cristóbal’s mother. There, she starts studying tailoring and dressmaking, a trade that will build her future.

María also comes across with Vanessa’s hostility. She is Alejandro’s sister, who will do anything in her power to prevent them from being together.

María and Alejandro share a son and a love they can’t leave behind, but he always prefers to please his father. Cristóbal reproaches Alejandro for fooling María…but he doesn’t dare to confess his own love for her.

Despite all hardships, María is not a submissive woman, she is ready to face all the obstacles in her life and, even though it won’t be so easy, she will find the way to overcome them, get ahead with her son, and be happy. She is a strong girl with a pure heart, she is a role model woman, she is Simply María.

A date hasn't provided as mentioned earlier in the month. The likelihood is that the series will be available around the same period as Keeping My Family Together and Overcoming Fear.

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Meet The Cast And Learn More About TLNovelas Africa Upcoming Series Simply Maria

CAST MEMBERS

Claudia Álvarez is María Flores

She is a humble and beautiful young woman. She loves her hometown and her family, but she moves to the city escaping from Isauro. She is very talented and a fast learner; she is very good at tailoring. Alejandro is the first man in her life, which is why she falls for him and never stops loving him. She is simple and good-hearted. She really cares for Cristobal, but she only sees him as a friend. Her son Juan Pablo is her biggest motivation to keep on going.

José Ron is Alejandro Rivapalacio

Ever since he was born, he has had everything he wants and that has made him a capricious man. He is passionate about horses, but he lacks the courage to challenge his father and he prefers to study medicine in order to please him and one day inherit his family’s fortune. Despite falling in love with María, he denies it and disowns his son. After a while he marries Diana. He hates Cristóbal because he is always with María.

Ferdinando Valencia is Cristóbal Cervantes

Destiny compels him to grow fast. At his father’s death, he had to become the man of the house and support his mother and his two siblings. He has a big heart; he is honest, generous, and good-looking. He is a model teacher who is always trying to help everyone. When he meets María, he is seduced by her virtues and supports her unconditionally, but he is aware that she loves Alejandro instead and resigns himself to just being near her. He accepts marrying Ilse when he accepts María doesn’t love him.

ATTRIBUTES/ VALUES

HEART-RENDING

•Intriguing

•Moving

•Captivating

ROMANTIC

•Dreamy

•Devoted

•Loving

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- In March, E! will also be hosting the Oscars live from the red carpet and launch the cover bands

- Viewership stats for Glow TV, Zee World, Star Life in January

- NXT: Level Up coming soon to the WWE Channel

- Unforseen Love, Bold And Beautiful and Destined Love coming soon to Star Life

- Saloni and East Meets West coming soon to SABC 2

- The Search For Frida March 2022 teasers

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DISTINGUISHING

•Costumbrist

•Traditional

•Picturesque

BRAND CHARACTERIZATION

She is a beautiful, strong, and resolute woman who lives in a Mexican small town. She lives a simple life with no luxuries and doesn’t need any; she enjoys being around her family and her beloved ones.

She is distinguished by having a marked essence which she shows to everyone.

BRAND BENEFITS

IT CREATES:

Intrigue towards the story.

IT PROMOTES:

The taste for different and aspirational stories.

IT ALLOWS:

Getting involved and excited with the plot.

IT OFFERS:

A romantic, dramatic, and aspirational telenovela, capable of captivating the female audience.

Aside from Simplemente Maria there's also the African translation Tiro De Simply Gracia María.

A date hasn't provided as mentioned earlier in the month. The likelihood is that the series will be available around the same period as Keeping My Family Together and Overcoming Fear.

You can also find me through the other platforms by pressing this link in brackets and if you're struggling to share the article through certain platforms use this link (Lnk.Bio).