Sai de Baixo
Encyclopedia
Sai de Baixo is a Brazil
ian sitcom that first aired on Rede Globo
.
It followed the lives of the members of a dysfunctional family
, their maid
and the doorman
of the apartment building in which they lived.
It ran for 7 seasons, from 1996 to 2002, on Sunday nights after the newsmagazine
Fantastico
. That means that it always aired after 10 o'clock p.m., which was necessary given the show's heavy language and sexual innuendos. In 2000, however, the premiere of a new reality show shifted the program to the 11:30 p.m. slot, which lasted for about four months. After that the timeslot varied almost monthly, which started to hurt ratings. At one time, the show was airing around 12:30 a.m., which is considered the beginning of the "wasteland" of late night programming in Brazilian television, with fewer viewers and, therefore, fewer sponsors.
The show was hailed as a "breath of fresh air" in Brazilian TV comedy, given its innovative format and funny, smart stories. It was also considered the "lifeline" of Sunday night programming in Brazilian network television. This status did not last until the very end though. The show is considered to have jumped the shark
around its 5th season, and was supposedly kept on the air only because Globo TV
had nothing to replace it with. Towards the end, ratings had plummeted and the show had slid to what was called a "vulgar version" of its original, groundbreaking style.
Although some of the characters hailed from the poorer layers of society (such as the maid and the doorman), as well as the richer (albeit impoverished, such as the former socialite), the program derived most of its humor from an acid criticism of the Brazilian middle class, its prejudices and views of the rest of the country and the world. This precept justified the sometimes harsh jokes involving racism, sexism and other politically incorrect notions.
, the Procópio Ferreira Theater. The program was shot there every Tuesday afternoon, but the theater was still receiving regular plays and spectacles, and the set had to be disassembled at the end of every shooting and then reassembled the following week, for the next shooting. The people involved in the show called it "the marathon of continuity", since every item of the family's apartment had to be in exactly the same place that it was in the previous episodes.
The show was never shot on location, and it had only one set: the living room
of an apartment in São Paulo, in the neighborhood called Largo do Arouche. From the living room, the characters could exit through various doors or passages, supposedly leading to the building's hallway, a bathroom, the kitchen, a bedroom (Cassandra's), and an imaginary vestibule
(never seen) with access to two other bedrooms (Vavá's and Caco's and Magda's), but there were no sets for those places, and all the action took place in the living room alone. The producers attempted to inject new life on the show by changing this set once. In 2000, eight episodes were shot that took place in a fictional family-owned cafe, the "Arouche's Place", but the change was not well-received by the audiences, and poor ratings forced the return of the apartment set. This was done in such a hurry that one of the episodes that took place in the Cafe was dropped and left unaired. Upon the return to the apartment, the writers decided that the Cafe had exploded in unclear circumstances, probably as part of an insurance fraud
scheme.
The atmosphere of the show was very different from the usual U.S.
sitcoms in the sense that it was extremely informal. The actors often acknowledged the presence of the audience, sometimes even interacting with them. It was also relatively common for the actors to stall a scene because they were having difficulties remembering their lines or because they started laughing with the situations being portrayed. Only the longer, or more "complicated" mistakes were edited off the show, but most of the little things (as above described) were left in. So even though the show was taped, it had a "live feel" to it. For the second half of the show's run, the mistakes that had been edited out started being shown in a special feature that followed the end of each episode (curse words were beeped out).
Only one episode of the show was actually broadcast live: it was the premiere of the third season, in 1998. Since there would be no way to edit out mistakes and exaggerations, the actors were asked to keep improvisation to a minimum, and avoid at all costs curse words. It was treated as a gala event by the network, who invited a VIP audience to it. The story of the episode was created so that the actors could be dressed up during the performance (the characters were to attend a formal event). At the beginning of each segment, the network had reporters interview cast members and VIP guests at a red-carpet-like area in the theater.
In a further acknowledgment of its surroundings, every episode of the program ended with curtains down, just like a play. Then, the curtains would rise again and the cast would return to center stage and accept a standing ovation from the audience (as it would be done in a play). All that was kept in the taped episodes.
The show had many Brazilian special guests appear, such as actors Danielle Winits
, José Wilker
and Dercy Gonçalves
, singers Rita Lee
and Elba Ramalho
and entertainer Angélica
, among others.
)
A snotty husband to Magda, he was embarrassed by his wife's stupidity
. He was also characterized as profoundly hating the poor, lazy, indulgent, corrupt and even abusive.
In many episodes, the character would produce fake dialogues designed to express how pathetic the lifestyle of the poor is. He would also praise that of the rich. He would often make remarks on his "blonde-self", describing himself as beautiful and sophisticated, like a "Danish prince". He resented the fact that he was himself poor, since it is understood in the show that, although he learned to love his wife over time, he married for money and was surprised by the sudden impoverishment of his wife's mother, on whom he picked regularly, often making up stories of her being drunk and naked on the building's rooftop while singing the refrain
of "Cara Caramba, Sou Camaleão
", a song by the Axé music
band
Chiclete com Banana
.
The character also had a heightened sexual side to him. A famous aspect of the show was a sexual position that he and his wife had invented, which they called the "one-legged Kangaroo
". This was never shown or explained, since the intention was to leave it to the imagination of the audience what the position would look like.
Finally, a usual improvisation from Falabella (which varied in its content from show to show) consisted in his speaking phoney English
. Sometimes he pronounced made up words, or crazy sentence structures, but even if he used real words or sentences (as when he quoted a real-life person), the comedy came mostly from his exaggerated, fabricated accent, when he tried to emulate a native speaker. Luís Gustavo, who played Vavá, could never resist one sentence without starting to laugh, and this was usually kept in the final cut for broadcast.
Catchphrases: "Cala a boca, Magda !" (Shut up, Magda!) / "Eu tenho horror a pobre!" (I hate poor people!) / "I'm almost a Danish prince!" / "Vamos fazer o Canguru Perneta!" (let's do the "one-legged Kangaroo"!) / "Sai fora, cabeção dos infernos!!" (Get outta here, giant head from hell! — spoken to Cassandra whenever he was fed up with her)
The "intellectually challenged" but sexy wife of Caco.
The character was marked by an abysmal ignorance and complete lack of connection with reality. In that sense, she was a sidekick
(along with Ribamar, the doorman) to the rest of the cast. In most episodes, she would reinforce her ignorance by misquoting people, popular sayings or completely misinterpreting events or what others had said to her.
In 1998, during the third season, Marisa Orth got pregnant, and the producers decided that the pregnancy would be written in the show. The character got pregnant accidentally. When Orth had the baby, and during her maternity leave, Magda was said to have gone to a clinic in order to have the baby away from the craziness of the family.
Catchphrase: "Num tô intendendu..." (I don't get it—misspoken).
Magda and Caco's son. This character was created out of necessity, due to actress Marisa Orth's (Magda) real-life pregnancy
.
After the birth of the child and Orth's return to the set, the producers were faced with the challenge of what to do with the child, which was not part of the original scheme of characters. The writers felt that Magda should have her child included, especially since the pregnancy had been included in the story line. The child was to be kept, and it was to be a boy and be called Caco Jr.. They decided to innovate and, in the 4th season, in 1999, they had a plastic doll be used as the newborn (Falabella would often cease this situation and make improvised jokes during the program, sometimes shaking the "child" and yelling that it was just a doll, or saying that his child was "battery operated"). The idea worked, but legal issues with the company that held the copyright
s to the doll forced the network to remove the plastic character.
The writers, once again faced with the problem of what to do with the child character, decided to be again bold: the character was to be played by a real child of around 11 years of age. The change was implemented as of the later episodes of the 4th season, in 1999, and the actor chosen to play the role was Lucas Hornos.
The timeline of the show was not changed, and it remained in the present, instead of leaping 10 years into the future (which would justify the newborn suddenly becoming a 10-year-old child). No explanation was given to the sudden growth of Caco Jr., which was also a source of jokes for Falabella and the cast.
The new child character, however, created trouble with the Brazilian Child Protection Justice, which thought that the heavy, sexually charged dialogue of the show was not suited for a child to participate, since the boy would have to participate at the "level" of the others. Finally, a judge ruled that the child could not participate in the program (which was consistent with the ban established by the network itself that kept children from being in the audience). The producers made a radical decision: the character was eliminated after only a few episodes, with the excuse of being sent to a boarding school
, from whence he never returned, nor was ever mentioned again. It was as if the child (and the pregnancy) had never existed. This was done given the succession of problems in order to integrate the new, unexpected character to the cast, which all had failed for one reason or another.
The doll and Hornos combined gave Caco Jr. a run of a little over one full season.
The owner of the apartment and a business man who had his own travel agency (in the final season, his company changed in every episode). His life changes when his sister, Cassandra, his niece, Magda and her husband, Caco, move in with him.
He was forced to take the family in because his sister reveals that the deed to the apartment, which had been inherited by Vavá, was actually splitting the property 50% with her.
For most of the show, he owned a travel agency called "Vavá Tour", which he operated from a desk in his living room (given the show's limited set area). The problem was that the agency was always bordering bankruptcy, since Vavá could only book trips to the Brazilian Pantanal Matogrossense
, a wetland
in the Mid-West of the country.
The character was also known for being a fan of the São Paulo FC. For a period of time, whenever he entered the stage, the first lines of an instrumental version of the club's anthem were played.
The actor Luís Gustavo had a very special place in the show. Although he was not a writer for the program, he was the author of the original idea for the show. He and Aracy Balabanian (Cassandra) were the only cast members to have appeared in every episode of the show.
Catchphrase: "Aqui, Farroupilha
!" (a made-up insult, could be translated as "no way, Jose").
The Mother of Magda and sister of Vavá. She was forced to move in with her younger brother when she found out that her recently deceased husband had left her no pension.
She hated her son-in-law
, Caco, but was as resentful as he when it came to her present financial situation, being capable of reproachable actions if it meant that she could make some money out of it.
The actress's particular hairdo inspired a recurrent joke about the amounts of Lacquer
that her character would use. Falabella constantly teased her about it, saying that her hair was as good as a helmet, among other jokes. Furthermore, as of the third season Balabanian made a personal fashion choice to wear only monochromatic dresses. This prompted Falabella to nickname her on an episode-to-episode basis, always after an object that was the same color as the dress she happened to be wearing.
Catchphrase: "Já pra cozinha!" (To the kitchen, now! — spoken to the maid whenever she got angry at her, usually followed by the name of the maid, which varied throughout the show)
The pesky doorman. Portrayed by Cavalcante as a borderline case of mental retardation, he was, along with the Magda character, a sidekick to the rest of the cast.
In the first season, the character was dating the family's maid, Edileuza (played by Claudia Jimenez), which gave Caco Antibes goosebumps, since he deplored the idea of "poor people procreating". Cavalcante had a joke about the two future children of the couple, whose names would be a combination of those of Ribamar and Edileuza: a boy named "Edileumar" and a girl named "Ribaleuza".
In 1999, in the midst of fights with the writers and other members of the cast, Tom Cavalcante left the show in mid-season, and the position of doorman of the apartment building was occupied by a recently introduced new character, Ataíde, which had been created for other purposes but had become quite popular.
Catchphrases: "É ripa na chulipa!" (a common Brazilian phrase, meaning something like "it's on!") / "Magoei..." (something like "My feeling are hurt", said when someone scolded him , and usually followed by a sad face expression commonly known in Brazil as beicinho)
The character was introduced in 2000, during the attempt to inject new life in the show. When the setting was transferred to the Cafe, he was the owner of the place. He also became infatuated with Cassandra Salão and was to date her. When the decision was made to return to the apartment, the writers felt that the character should be brought along, so they sped up his relationship with Cassandra and had the two marry.
The character had only a mild acceptance from the public, and was dropped without any explanations at the end of the 5th season (his only season).
)
The character was introduced in 2000, for the 5th season. He too was part of the Cafe set. He was an employee of the Cafe and a major fawner of the Cafe owner, Pereira.
The producers of the show expected that they would not have to replace Ribamar as the doorman of the building, since the set was to be a Cafe from then on, but when ratings forced the show to return to the apartment after only seven episodes, Ataíde was made the doorman of the building, which would give him an occupation and an excuse to be around always.
Although he was no longer working for Pereira, he continued to fawn over him, "out of habit". The character stayed on until the end of the show.
In Brazil, it is common for middle class
families to be able to afford the help of a maid full time. This employee will sometimes even sleep at the job, and that was the excuse of the maid of the show to be present in the apartment at all times. The presence of this character was in keeping with Brazilian social structures. Furthermore, all of the characters received names that would be considered "typical of a maid" in the Brazilian middle class imaginary. This could be considered as a certain bias in the show, but it was fully acceptable because its bulk material came from an acid criticism of the Brazilian middle class culture (and how this segment of Brazilian society views the rest of the country and the world).
Four different actresses had the job throughout the show, due to several problems and complications. What follows is a list of them all, in chronological order of participation.
She was the first maid on the show. Her participation was restricted to the first season only. In 1997, after a huge fight with Cláudio Paiva, the chief writer of the show, Jimenez left the show, which was left without a maid for a while. No explanation was given for Edileuza's departure.
After leaving, Jimenez made bitter accusations against the producers of the show, whom she called "dictatorial", and even against the cast, when she implied that a war of egos would be going on backstage.
The character was sassy, often speaking her mind freely to her direct employer, Vavá, and telling the others to their faces how much she disliked them. Whenever she got fired by one of the family members (which was rather frequent), she would respond that they could not fire her, since Vavá was the one who paid her salary and thus had the authority to dismiss her. There would be no repercussions to those "dismissal attempts", which many argue to have been possible because of the show's little commitment to reality.
Although the character dated the doorman Ribamar, Jimenez had a strong chemistry with Falabella, who played Caco, and funny, sexual innuendos between the two were common, as well as the exchange of insults between the characters, as Edileuza would rebuke Caco for his dishonesty and he would tease her for being poor and a maid.
Catchphrase: "Ah, meu Deus!" (Oh my God! — spoken with dismay and often at the telephone, with the audience having no idea of what she would be hearing from the other side)
Kaplan was chosen to play the maid Lucinete and replace Edileuza after Jimenez's departure in 1997. She shot 4 episodes, but the character was so out of sync with the rest of the cast that the decision was made to discard her only two days after the first episode she had shot had aired. The other three episodes were reshot using her replacement, Márcia Cabrita, and the character's departure was never explained (as it was common when radical changes were made in the show).
She was chosen to replace Kaplan as the maid in 1997. She was criticized at first, but the audience soon learned to like her incarnation of the Brazilian maid.
Instead of having the character date another cast member, as did Edileuza, the writers gave Neide a fiancé that was only mentioned, but was never seen onscreen. He was supposed to be an Army
sergeant
who was nicknamed "Mangalarga" (a horse breed originally developed in Brazil, yet another sexual innuendo) and described as a typical macho.
In October 2000, it was announced that Cabrita was pregnant and that her character would be temporarily replaced. The producers, remembering the problems that ensued after they integrated Marisa Orth's pregnancy in the story line, decided that it was best that the maid did not become pregnant as well. Cabrita stayed on for as long as her condition could be disguised, and then went out on maternity leave, with the promise to return after she had the child. In a decision that caused much criticism, as well as some discomfort amidst the cast, the promise made to Cabrita was broken by the network, who thought that the actress that had been called to replace her temporarily, Cláudia Rodrigues, was doing a better job at it and should be kept on the show. Again, no explanation was given to Neide's disappearance.
The fourth and final maid of the show, Rodrigues's performance is said to be one of the best in the role (she did not take any criticism herself for replacing Cabrita, since the decision had nothing to do with her).
Cirene was portrayed as a spitfire, which was made more comical by the fact that Rodrigues is particularly short. The writers also decided to rescue an aspect of the early dynamics of the show, by having Cirene date the new doorman, Ataíde.
Every time she entered, song typical of the Brazilian northeast
would play, stopping only when ordered by Cirene herself. A running gag
in those occasions was the brief repetition of the music when Cirene started to walk (frequently making her scold the sound operator
).
In 2001, the show returned for a sixth season reportedly because of a petition drive by fans, who gathered signatures and managed to avoid cancellation. Ratings, however, were unstable at best, and Globo TV was facing fierce competition from a reality show produced by the second largest network in the country and its principal competitor, SBT. Palliative measures, such as the remodelling of the family's apartment, which became more modern and with more vibrant colors, were insufficient to rekindle the public's interest in the show.
The general understanding was that the formula had been worn out and that the show was out of new ideas and had been for sometime. Most believed that it should have been cancelled in 2000, after the end of its fifth season, which had been considered rather faulty.
In September 2001 the show was put on hiatus for two months, while a reality show was broadcast in its timeslot. The sixth season was wrapped then, and speculations had it that the show would not return. In late December, however, the network decided to produce a final, shorter seventh season, which ran from late December until March 2002 (the last episode aired on March 31, exactly six years after the first episode).
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian sitcom that first aired on Rede Globo
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
.
It followed the lives of the members of a dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
, their maid
Maid
A maidservant or in current usage housemaid or maid is a female employed in domestic service.-Description:Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was historically the case...
and the doorman
Doorman (profession)
A doorman is an individual hired to provide courtesy and security services at a residential building or hotel. They are particularly common in urban luxury highrises. At a residential building, a doorman is responsible for opening doors and screening visitors and deliveries...
of the apartment building in which they lived.
It ran for 7 seasons, from 1996 to 2002, on Sunday nights after the newsmagazine
Newsmagazine
A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published piece of paper, magazine or a radio or television program, usually weekly, featuring articles or segments on current events...
Fantastico
Fantastico
Fantastico may refer to:*Fantastico , a Bulgarian supermarket chain*Fantástico, a Brazilian television newsmagazine*Fantastico, the arch-nemesis of superhero Terrifica*Fantastico , an application installer script library...
. That means that it always aired after 10 o'clock p.m., which was necessary given the show's heavy language and sexual innuendos. In 2000, however, the premiere of a new reality show shifted the program to the 11:30 p.m. slot, which lasted for about four months. After that the timeslot varied almost monthly, which started to hurt ratings. At one time, the show was airing around 12:30 a.m., which is considered the beginning of the "wasteland" of late night programming in Brazilian television, with fewer viewers and, therefore, fewer sponsors.
The show was hailed as a "breath of fresh air" in Brazilian TV comedy, given its innovative format and funny, smart stories. It was also considered the "lifeline" of Sunday night programming in Brazilian network television. This status did not last until the very end though. The show is considered to have jumped the shark
Jumping the shark
Jumping the shark is an idiom used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality that is beyond recovery....
around its 5th season, and was supposedly kept on the air only because Globo TV
Rede Globo
Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings...
had nothing to replace it with. Towards the end, ratings had plummeted and the show had slid to what was called a "vulgar version" of its original, groundbreaking style.
Although some of the characters hailed from the poorer layers of society (such as the maid and the doorman), as well as the richer (albeit impoverished, such as the former socialite), the program derived most of its humor from an acid criticism of the Brazilian middle class, its prejudices and views of the rest of the country and the world. This precept justified the sometimes harsh jokes involving racism, sexism and other politically incorrect notions.
Format
The show was shot before a live audience, but instead of using a studio scenario, the producers decided to use a theatre in São PauloSão Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, the Procópio Ferreira Theater. The program was shot there every Tuesday afternoon, but the theater was still receiving regular plays and spectacles, and the set had to be disassembled at the end of every shooting and then reassembled the following week, for the next shooting. The people involved in the show called it "the marathon of continuity", since every item of the family's apartment had to be in exactly the same place that it was in the previous episodes.
Living room
A living room, also known as sitting room, lounge room or lounge , is a room for entertaining adult guests, reading, or other activities...
of an apartment in São Paulo, in the neighborhood called Largo do Arouche. From the living room, the characters could exit through various doors or passages, supposedly leading to the building's hallway, a bathroom, the kitchen, a bedroom (Cassandra's), and an imaginary vestibule
Vestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
(never seen) with access to two other bedrooms (Vavá's and Caco's and Magda's), but there were no sets for those places, and all the action took place in the living room alone. The producers attempted to inject new life on the show by changing this set once. In 2000, eight episodes were shot that took place in a fictional family-owned cafe, the "Arouche's Place", but the change was not well-received by the audiences, and poor ratings forced the return of the apartment set. This was done in such a hurry that one of the episodes that took place in the Cafe was dropped and left unaired. Upon the return to the apartment, the writers decided that the Cafe had exploded in unclear circumstances, probably as part of an insurance fraud
Insurance fraud
Insurance fraud is any act committed with the intent to fraudulently obtain payment from an insurer.Insurance fraud has existed ever since the beginning of insurance as a commercial enterprise. Fraudulent claims account for a significant portion of all claims received by insurers, and cost billions...
scheme.
The atmosphere of the show was very different from the usual U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sitcoms in the sense that it was extremely informal. The actors often acknowledged the presence of the audience, sometimes even interacting with them. It was also relatively common for the actors to stall a scene because they were having difficulties remembering their lines or because they started laughing with the situations being portrayed. Only the longer, or more "complicated" mistakes were edited off the show, but most of the little things (as above described) were left in. So even though the show was taped, it had a "live feel" to it. For the second half of the show's run, the mistakes that had been edited out started being shown in a special feature that followed the end of each episode (curse words were beeped out).
In a further acknowledgment of its surroundings, every episode of the program ended with curtains down, just like a play. Then, the curtains would rise again and the cast would return to center stage and accept a standing ovation from the audience (as it would be done in a play). All that was kept in the taped episodes.
The show had many Brazilian special guests appear, such as actors Danielle Winits
Danielle Winits
Danielle Winits, the stage name of Danielle Winitskowski de Azevedo, is a Brazilian actress, dancer, and singer. She has appeared as a regular in several Brazilian TV series and also played the Velma Kelly character in a Brazilian adaptation of the musical Chicago...
, José Wilker
José Wilker
José Wilker de Almeida is a Brazilian actor of film, stage and TV, born in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Northeast of Brazil.-Filmography:* A falecida * A vida provisória * Estranho triângulo...
and Dercy Gonçalves
Dercy Gonçalves
Dercy Gonçalves, stage name of Dolores Gonçalves Costa, was a Brazilian comedienne. She stood 4' 11" tall. In her 80-year long career, Dercy Gonçalves worked in the theater, revues, film, radio and television, becoming famous by her humorous use of vulgar language...
, singers Rita Lee
Rita Lee
Rita Lee Jones Carvalho , simply known as Rita Lee, is a Brazilian rock singer and composer. Lee continues to be a popular figure in Brazilian entertainment, where she is also known for being an animal rights activist and a vegetarian...
and Elba Ramalho
Elba ramalho
Elba Ramalho, is a Brazilian songwriter, performer, poet and actress. She is sometimes called "The Queen of Forró"....
and entertainer Angélica
Angélica
Angélica is a Brazilian Presenter, actress and singer.Angélica's career began at 4, when she won a contest to choose Brazil's most beautiful child at a popular variety show presented by Chacrinha. At 13, she became famous for replacing Xuxa as the presenter of the kids show "Club of the Child"...
, among others.
Carlos Augusto "Caco" Antibes
(played by Miguel FalabellaMiguel Falabella
Miguel Falabella is a Brazilian TV, cinema and theater actor, producer, writer and director.-External links:*...
)
A snotty husband to Magda, he was embarrassed by his wife's stupidity
Stupidity
Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, wit, or sense. It may be innate, assumed, or reactive - 'being "stupid with grief" as a defence against trauma', a state marked with 'grief and despair...making even simple daily tasks a hardship'....
. He was also characterized as profoundly hating the poor, lazy, indulgent, corrupt and even abusive.
In many episodes, the character would produce fake dialogues designed to express how pathetic the lifestyle of the poor is. He would also praise that of the rich. He would often make remarks on his "blonde-self", describing himself as beautiful and sophisticated, like a "Danish prince". He resented the fact that he was himself poor, since it is understood in the show that, although he learned to love his wife over time, he married for money and was surprised by the sudden impoverishment of his wife's mother, on whom he picked regularly, often making up stories of her being drunk and naked on the building's rooftop while singing the refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
of "Cara Caramba, Sou Camaleão
Chameleon
Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
", a song by the Axé music
Axé music
Axé is a popular music genre originating in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil approximately in 1986, fusing different Afro-Caribbean genres, such as Marcha, Reggae, and Calypso. It also includes influences of Afro-Brazilian music such as Frevo, Forró and Carixada. The most important creator of this music...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
Chiclete com Banana
Chiclete com Banana
Chiclete com Banana is an Axé music band, currently consisting of Bell Marques, Wadinho Marques, Rey, Waltinho Cruz, Deny and Lelo. The group is named after the song "Chiclete com Banana," written by Gordurinha...
.
The character also had a heightened sexual side to him. A famous aspect of the show was a sexual position that he and his wife had invented, which they called the "one-legged Kangaroo
Kangaroo
A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
". This was never shown or explained, since the intention was to leave it to the imagination of the audience what the position would look like.
Finally, a usual improvisation from Falabella (which varied in its content from show to show) consisted in his speaking phoney English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. Sometimes he pronounced made up words, or crazy sentence structures, but even if he used real words or sentences (as when he quoted a real-life person), the comedy came mostly from his exaggerated, fabricated accent, when he tried to emulate a native speaker. Luís Gustavo, who played Vavá, could never resist one sentence without starting to laugh, and this was usually kept in the final cut for broadcast.
Catchphrases: "Cala a boca, Magda !" (Shut up, Magda!) / "Eu tenho horror a pobre!" (I hate poor people!) / "I'm almost a Danish prince!" / "Vamos fazer o Canguru Perneta!" (let's do the "one-legged Kangaroo"!) / "Sai fora, cabeção dos infernos!!" (Get outta here, giant head from hell! — spoken to Cassandra whenever he was fed up with her)
Magda Salão Antibes
(Played by Marisa Orth)The "intellectually challenged" but sexy wife of Caco.
The character was marked by an abysmal ignorance and complete lack of connection with reality. In that sense, she was a sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
(along with Ribamar, the doorman) to the rest of the cast. In most episodes, she would reinforce her ignorance by misquoting people, popular sayings or completely misinterpreting events or what others had said to her.
In 1998, during the third season, Marisa Orth got pregnant, and the producers decided that the pregnancy would be written in the show. The character got pregnant accidentally. When Orth had the baby, and during her maternity leave, Magda was said to have gone to a clinic in order to have the baby away from the craziness of the family.
Catchphrase: "Num tô intendendu..." (I don't get it—misspoken).
Caco Jr.
(played by Lucas Hornos)Magda and Caco's son. This character was created out of necessity, due to actress Marisa Orth's (Magda) real-life pregnancy
Pregnancy
Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
.
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
s to the doll forced the network to remove the plastic character.
The writers, once again faced with the problem of what to do with the child character, decided to be again bold: the character was to be played by a real child of around 11 years of age. The change was implemented as of the later episodes of the 4th season, in 1999, and the actor chosen to play the role was Lucas Hornos.
The timeline of the show was not changed, and it remained in the present, instead of leaping 10 years into the future (which would justify the newborn suddenly becoming a 10-year-old child). No explanation was given to the sudden growth of Caco Jr., which was also a source of jokes for Falabella and the cast.
The new child character, however, created trouble with the Brazilian Child Protection Justice, which thought that the heavy, sexually charged dialogue of the show was not suited for a child to participate, since the boy would have to participate at the "level" of the others. Finally, a judge ruled that the child could not participate in the program (which was consistent with the ban established by the network itself that kept children from being in the audience). The producers made a radical decision: the character was eliminated after only a few episodes, with the excuse of being sent to a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, from whence he never returned, nor was ever mentioned again. It was as if the child (and the pregnancy) had never existed. This was done given the succession of problems in order to integrate the new, unexpected character to the cast, which all had failed for one reason or another.
The doll and Hornos combined gave Caco Jr. a run of a little over one full season.
Wanderley "Vavá" Mathias
(Played by Luís Gustavo)The owner of the apartment and a business man who had his own travel agency (in the final season, his company changed in every episode). His life changes when his sister, Cassandra, his niece, Magda and her husband, Caco, move in with him.
He was forced to take the family in because his sister reveals that the deed to the apartment, which had been inherited by Vavá, was actually splitting the property 50% with her.
For most of the show, he owned a travel agency called "Vavá Tour", which he operated from a desk in his living room (given the show's limited set area). The problem was that the agency was always bordering bankruptcy, since Vavá could only book trips to the Brazilian Pantanal Matogrossense
Pantanal
The Pantanal is a tropical wetland and one of the world's largest wetland of any kind. Most of it lies within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but it extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay, sprawling over an area estimated at between and...
, a wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
in the Mid-West of the country.
The character was also known for being a fan of the São Paulo FC. For a period of time, whenever he entered the stage, the first lines of an instrumental version of the club's anthem were played.
The actor Luís Gustavo had a very special place in the show. Although he was not a writer for the program, he was the author of the original idea for the show. He and Aracy Balabanian (Cassandra) were the only cast members to have appeared in every episode of the show.
Catchphrase: "Aqui, Farroupilha
Farroupilha
Farroupilha is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in the Serra Gaúcha between the cities of Bento Gonçalves and Caxias do Sul. The city’s total length is 359.3 km²...
!" (a made-up insult, could be translated as "no way, Jose").
Cassandra Matias Salão
(Played by Aracy Balabanian)The Mother of Magda and sister of Vavá. She was forced to move in with her younger brother when she found out that her recently deceased husband had left her no pension.
She hated her son-in-law
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
, Caco, but was as resentful as he when it came to her present financial situation, being capable of reproachable actions if it meant that she could make some money out of it.
The actress's particular hairdo inspired a recurrent joke about the amounts of Lacquer
Lacquer
In a general sense, lacquer is a somewhat imprecise term for a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required...
that her character would use. Falabella constantly teased her about it, saying that her hair was as good as a helmet, among other jokes. Furthermore, as of the third season Balabanian made a personal fashion choice to wear only monochromatic dresses. This prompted Falabella to nickname her on an episode-to-episode basis, always after an object that was the same color as the dress she happened to be wearing.
Catchphrase: "Já pra cozinha!" (To the kitchen, now! — spoken to the maid whenever she got angry at her, usually followed by the name of the maid, which varied throughout the show)
Ribamar
(played by Tom Cavalcante)The pesky doorman. Portrayed by Cavalcante as a borderline case of mental retardation, he was, along with the Magda character, a sidekick to the rest of the cast.
In the first season, the character was dating the family's maid, Edileuza (played by Claudia Jimenez), which gave Caco Antibes goosebumps, since he deplored the idea of "poor people procreating". Cavalcante had a joke about the two future children of the couple, whose names would be a combination of those of Ribamar and Edileuza: a boy named "Edileumar" and a girl named "Ribaleuza".
In 1999, in the midst of fights with the writers and other members of the cast, Tom Cavalcante left the show in mid-season, and the position of doorman of the apartment building was occupied by a recently introduced new character, Ataíde, which had been created for other purposes but had become quite popular.
Catchphrases: "É ripa na chulipa!" (a common Brazilian phrase, meaning something like "it's on!") / "Magoei..." (something like "My feeling are hurt", said when someone scolded him , and usually followed by a sad face expression commonly known in Brazil as beicinho)
Pereira
(played by Ary Fontoura)The character had only a mild acceptance from the public, and was dropped without any explanations at the end of the 5th season (his only season).
Ataíde
(played by Luiz Carlos TourinhoLuiz Carlos Tourinho
Luiz Carlos Tourinho was a Brazilian actor.Tourinho gained notoriety on TV with the role of Franco in the series "Sob Nova Direção", in which he played opposite actresses Ingrid Guimarães and Heloísa Périssé.He died of a cerebral aneurysm at the age of 43 after being rushed to the Hospital de...
)
The character was introduced in 2000, for the 5th season. He too was part of the Cafe set. He was an employee of the Cafe and a major fawner of the Cafe owner, Pereira.
The producers of the show expected that they would not have to replace Ribamar as the doorman of the building, since the set was to be a Cafe from then on, but when ratings forced the show to return to the apartment after only seven episodes, Ataíde was made the doorman of the building, which would give him an occupation and an excuse to be around always.
Although he was no longer working for Pereira, he continued to fawn over him, "out of habit". The character stayed on until the end of the show.
The Maids
The maids were a chapter aside in the history of the show. The original idea called for there to be one maid working at the apartment. This concept was never abandoned by the writers, who, despite all the problems, insisted on having a maid as part of the ensemble.In Brazil, it is common for middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
families to be able to afford the help of a maid full time. This employee will sometimes even sleep at the job, and that was the excuse of the maid of the show to be present in the apartment at all times. The presence of this character was in keeping with Brazilian social structures. Furthermore, all of the characters received names that would be considered "typical of a maid" in the Brazilian middle class imaginary. This could be considered as a certain bias in the show, but it was fully acceptable because its bulk material came from an acid criticism of the Brazilian middle class culture (and how this segment of Brazilian society views the rest of the country and the world).
Four different actresses had the job throughout the show, due to several problems and complications. What follows is a list of them all, in chronological order of participation.
Edileuza
(played by Cláudia Jimenez)She was the first maid on the show. Her participation was restricted to the first season only. In 1997, after a huge fight with Cláudio Paiva, the chief writer of the show, Jimenez left the show, which was left without a maid for a while. No explanation was given for Edileuza's departure.
After leaving, Jimenez made bitter accusations against the producers of the show, whom she called "dictatorial", and even against the cast, when she implied that a war of egos would be going on backstage.
The character was sassy, often speaking her mind freely to her direct employer, Vavá, and telling the others to their faces how much she disliked them. Whenever she got fired by one of the family members (which was rather frequent), she would respond that they could not fire her, since Vavá was the one who paid her salary and thus had the authority to dismiss her. There would be no repercussions to those "dismissal attempts", which many argue to have been possible because of the show's little commitment to reality.
Although the character dated the doorman Ribamar, Jimenez had a strong chemistry with Falabella, who played Caco, and funny, sexual innuendos between the two were common, as well as the exchange of insults between the characters, as Edileuza would rebuke Caco for his dishonesty and he would tease her for being poor and a maid.
Catchphrase: "Ah, meu Deus!" (Oh my God! — spoken with dismay and often at the telephone, with the audience having no idea of what she would be hearing from the other side)
Lucinete
(played by Ilana Kaplan)Kaplan was chosen to play the maid Lucinete and replace Edileuza after Jimenez's departure in 1997. She shot 4 episodes, but the character was so out of sync with the rest of the cast that the decision was made to discard her only two days after the first episode she had shot had aired. The other three episodes were reshot using her replacement, Márcia Cabrita, and the character's departure was never explained (as it was common when radical changes were made in the show).
Neide Aparecida
(played by Márcia Cabrita)She was chosen to replace Kaplan as the maid in 1997. She was criticized at first, but the audience soon learned to like her incarnation of the Brazilian maid.
Instead of having the character date another cast member, as did Edileuza, the writers gave Neide a fiancé that was only mentioned, but was never seen onscreen. He was supposed to be an Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
who was nicknamed "Mangalarga" (a horse breed originally developed in Brazil, yet another sexual innuendo) and described as a typical macho.
In October 2000, it was announced that Cabrita was pregnant and that her character would be temporarily replaced. The producers, remembering the problems that ensued after they integrated Marisa Orth's pregnancy in the story line, decided that it was best that the maid did not become pregnant as well. Cabrita stayed on for as long as her condition could be disguised, and then went out on maternity leave, with the promise to return after she had the child. In a decision that caused much criticism, as well as some discomfort amidst the cast, the promise made to Cabrita was broken by the network, who thought that the actress that had been called to replace her temporarily, Cláudia Rodrigues, was doing a better job at it and should be kept on the show. Again, no explanation was given to Neide's disappearance.
Cirene
(played by Cláudia Rodrigues)The fourth and final maid of the show, Rodrigues's performance is said to be one of the best in the role (she did not take any criticism herself for replacing Cabrita, since the decision had nothing to do with her).
Cirene was portrayed as a spitfire, which was made more comical by the fact that Rodrigues is particularly short. The writers also decided to rescue an aspect of the early dynamics of the show, by having Cirene date the new doorman, Ataíde.
Every time she entered, song typical of the Brazilian northeast
Northeast Region, Brazil
The Northeast Region of Brazil is composed of the following states: Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, and it represents 18.26% of the Brazilian territory....
would play, stopping only when ordered by Cirene herself. A running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
in those occasions was the brief repetition of the music when Cirene started to walk (frequently making her scold the sound operator
Sound operator
The sound operator is the person responsible for the overall and total execution of all sound-related aspects of a theatrical performance...
).
Hiatus and cancellation
The general understanding was that the formula had been worn out and that the show was out of new ideas and had been for sometime. Most believed that it should have been cancelled in 2000, after the end of its fifth season, which had been considered rather faulty.
In September 2001 the show was put on hiatus for two months, while a reality show was broadcast in its timeslot. The sixth season was wrapped then, and speculations had it that the show would not return. In late December, however, the network decided to produce a final, shorter seventh season, which ran from late December until March 2002 (the last episode aired on March 31, exactly six years after the first episode).