Lugar Heights

Did You Know?

• Lugar Heights began as a series of 5-minute web shorts in 2001 before becoming a half-hour series on mun2.
• Kevin Polowy of Video Store Magazine compared the all-Latino cast's dynamic to Saved by the Bell and their mystery-solving skills to Scooby-Doo.

Characters

The main characters of Lugar Heights are four Latino teenagers: China, Roxy, Hugo, and Manos, with the Blond-cita twins as supporting characters. China is the group's leader, often the most naive but also confident, attractive, and popular. She acts as the voice of reason and is the most considerate, with Roxy as her best friend. China is Colombian and Puerto Rican.

Manos is the most fully identified Latino in the group; he is kind but sensitive, and once faced discrimination while shopping due to his ethnicity. He comes from a large family and enjoys teasing China and Roxy. His best friend is Hugo, though they occasionally argue, as in episode 3. Roxy is a darker-skinned Latina who is sometimes mistaken for African American.

She tends to be the first to jump into foolish schemes, and her natural curves attract male attention. She lives with an abusive mother and is Dominican. Hugo is the group's instigator and toughest member. He is Manos's best friend, despite their occasional fights, and loves to trick and tease China and Roxy.

He is Puerto Rican. The Blond-cita twins are irritable teens who resent Roxy and China, hating to lose to them and frequently insulting them, but they are weak and cannot defend themselves when challenged.

Reception

In a mostly positive review, Kevin Polowy of Video Store Magazine wrote, "Some of the comedy can be juvenile — and the plots tend to get screwy, but Lugar Heights is mostly intelligently and playfully written. Teens are more likely to appreciate the hip-hop generation jokes and more contemporary satire, like a take on dating shows in 'Holy Guacamole', but the clever social commentary and spoofs on movies like The Matrix, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Shawshank Redemption will have universal appeal." According to Polowy, "young adults or maybe even teens will be those doting on this oft-amusing series whose all-Latino cast of characters has a Saved by the Bell dynamic and a skill for solving Scooby-Doo-esque mysteries." Cable World called Lugar Heights "an edgy, urban animated series."