Konstantinou kai Elenis

The series has become a cult for the Greek audience of all ages. The main reason is not only its success when was first broadcasted (1998-2000), but also its very successful reruns. In Greece is very usual to rerun some series during the summer months, that is considered a dead season by the TV channels. However, with "Constantinou kai Elenis" the things were different: The reruns proved more successful than the original airing!! By now the series is considered as some-kind of summer tradition and many fans watch and re-watch the episodes every summer. The punch-lines of the leading character, Constantinos, are still used in Greek jargon.

The screenplay is about a classic "polar opposite characters have to live together" situation. The uncle of Constantinos, an over-conservative university professor, dies leaving behind two an-dated wills. The one of those testaments leaves his house to his nephew, the other giving it to Eleni, an open-minded foulmouthed waitress - that happened to be the daughter of the said uncle's beloved gardener. Since there is no-way to prove which testament was written last (and thus is the legitimate) the two characters, that loath each other, have to share the house until the situation is cleared out. To make things worse, their circles of friends and relatives clash and add to the already explosive situation.

According to the actress that portrays Eleni (Eleni Rantou), a very important reason for the everlasting success of the series is that the entire cast were in very happy periods of their lives while the series was being shoot (e.g. Eleni Rantou had just given birth to a baby girl and she and her husband were never happier). In that manner, all the actors and the production team became quick friends and were having a blast during shootings. So, some of that fan they were having was transferred to the screen. Also, Mrs Rantou indicated that nobody really believed that the series was going to be a smash-hit, so they decided to have a good time, at least - and their stress-free performances made it a success!

A some-how negative impact of the series seems to be its "type-cast": Despite all members of the cast having made many other works ever since (many of them very successful), the people STILL identifies them with the same characters. Mrs. Rantou even said that for a time she was thinking to ask the channel to stop the summer reruns...