What are the other couch potatoes watching on their small screens? This series on other people’s TV goes around programming elsewhere, one country with one guide at a time.
After the murder of her husband, the teacher Aline (played by Barbara Reis) took over the family land of Mato Grosso do Sul, which she now defends against the relentless and murderous greed of the villainous and very rich neighbor Antonio ( Tony Ramos) while getting closer to one of his kind and eco-friendly sons.
Love, lust, money, power: all the elements expected in a telenovela are concentrated in the canvas of Terra and Peace (land and passion), launched on May 8 in Brazil. The series airs at 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, on TV Globo. It could have over 200 episodes by its projected grand finale in early 2024. Then would succeed it in the “ novela das novel » the remake of Renasceratea soap opera that had been a great success in 1993.
Globo is the main broadcaster in the country. It is also the second
private television network in the world after ABC in the United States. The southern juggernaut produces almost all of its programs. His soaps have accumulated hundreds of billions of viewers in total for more than half a century, in Brazil and elsewhere in the world.
The first night, land and passion filled up about 18 million curious people in this country of 210 million inhabitants. The success did not swell much afterwards, a relative disappointment for the television empire.
“For thirty years, the traditional channels have been constantly losing audiences in Brazil,” explains television critic Mauricio Stycer, contacted in São Paulo. But TV Globo can still fill up with 30 million people watching the same show live at the same time. Most often it is a soap streamed for 150 or more episodes to pay off large investments. »
Sob Pressao, it’s not Grey’s Anatomy
After a long career as a reporter, Mauricio Stycer now works exclusively as a TV columnist for Folha de S. Paulo, a rare privilege. The high-profile daily, founded in 1921, is now part of the Universo Online group, the largest Brazilian Internet portal. Folha even publishes selected pieces in Spanish and English.
The connoisseur’s favorite Brazilian show remains Sob Pressao (Under pressure), a medical drama set in the emergency department of a Rio hospital. The series is inspired by the eponymous story of surgeon Marcio Maranhao evoking ten years of “warlike routine and adrenaline of combat” in intensive care. Its broadcast began in July 2016 and spanned five seasons and around sixty episodes, accumulating popular success and critical recognition, including many awards. Sob Pressao is available in Brazil as well as in a dozen countries (including Canada) on Globoplay.
” It’s not Grey’s Anatomy Or RE, says Mr. Stycer. The action takes place in a public hospital where doctors are real heroes. They work without the necessary resources and equipment and they are very, very dedicated to helping the poorest. It’s a realistic and touching series without being tearful, which addresses social issues, which is quite rare on Brazilian TV. »
Younger people, like everywhere, are moving away from terrestrial or cable TV, or they watch it in other ways (on their telephones and online), often making other programming choices. That of reality TV in particular. Globo also produces Big Brother Brasil since 2002 and broadcasts the daily after its soapsat 10:30 p.m. By the twentieth season, in three days, at the end of March 2020, the public had cast more than 1.5 billion votes to decide between three contestants, setting a world record.
Competition from Netflix and other distributors of movies or online shows is also forcing good old Brazilian TV from soaps to adapt by offering more cinematographic series, completed in a few episodes that are quickly uploaded. Barbara Reis, the star of Terra and Peacewill soon turn into a detective series for Amazon Prime.
Mr. Stycer’s last column before the interview dealt with the American series finals Ted Lasso (Apple TV+) and Succession (HBO), world series of recent years. “The reality is that a majority of the population in Brazil does not have the money to subscribe to high-speed Internet services and various online platforms. Subscriptions are progressing from year to year, however. My readership comes from the middle and upper class. These people can afford the connections and they are interested in these productions, like everywhere on the planet. »
The broadcasting of soccer matches, a quasi-religion in this country, amplifies exclusion. Games are now offered by a multitude of sources to cover the first and second division leagues. Globo continues the sports presentation on Sunday afternoon and Wednesday evening, but it no longer holds the exclusive rights.
Paid streaming platforms (SporTV, Premiere, TNT Sports, DAZN Brasil, TV Brasil, ESPN Brasil, Star +…) relay the national championships of the federation or its states, the Brazilian Cup, matches of neighboring countries or major European leagues. Even Amazon, Paramount and HBO show football and compete Terra e Peaceão.
Segundo Sol caused a scandal
Mauricio Stycer identifies paid TV access in this relatively poor country as one of his country’s top three broadcasting problems. The second major hitch concerns the documentary series on crime, which are broadcast most often at the end of the afternoon. The true and delirious story of the host of Book Channel,Wallace Souza, accused of having financed assassinations later documented by his show, was told in Killer Ratings (Netflix).
“These crime-busting shows always portray police as heroes,” says Stycer. Police violence is never a problem there. I am not for censorship. I would, however, ask for greater ethical responsibility on the part of the teams that produce these shows. »
The Brazilian media is subject to various divisive ideological influences, the usual routine, what. Globo was criticized for its alliances with power during the dictatorship (1964-1985). The empire now faces competition from various media groups, including Grupo Jovem Pan, a kind of pro-Bolsonaro northern Fox News, which dominates radio and recently established itself with TV Jovem Pan News.
The third problem cited is the lack of diversity on the screens. Brazilian TV remains very white and therefore does not respect the ethnic multiplicity of the country-continent. A bit like Quebec TV, in short.
In 2018, the soap Segundo Sol, de Globo (again…) caused a scandal: camped in Salvador de Bahia, an 80% Afro-Brazilian city, it employed only 3 Blacks out of 27 actors and none in a main role.
“Even the actors have criticized this state of affairs, says Mauricio Stycer. The chain then made more efforts to better balance its distributions. But, in general, Brazilian TV still has a lot to do to represent the country’s diversity. »
Terra and Peace has learned a little lesson in its distribution. Barbara Reis, who plays the teacher Aline there, is of Afro-Brazilian origin.