''Caso cerrado'' (''Case Closed''), formerly ''Sala de parejas'' (''Couples' Court''), is a Spanish language

court show A court show (also known as a judge show, legal/courtroom program, courtroom series, or judicial show) is a broadcast programming genre comprising legal dramas and reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of legal ...

that aired on

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

from 2001-2019 in which Cuban-American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

Ana María Polo Ana María Cristina Polo González (born 11 April 1958) is a Cuban-American lawyer and television personality, best known as an arbitrator on the Spanish-language court show ''Caso Cerrado'' and the Anglophone spin-off counterpart ''Ana Polo Ru ...

arbitrates cases for volunteer participants.

Description

The show began running on April 2, 2001, and originally dealt with the arbitration of marital problems between litigants. The show was originally called ''Sala de parejas'' (Couple's Court) until April 2005, when it was expanded to include other disputes not related to marital issues, such as violence and child abuse, and occasional segments where Polo seeks to educate the audience about issues related to the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. Along with the show's new format and new content added, production decided it was necessary to rename it. ''Caso Cerrado'', the second and current show title, refers to the phrase Polo says at the end of every case, which is usually accompanied by the strike of a

gavel A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet/hammer commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle. It can be used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations and is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially ...

. On each show, Polo usually takes up to two cases (three cases prior to 2008) with conflicting guests and attempts to solve them through

arbitration Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...

. Polo does not function as a judge, but as an arbitrator to settle differences between litigants. Before participating, guests are required to sign

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

s agreeing to recognize and comply with Polo's decision. Until 2006, the show was produced by Promofilm Estados Unidos. It is now solely produced by

. The network does provide alternate

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...

for the program on the CC3 caption channel.

Recognition

In 2010, ''Caso cerrado'' made history by becoming the first show on a Spanish-spoken broadcasting company to be nominated for an Emmy award. Ana María Polo was nominated for an episode of the series that covered a family's special case in which a horse was purchased under false pretenses.

Criticism

''Caso cerrado'' has been criticized over the veracity of the cases and situations introduced in the show. In the end credits, a disclaimer is presented stating that most of the cases are authentic, but dramatized. On January 4, 2009, Ana María Polo stated during an interview with the Chilean newspaper ''

La Tercera (), formerly known as (), is a daily newspaper published in Santiago, Chile and owned by Copesa. It is s closest competitor. is part of Periódicos Asociados Latinoamericanos ( Latin American Newspaper Association), an organization of fourte ...

'', "Most of the cases have to be arranged and modified. It's the message that we send to the audience that really counts." She added that every case is real, however, sometimes actors are used in cases where participants in the dispute do not want to appear on the show. On a separate 2018 interview with the

Sun-Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Broward County, an ...

, Ana María Polo stated that the show was created to entertain but that the participants were not actors. Polo also maintained that the cases were real but not precise, saying "Those participants are not actors. They are people who simply have something to tell and who reflect their realities, even if the story is not completely as it happened to them."

Broadcast

In the United States, where the show is produced, ''Caso cerrado'' is broadcast exclusively by

. According to Businesswire.com, 1,455,000 people tune the show daily, and it's the number one Spanish-spoken show at the 4PM time slot. 39% of the viewers of ''Caso cerrado'' are aged among 18 - 34."Telemundo's Caso cerrado Kicks off 2011 as #1 Spanish-Language Program among Total Viewers at 4PM."
Business Wire. Berskshire Hathaway, January 10, 2011. Web. May 9, 2011. In addition to Telemundo, the show is also broadcast by several other television networks in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

and soon to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

(including

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in English subtitles).

Influence

In 2009, Ana María Polo visited Chile to attend several MEGA shows. Due to the success of the Telemundo's original show ''Caso cerrado'' in Chile, ''Caso cerrado Chile'' began production with Polo as host and has aired on MEGA since September 18, 2009. After ''Caso cerrado'', many other television court shows have been created in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, including ''Tribunal Oral'' on Canal 13, ''Veredicto'' on Mega, and ''La jueza'' on

Chilevisión Chilevisión (often abbreviated as CHV) is a Chilean free-to-air television channel. It is the third oldest Chilean television network, owned by Paramount Networks Americas, being founded by the University of Chile on November 4, 1960. Hist ...

from the former production company of ''Caso cerrado'', Promofilm.

References

External links

Official websiteTelemundo Now, Telemundo Full Episodes
{{Telemundo programming 2001 American television series debuts Court shows Arbitration courts and tribunals Telemundo original programming Television shows set in Miami