Avenida Brasil (telenovela)

Telenovela overview

The plot follows the dramatic story of Rita (Débora Falabella), a sweet young woman who struggles to recover part of the life her ruthless gold digging stepmother, Carminha (Adriana Esteves), took from her when she was only a child.

When Rita's father dies accidentally and prematurely at the hand of Tufão (pronounced Tufon) but directly related to Carminha's scheme, Carminha and her lover, Max (Marcello Novaes), send the young girl off to live in a landfill, so that she doesn't stand in the way of their plan to get rich. Carminha uses this fact to trap Tufão into a guilt ridden marriage unknowingly. Rita at the landfill is subjected to child labor under the control of a deplorable man, named Nilo (José de Abreu). But, she is lucky enough to meet Batata (Cauã Reymond Marques), a boy who becomes her best friend and true love. He takes her to live with other children, under the care of motherly Lucinda (Vera Holtz), in another house at the landfill. Fortunately, Rita is soon adopted and moves out of the country to Argentina with a nice family who changes her name to Nina. However, she has issues with her adoptive mother who passes away and eventually with her adoptive sisters because of her mission of revenge. Rita/Nina's adoptive father loved her very much and treated her well. He educated her and provided for his family nicely. She becomes a famous chef. When her adoptive father dies it intensifies her lost of her natural father and revenge for Carminha and Max. Batata is adopted by Carminha and Tufão (Murilo Benício) and they rename him Jorginho. Jorginho has many emotional issues because his birth mother adopts him years after she abandons him at the landfilled as a toddler. Jorginho despises Caminha but he doesn't know why and he does not remember her clearly from his early childhood before the abandonment.

Years later, unrecognizable and motivated by vengeance, Nina (Débora Falabella) moves back to Brazil under her adoptive name, she infiltrates the family by becoming the personal chef for Carminha's family. Eventually, she must face the bitter consequences of seeking revenge against those who hurt her the most. As mentioned above, vile Carminha has managed to lure and marry Tufão who is a friendly, rich soccer player and is unaware of her many lies and manipulations. They live with his loud and garish relatives in an unrefined suburban mansion and, underhandedly, she makes the evil Max her brother-in-law by marrying him to Tufão's annoying sister.

Together, Carminha and Max continue to carry out their sadistic plans to get ahead while continuing their love/hate affair in the same house as their unsuspecting spouses. Nina becomes so engrossed in her single-minded goal to inflict suffering and punishment on those who wronged her that her own happiness is jeopardized. Carminha and Nina have one thing in common: their earnest love for Jorginho, who is Carminha's biological son (and adoptive son) and Nina's childhood sweetheart, Batata.

Nina must ultimately confront her past and decide how far she is willing to go to exact revenge on her wretched stepmother and Max, realizing her choices could cost her the love of her life as well as her humanity.

Opening sequence

The opening was created by director Alexandre Pit Ribeiro, which featured 135 dancers dancing on a catwalk. The choreography was produced by Dudu Neles.

The opening theme is a re-recording of Vem Dançar Kuduro with new Portuguese lyrics, adapted to the Brazilian market. It was played by Robson Moura and Lino Krizz, and known for its refrain "Oi Oi Oi", which became successful in social networks.

Ratings

Besides the success in Brazil, Avenida Brasil, is also a big hit with the audience in Portugal. In its debut, September 24, 2012, the novel has recorded 13 points and 31.6% audience share, finishing third in the ranking of hearings that day. Week after week, the soap opera continued to record satisfactory levels of audience. On November 15, 2012 Avenida Brasil recorded 11.4 points and an audience share of 36%, meaning that one in three televisions were watching a telenovela. It was the fourth most watched program each day. On January 3, 2013 it was registering 15.9 points and an audience share of 36.6%, the largest audience to date. It remained fourth place in the rankings.

National reception

The soap opera had a successful debut, becoming increasingly popular, until becoming a great critical and commercial success. It became a favorite subject in the social networks of the internet, being one of the topics most discussed on Twitter, the hashtag reaching the top Trending Topics for each chapter of the story. The night of its final chapter became epic, on Twitter, the hashtag #OiOiOiFinal ranked first in world affairs on Twitter and continued after the end of the exhibition throughout Brazil. In addition to success in social networks, the last chapter brought Brazil to a halt, making the streets of big cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and stands deserted. Programs of Rede Globo had segments dedicated to the soap and several other Brazilian television stations also commented on the end of Avenida Brasil. With many connected TVs, there was a hoax that a blackout could occur in the whole country after the screening of the final episode due to an effect called "loading ramp" when the novel ends, people resume activities which could generate an overload leaving the country in the dark which did not actually occur. At the close of the soap opera, the telenovela beat its own record. As expected by most critics, the last episode was watched by 80 million people, a very high number, making it the highest rated TV program in 2012 in Brazil.

Awards and nominations

The cast received 108 nominations and won 36 awards. João Emanuel Carneiro, Adriana Esteves, Murilo Benício and Mel Maia were the most prized.

Broadcast

Avenue Brazil has become the most exported Rede Globo telenovela, surpassing Da Cor do Pecado (ibid), which was the prior sales leader for other countries.

The telenovela has been licensed by 130 countries including all of Latin America, United States, South Korea, Armenia, Sweden and Guatemala, being dubbed into 19 languages.

Reception

In Portugal it received 16.1 points and a 39% audience share for the last chapter, which means more than 1.5 million viewers watched the outcome of the novela. The plot debuted in SIC in September 2012 and was leader of the time in which it was displayed. It was one of the most watched programs in the country, second only to "Dancin' Days", co-produced by Globo and SIC. The novel also has good viewing figures in Greece, Croatia, Hungary and Kosovo Argentina reached an average of 12 points with peaks of 13.3 in its first chapter, ensuring impressive viewing figures for Telefe.

Nacional

Nacional Vol. 2

Internacional