POLL - Best 2000s 8 O'Clock Brazilian Novela

[gabspss]

Since there's a considerably brazilian community here, thought it could be a good idea to create a poll asking this question. I thought the 2000s were a great decade for 8 oclocks. 2010s less so. 2020s the less said, the better.

[FilmFan94]

O Clone is my childhood, it was huge in Montenegro! Jade

[Luc]

I only have somewhat vague memories of each one, but I think I liked Mulheres Apaixonadas quite a bit?

Já estão sabendo da novidade?!!

[Protheus]

A Favorita, duh

João Emanuel is a queer legend. Avenida Brasil (2012) is a masterpiece that is the biggest success nationally and internationally but A Favorita is IMO not only his best work but the best telenovela I’ve ever seen in general.

Senhora do Destino is not a distant #2 though. Queen Nazaré, the most iconic villain.

[gabspss]

O Clone is my childhood, it was huge in Montenegro! Jade

Oh. Cool! Any other novelas that were successful in Montenegro?

By the way, at first I read "you were huge on Montenegro" and I thought "Wait, was Fernanda Montenegro in that? "

[FilmFan94]

Oh. Cool! Any other novelas that were successful in Montenegro?

By the way, at first I read "you were huge on Montenegro" and I thought "Wait, was Fernanda Montenegro in that? "

At that time 90% of TV shows here were Mexican/Spanish telenovelas, Italian shows and some anime, but what i remember from Brazilian ones on Montenegrin/Serbian channels: Da Cor do Pecado, Chocolate com Pimenta, Laços de Família and Aquarela do Brasil.

[Protheus]

I know that the original version of “Escrava Isaura” from 1976 was a big hit in USSR and was part of the cultural opening up of the country to the world in its later days. Many people in Russia remember to this day as their first contact with something from outside.

O Clone (2001) is also always referenced by people in Eastern Europe and Russia. I think it’s even more famous there than here, usually from the 00s people tend to recognize Senhora do Destino (2004) more because of its charismatic villain. People here LOVE telenovela villains, even the writing tends to usually make them more interesting/complex characters than the protagonists.

In the only two international telenovelas I ever watched it was the opposite and I thought the protagonist was the strength: Betty La Fea from Colombia and La Usurpadora from Mexico.

I still remember watching O Clone on TV as a 6-7 year old kid though. It’s actually the oldest one I remember seeing in its original release. I remember the romance plot being a big thing, like it usually is in these Gloria Perez plots.

Outside that, I don’t know more stories of Brazilian telenovelas being big in “unexpected” places but there probably are some few. Usually they are normally more consumed domestically and in the Lusosphere (Portugal, Angola, etc) and in Latin America in general. At least that’s how I imagine.

The particular phenomenom from Avenida Brasil (2012) in Argentina for example is crazy to me. It was a giant hit here sure, but they did this for the final episode:

[gabspss]

Avenida Brasil was huge in maaaany places, apparently. A friend of mine said it was a hit in Costa Rica too.

On the day of the final episode, there were almost no people in the streets of my hometown where Avenida Brasil is set, Rio. Including in Avenida Brasil itself lol.

[Protheus]

I wasn’t into Avenida Brasil when it came out tbh. It was the only time ever that Globo telenovelas were a main topic in my high school group and even then I wouldn’t watch it, so I just didn’t understand what the conversations were about.

Not because I’m resistant to telenovelas but for some reason I wasn’t drawn to the story at the time. However, since then I’ve seen so many clips about it that I already know the entire story, not kidding. To the point I consider as one of my “watched” telenovelas even though I’ve never followed it.

The ones I remember watching while they were on TV were:

- O Clone (2001) - probably the first one I saw on TV when I was only 6 or 7
- Betty La Fea from Colombia, when it premiered here in Brazil
- Celebridade (2003)
- Senhora do Destino (2004)
- Duas Caras (2007)
- A Favorita (2008) - I was 13 or 14

Nothing ever topped A Favorita for me, so I kinda lost interest on telenovelas during teenage years after that. They also somewhat decreased in quality gradually me thinks.

The only one that I watched in its original release was “Amor à Vida” (2013) because of the Gay Villain novelty, which came around the exact time I was in the process of discovering my sexual identity. I actually partially thank Félix and the discussions his character stimulated around the country for me accepting myself as gay right when the program was around.

After that I didn’t follow anything new on TV. I watched the “Fina Estampa” (2011) reprise on TV during the 2020 covid crisis though since I had time to watch lots of TV at home that year.

I’ve also followed the Mexican “La Usurpadora” from the 90s recently on stream. Also “Torre de Babel” (1998) in the same way, which is now officially the oldest telenovela from Globo I’ve seen.

And I consider “Avenida Brasil” (2012) as seen too because even if I didn’t watch the episodes chronologically, I did watch pratically almost every scene of the main plot on the internet through YouTube videos.

[Protheus]

I am kinda interested in watching the new “Todas as Flores” (2022) though! It really sounds like a return to form for João Emanuel after “Da Cor do Pecado”; “A Favorita” and “Avenida Brasil”.

It’s the first prestige telenovela exclusively released on streaming though and I currently don’t have Globoplay. I had a while ago - it’s how I saw La Usurpadora and Torre de Babel - but not anymore. But one day I will buy it to see it.

Phase 1 from “Todas as Flores” got lots of praise and it was more loved than the actual Gloria Perez novela called “Travessia” currently on TV. Phase 2 is going to be released soon!

I’ve seen some clips from “Todas as Flores” and the main plot reminds me of those other telenovelas I mentioned that I enjoyed. Not the super realistic boring stuff that has been the trend since the mid 2010s, as if novelas had to be like an American tv show.