La Academia

Lore & Background

Over the first seasons, the show was a reliable dominator of its time-slot, which was shown by its strong performance against Televisa's Operación Triunfo Mexico. The rival show was only produced for one season, and was in fact the official Endemol entry in Mexico. The later seasons of La Academia had declining ratings, being aired against the Mexican version of The Voice, produced by Televisa, and the show eventually went on hiatus after 2014. However, in 2018, Azteca rebooted the franchise and it aired a new generation of La Academia which received positive reviews from critics and saw an impressive increase in total viewership. The show has been franchised to other countries: Azerbaijan (Akademiya), Malaysia (Akademi Fantasia), Indonesia (Akademi Fantasi Indosiar), United States (La Academia USA), Paraguay (La Academia Paraguay), Singapore (Sunsilk Academy Fantasia), Thailand (True Academy Fantasia), Central America (La Academia Centroamérica) and Greece (House of Fame).

In Their Own Story

The bus pulls into the parking lot at half past three, and the sound hits before the sight does—a low, rolling thunder that vibrates through the soles of your boots. You push through the turnstiles and the noise swells into a wall, a living thing pressing against your eardrums. The pitch is a deep, saturated green under the floodlights, the grass sheared so short it looks almost black in the shadow of the advertising boards. A lone groundsman walks the center circle, his broom sweeping in slow arcs, and for a moment the entire stadium holds its breath. Then the first team jogs out, blue and white blurring against the green, and the Azteca detonates. Eighty thousand voices become one. You are not watching a match. You are inside it.

Reader's Guide

Each year, 14–49 people are selected to live together in a house isolated from the rest of the world, spending their days taking classes in singing, dancing, acting, and related fields, each preparing one or two songs for a 3-hour concert which they give each Sunday evening for TV viewers and a live studio audience. Each week, one of the contestants is eliminated based on the number of votes each one receives, until 4 to 10 students become the finalists and compete for the top prize. Viewers can vote by telephone, text or online. Camino a la Fama aired during weekday afternoons, but it was cancelled after The Ninth Generation. This show taped what the students' lives within the La Academia house. It also demonstrated the singing, dancing, and acting classes. The longest serving judge has been Arturo López Gavito with ten seasons on the panel, followed by Lolita Cortés five seasons as judge plus two as the academy's director. Óscar Sarquiz, Chacho Gaytán and Horacio Villalobos remain in third place, having been part of the judging panel three seasons each. Whereas for hosts, Alan Tacher and Rafael Araneda both were part of the show for four seasons each, with Ingrid Coronado hosting three seasons. Judge and host Yahir, and two-time host Cynthia Rodríguez are two of the academy's students who have been part of the panel.

Did You Know?

• La Academia premiered in June 2002 and, after a hiatus following the 2014 season, was rebooted in 2018 with multiple new seasons airing since.
• The show outperformed Televisa's Operación Triunfo Mexico in its home market, though claims of triumph in specific foreign countries like Chile, Peru, and Venezuela are unsubstantiated.
• The show went on hiatus after 2014 but was rebooted in 2018 with positive reviews and increased viewership.
• The show has been franchised to nine other countries including Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States.
• The longest serving judge is Arturo López Gavito with ten seasons on the panel.