'Day one', the series conceived in Spanish that is broadcast on TV3

On Sunday, TV3 premiered Dia u, the series they promoted in the context of the Mobile World Congress to take advantage of the futuristic atmosphere that saturates us during those dates. It is a technological thriller with simple and precarious dialogues, full of clichés and with affected performances so that the viewer can more easily connect with the story. It aims for the effect of suspense, but with everything very well processed so that it is understood. The plot unfolds in Barcelona, with the participation of Catalan actors. A grandiloquent and modern postcard of the city, but with a singularity: there is no trace of Catalan beyond the dubbing that has been added afterwards. Dia u is a series conceived entirely in Spanish, in every sense, and TV3 only seems to have contributed the dubbing. That is, it is a layer added afterwards that causes that grating artificiality. The Catalan actors work in Spanish and only a few have dubbed themselves. The others appear with a borrowed voice and a forced tone that distances you from the action. The disappearance of Catalan goes beyond the language of the characters. All the screens and interfaces that appear, and there are many, have texts written in Spanish. Therefore, it is no longer just about the conditions of the filming: the screens are a matter of post-production, and even then Catalan could not be incorporated. We can already demand Catalan in technological gadgets, as the series linked to the Mobile normalizes Spanish as the language for communicating with machines. Furthermore, on Amazon Prime Video, the platform that distributes the series internationally, the option of Catalan dubbing is not offered. It is understood that 3Cat has kept the exclusive, but then Catalan is left out of the circuit, relegating our language to the local sphere. The hierarchy established between the two languages is therefore clear.The most serious thing is that Day one, in addition to the participation of 3Cat, also counts on the associated production of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation. The core of this board is made up of three public administrations: the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council, and the government of Spain. It is sad, therefore, to see how the institutions that should ensure the centrality of Catalan demonstrate null influence or little interest in the defense of the language in a fiction with global pretensions.The result of Dia u causes perplexity. A production that is conceived from simple commercial logic, forgetting the cultural function and turning Catalan into an accessory patch, a final addition to disguise. It is not fully understood who wins in this operation. But it is regrettable to see the effectiveness of this public participation. If we are going to invest in dubbing a series, frankly, they could have chosen another one of higher quality.