Tune in Tonight for July 21 – Waco Tribune-Herald

Spanish-language TV star Walter Mercado is the subject of Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, now streaming on Netflix.

Words like superstar dont really capture the figure at the center of Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, a documentary now streaming on Netflix.

Mercado and his fame are a perfect example of the fluid nature of celebrity in a multicultural universe. For Spanish-speaking television fans of a certain age, Mercado was a giant of the industry, a fixture watched every day for his florid costumes, grand gestures and colorful recitations of the days horoscope. Other American viewers may have never heard of him. Or if they had, dismissed him as a quirk of Spanish-language television, a baroque curiosity, like the recurring Bumblebee Man character on The Simpsons.

As the title implies, Mercado dispensed a philosophy of universal love. And he was much beloved. Fans here include Lin-Manuel Miranda, of Hamilton fame, who describes how Mercado demanded affection and commanded devotion from his extended family.

An aspiring actor from Ponce, Puerto Rico, Mercado was asked one day to read the horoscopes for TV viewers and performed with such authority and apparent fervor that audiences demanded it become his steady gig. He would go on to conquer markets all through Central and South America, transfixing audiences with his ambiguous sexuality, his pantheistic philosophy and many, many costume changes.

We meet Mercados manager, Bill Bakula. Through his business acumen, Mercado appeared in many new countries, and even appeared on these shores on Sally Jessy Raphael and Howard Sterns radio show. But then, around the turn of the century, Bakula would entice Mercado into signing a contract giving Bakula virtual control over his image and likeness, gaining hold over Mercados very identity. Clearly the villain of the piece, Bakula has no problem appearing here and seems to regret nothing.

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Tune in Tonight for July 21 - Waco Tribune-Herald

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