Television Series with Live Action and Animation Codexery

31 Minutos

Chilean puppet news satire and musical phenomenon.

In 2025, it became the third puppet show to perform on NPR's Tiny Desk, being described as an "institution of Latin American children's programming".[1] Aplaplac, the production company established by Álvaro Díaz, Pedro Peirano, and Juan Manuel Egaña, created the Chilean children's comedy television series and virtual band 31 minutos.[2]

Quick Facts

Runtime
28–33 minutes
Genre
  • Children's television series
  • Sitcom
  • News satire
  • Musical
  • Surreal comedy
  • Black comedy
  • Puppetry
Creator
Álvaro Díaz; Pedro Peirano
Executive producers
Juan Manuel Egaña (2003–12); Alejandra Neumann (2013)
Company
Aplaplac
Country
Chile
Language
Spanish
First aired
15 March 2003

Facts from the source article.

Making and release

Aplaplac won a CNTV competition fund in 2002 with a project entitled El gabinete del Doctor Mojado, which evolved into a puppet and marionette news show called "31 minutos".[3][4] Álvaro Díaz and Pedro Peirano first encountered each other in 1990 when they both began studying journalism at the Universidad de Chile.[5] After Rock & Pop stopped broadcasting on December 1, 1999, which left both Peirano and Díaz without jobs, they established Aplaplac with Juan Manuel Egaña.[5][6] The program's title and logo are a parody of 60 minutos, a controversial TVN newscast that aired from 1975 to 1988.[4]

Initial episodes achieved a rating of 6 points, but the show's popularity grew over time, eventually reaching an average audience of 14 points.[7] Canal 11 in Mexico became the first open television broadcaster outside of Chile to air the series, starting in 2006.[8][9] Prime Video developed and released the film 31 minutos: Calurosa Navidad on November 21, 2025.[10]

What the cited sources add

The same source notes that the music of 31 Minutos crossed borders, with different bands gathering to make a tribute album that came out under the label Terrícolas Imbéciles.[9] Fabián Arellano in El Universal reports that after the earthquake that struck Chile in February 2010, the creators wanted to bring some happiness to children in the most damaged areas with a traveling show.[11] Alejandro Morales Vargas states that due to the confidence and quality inspired by their earlier work, they again presented a project to the state channel to develop the children's newscast "31 minutos", where news would be read by puppets.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Z, "31 Minutos, la banda de títeres chilena revoluciona los Tiny Desk", El País, 2025-10-06; Sayre, "31 Minutos: Tiny Desk Concert", NPR, 2025-10-06 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Sayre, "31 Minutos: Tiny Desk Concert", NPR, 2025-10-06 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Alejandro Morales Vargas, "El factor Peirano", Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen de la Universidad de Chile, September 9, 2002; "Consejo Nacional de Televisión financiará seis programas en 2003", Radio Cooperativa, July 24, 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gabriel Orihuela, "Cinco consejos para que emprendas al estilo '31 minutos'", Entrepreneur; Felipe Ossandón, "Quiero ser niño", EMOL, May 30, 2003; "¿Por qué 31 Minutos se llama así?", Gran Arena Monticello; "“31 minutos” y los significados secretos de la “programación infantil” en la televisión chilena – Descentrados Chile"; "Instagram - Dato para los fanáticos: El diseño del logo del programa es una pasada por la juguera entre el logo de 60 minutos (noticiero del canal chileno TVN en los 70 y 80) y el logo de CNN (canal de noticias gringo) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pedro Bahamondes, "Álvaro Díaz: "El sentido de supervivencia hizo que me interesara en el teatro"", La Tercera, July 6, 2018; Tamy Palma, "Manifiesto: Alvaro Díaz, creador de 31 Minutos", La Tercera, April 24, 2016; Francisca Feuerhake, "Álvaro Díaz: "La plata es lo más ordinario que hay"", EDU Fintual; Alejandro Morales Vargas, "El factor Peirano", Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen de la Universidad de Chile, September 9, 2002; Alondra Barrios, "Co-autor de libro sobre Canal 2 Rock & Pop: "Nunca se recuperó el estereotipo de medio desor en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ines Hazbun, "Revelan el origen de la palabra Aplaplac y proviene del ingenio de un tenor", El Ciudadano, November 21, 2017; "Pedro Peirano", Red de Líderes Jóvenes; "Peirano y Díaz realizarán programa cultural con fondos del CNTV", Radio Cooperativa, June 5, 2001 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pablo Carrasco, "Televisión para niños: La lucha de los canales por cautivar al segmento infantil", La Estrella de Valparaíso, March 26, 2004; "Monos de 31 minutos: la gran novedad", El Austral de Los Ríos, December 21, 2003; Daniel Medina, "31 Minutos: 5 curiosidades de la serie infantil preferida por los adultos", Radio Bío-Bío, October 25, 2014; "Canal 13 y TVN medirán su fuerza prográmatica infantil desde este fin de semana", Radio Cooperativa, March 18, 2004; Pablo Carrasco, ""Ring ring raja" será una nueva canción de "31 minutos"", El en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Juan Jose Olivares, "31 Minutos es producto del talento, no de los recursos", La Jornada, July 16, 2007; Cl, "Ya se vende en México el disco tributo a "31 Minutos"", Universia, December 31, 2009; Édgar Velasco, "31 Minutos: el noticiero que hizo explotar el televisor", Revista Magis, April 1, 2012; Vanesa Gutiérrez Toca, "Rubén Albarrán le canta a 31 minutos", Publimetro, October 14, 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Édgar Velasco, "31 Minutos: el noticiero que hizo explotar el televisor", Revista Magis, April 1, 2012. facts only, no text reused. magis.iteso.mx
  10. Wikipedia, "31 Minutos" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Entretenimiento, "Publican tráiler nuevo de película 31 minutos", Grupo Milenio, 2024-05-12; "Pablo Ilabaca: Es un orgullo que se tribute la música de "31 minutos" en otros países", Radio Cooperativa, December 31, 2019; "31 minutos: Calurosa Navidad (2025)" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Fabián Arellano, "31 minutos en vivo, en México y en Lollapalooza", El Universal, December 10, 2011. facts only, no text reused. archivo.eluniversal.com.mx
  12. Alejandro Morales Vargas, "El factor Peirano", Instituto de la Comunicación e Imagen de la Universidad de Chile, September 9, 2002. facts only, no text reused. periodismo.uchile.cl

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article 31 Minutos (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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