El Chavo Animado (also known as El Chavo: The Animated Series) is a Mexican animated series based on a live-action TV series El Chavo del Ocho, created by Roberto Gómez Bolaños with a same series creator who created the live-action TV series El Chavo del Ocho. El Chavo: The Animated Series is 1 of the 5 shows that was based on a live-action series. (The other 4 shows being Batman: The Animated Series, El Chapulin Colorado Animado, Superman: The Animated Series, and Sabrina: The Animated Series.)
After several years of successful reruns of the original series, Televisa launched simultaneously in Mexico, and the rest of Latin America, an animated version of the program made by Ánima Estudios on October 21, 2006 to capitalize on the nostalgia and popularity of the original series. Along with the series, Televisa launched a huge marketing campaign that included merchandise tie-ins to capitalize on the expected success of the show. For the series launching event a full set was built imitating the computerized background, where a presentation showed how the animation was made. Many elements of the original series, including most of the original stories were included in the animated series.
The series aired via Kabillion On Demand in English in North America. Despite appearing in the video-on-demand service, the series did not appear or was mentioned on the official Kabillion website until the relaunch of the site in April 2012, after which the series was placed there. The series is also available on YouTube in multiple languages.
As of 29 April 2014, the show has been renewed for a seventh season. Doctor Chapatín makes a guest appearance in the episode "Quico se manchó". It is confirmed that the next season will introduce "La Chilindrina" (Mr. Raimond's daughter) back to the cast, as confirmed by Roberto Gómez Fernandez. The character was initially unavailable for the creators of the animated series as the concept was not originally by Chespirito, but rather by María Antonieta de las Nieves (who played the role in the original show and several others).
