Last Wednesday (30th) appeared in Anna Luiza Santiago’s column the news of the cancellation of O País de Alice, the new soap opera of the six that would premiere in March 2024. Written by Lícia Manzo and directed by Natalia Grimberg, it would be Globo’s 100th 6 p.m. show. The production had already been approved and was in the casting process.
Author Lícia Manzo (Reproduction / Web)
Now the company has appointed Mário Teixeira, who wrote “Mar do Sertão” last year, to replace her. Disrespect to the writer, the director and the entire team. However, there have been controversial attitudes between the management of the station and the author in the past.
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Unconvincing excuse
Lícia Manzo (Reproduction / Web)
The justification for ending Alice’s Country was its elitist plot with little popular appeal. The protagonist, an awardwinning violinist who was raised in Europe by her Brazilian mother, returns to Brazil in search of her origins.
In the countryside, Alice met João, a music student with whom she would form an orchestra. The young lady would also attract the interest of a young and rich businessman who would invest in the project. The idea was to cast black actors for the central team and invest in new talent.
Was the story elitist? Depends on the point of view. Can the general public not like classical music? And if there was such resistance from Globo leadership, why did they approve the plan and only later cancel it, while the entire project was in full swing? It looks like a boycott.
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Globo’s history of disrespect
Silvio de Abreu (Disclosure / Globo)
Unfortunately, the unfortunate situation was just another that Lícia Manzo suffered at the train station. It should be remembered that in 2017 the author wrote Jogo da Memória, a series of 90 chapters for the extinct 11 p.m. channel reserved for socalled eleven o’clock soap operas, starting with the remake of O Astro in the year 2011. and ended in 2018 with Onde Nascem the Strong.
In 2023, Globo picks up the trail again with the reprise of Todas as Flores, but this is just an exception. The additional soap operas will always be intended for Globoplay.
The author’s action was already ready to be recorded. All chapters are finished and casting is about to begin. But Silvio de Abreu (photo above), then responsible for television dramas, canceled the work on the grounds that the costs would be too high for a relatively short story.
Lícia even reduced the plot to 51 chapters and made it into a miniseries, but it didn’t go any further. The story is about an incestuous relationship between a woman and her paternal brother in three different times.
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Globo against Lícia Manzo
Marieta Severo as Noca in Um Lugar ao Sol (Reproduction / Globo)
It is important to highlight that the rejection of projects by the broadcaster is something natural and several authors suffer or have already suffered from the same problem. But the Lícia episode is different because there are two cases of cancellations with storylines approved and in production.
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And what about A Place in the Sun? Another profound disrespect from Globo towards the author and in several aspects. After two exquisite series at 6 p.m., the author was thrown into prime time and was supposed to debut in 2019, but the company preferred Amor de Mãe by Manuela Dias and postponed Lícia’s storyline. Until the Corona pandemic came, which interrupted the recording of all productions.
The soap opera had to be recorded with all possible health protocols in place, even though cases were declining slightly since there wasn’t even a vaccine yet. In other words, it had to be shortened and ended up only having 107 chapters. It only premiered in November 2021 and was fully completed, with no change possible due to public response. Still at the end of the year, when viewership tends to be lower, a time that Globo no longer tolerates for premieres.
Andrea Beltrão in A Place in the Sun (Disclosure / Globo)
To top it off, the promotion for the soap opera was terrible and there was only an announcement about the remake of Pantanal more than six months in advance. It didn’t even feel like “A Place in the Sun” was on the air. The author made a big mistake in the last chapter by eliminating any catharsis the audience expected, but overall it was a great story full of very well constructed characters, especially Bárbara (Alinne Moraes), Rebeca (Andrea Beltrão), Elenice (Ana Beatriz Nogueira) and Ravi (Juan Paiva).
It is necessary to mention another absurdity of the leadership now led by José Luiz Villamarim: they decided to extend the soap opera by almost two weeks and in the end tore off the hooks of the chapters. The 107 chapters became 119. Total absurdity. The failure of the production was much more Globo’s fault than the author’s.
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Disrespect for authors
Author Manoel Carlos (Reproduction / Web)
Brazil has always had great soap opera writers. So much so that the series became one of the biggest brands in the country and was a reference in several places around the world. Globo exports productions easily and the stories have already been translated into several languages.
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One of the recipes for success is the plurality of authors. Each of them has specific characteristics that imply the identity of his work. Does the broadcaster now want all authors to have the same identity? A story by Lícia Manzo or Manoel Carlos can no longer be used today? Elizabeth Jhin was fired because her plans were spiritualistic in nature?
Also read: After the dismissal, the narrator lost a milliondollar lawsuit against the station
It is worrying that a company the size of Globo relies solely on Rosane Svartman and Walcyr Carrasco to achieve success and audience impact. Because the other series by other authors that have really gained popularity in recent years can be counted on one hand. Is the old soap opera remake festival the solution? Until when? Why is Lícia always boycotted? Can’t the author write more for Globoplay?
The author Lícia Manzo (Advertising/Globo)
Lícia Manzo is an actress, director, producer and screenwriter. He has already participated in several episodes of the extinct series “Sai de Baixo” (1996/2002) and cowrote with colleagues a season of “Malhação” (2003/2004) precisely the most successful of the teenage series (known as the “Vagabanda phase”) ) ).
The author debuted in 2009 as the main character in the beautiful series Tudo Novo de Novo, directed by Maria Adelaide Amaral, another author who never achieved anything again as a leading actress. In 2011 he wrote his biggest hit to date: A Vida da Gente Globo’s third most exported soap opera and in 2013 he released Sete Vidas, another impeccable series.
The professional has the channel’s most praised text to date. Given all he has done, he deserves more respect and consideration. May I at least have the opportunity to present another recap for the Six O’Clock Band or even Globoplay? Because it looks like cowardice reigns on the country’s largest broadcaster.
About the author
Sérgio Santos loves television and always has an eye for details. He has been writing for TV História since 2017
Read all of the author’s texts