acquaintance of the production staff with no acting experience) without even letting him say a word, and then chastising him ("¡Cállate, Victor", or "Shut up Victor!") when he attempted to speak (it was implied that conversations at Doña Toni's household were monologues most of the time). In one memorable episode Victor told her loudly to shut up, to her surprise. Los García becomes a smash hit Los García is considered by many Puerto Rican television critics to be among the best comedy shows in Puerto Rican history. The show began in 1975, quickly becoming a public favorite. The show ran until the early 1980s. It topped local television ratings for at least three of the six seasons in which it ran. Phrases from the program became cultural references. Besides Doña Toni's "¡Cállate, Victor!", Tommy Muñiz made the phrase ¡Sea mi vida gris! (Loosely translatable to Damned be my life!), which he mentioned every time his character got mad for some reason, a trademark of his during this show. Most famous of all was an exchange between Teresa and Junito. Whenever Teresa got frustrated to the point of hysteria with Juan, she'd scream his name three times ("¡Juan, Juan, Juan!"). Junito, mocking her for sounding like a drag racing car engine revving up when she went frantic, would inevitably respond: ¡Chíllala, Mami, chíllala!, which would loosely translate to: "Peel out, Mom, peel out!". Teresa's trademark scream even became part of the title of one of the biography books about Muñiz, "¡Juan, Juan, Juan...! Crónicas de la televisión en los tiempos de Don Tommy", written by Beba García. Juan García, The Widower During the five years through which she played Teresa García, Gladys Rodríguez received various offers to play dramatic roles in telenovelas. She turned these down until the offers were too good to let go. Eventually she felt compelled to leave Los García; as to give Rodríguez a credible exit, her character was made to pass away, making Juan Bautista García a widower. Juan Bautista then became a "happy widower"; various episodes described his convoluted love life, as well as his nosy neighbors' attempts to convince Juan to act his age. However, ratings dipped soon after: Puerto Rican audiences were not used to see Juan García as a bachelor. Juan Bautista was then set to marry again, this time with a co-worker, Clarissa López, played by Venezuelan actress Marisela Berti, (the