Morangos com Açúcar

I've seen Morangos com Açucar. It depicts the life of Portuguese teenagers in a really twisted wonderful way, where everything is sunny and happy all the time. Of course it has its downs, but it's always some ridiculous cliché situation like "He stole my girlfriend", or... no actually that's it. there are these "cool" delinquents who skate and make graffiti; again, so cliché (I actually know one of th actors...I still can't figure how I manage not to laugh when I see him). All the young actors are there just cuz they're young and good-looking, but they suck. Amongst the adults, there are some good references in Portuguese acting, but u wouldn't know by watching this show, because the argument (or script, or whatever) won't allow any actor to show his talent, even Anthony Hopkins would look like an amateur saying those lines. It's just plain ridiculous, it's all the adolescence clichés and mere stupidity and merchandising all compiled into... that. Even so, it wins in 2 fronts, and by a landslide: hot chicks and comedic value. As I said, th actors (specially th ones who play youth) are there to look good. I'm a man, so I find th women attractive. What I call comedic value is the fact that u can sit there, and laugh at the show during it's entirety (and that's a long time, coz they give you 2 episodes at a time, 1 from th day b4, and th new one... of course u stop laughing when u realize th commercial break's been going for 15min...) Anyway I watch the show regularly now, so I can laugh at it, and then cry at the misery that Portuguese TV has become, and u should do so too. It's a great show

I saw the first season of Morangos com Açucar when I was quite young. And I'm not gonna lie, I did end up watching it throughout. You had decent actors and a great soundtrack.

However, I stopped there. If you look at this show now, you will see a bunch on untalented (but attractive) actors and producers working hard to reenact everyday situations of real students, so that they can relate with the show. Is that really entertainment? This is aimed at teenagers, they say, but anyone with half-a-brain will notice all the clichés, all the mistakes and all the amateurs in this "show". So, in the end, people watching this show are the twelve and thirteen-year-olds of Portugal and even younger kids.

I am truly hoping that this trend will end soon so that teens can get back to their real life rather than wasting their time with this junk.

"Morangos Com Açucar" only functions with cliché lines and cliché situations. Season after season, the storyline remains the same only with new actors, replacing the previous ones with identical characters.

The basic plot suits the basic actors and the even more basic audience.

Every ten minutes, some political/social message is said without having a direct relation to the situation. Two characters may be having a discussion and out of thin air, the subject of recycling is brought up. Once there was a dialog between a main character and an extra, solely for the purpose of indicating to the young audience that smoking is harmful to our health.

The editing is beyond any doubts, the worst I've seen. Part of the problem is the fact that certain scenes were written and shot without the writer and director applying something called "logic". I've seen a boat chase in which they've actually shot the scene alternating between a static and a moving boat.

Another poor thing which is a result of a poor script and editing, is the fact that characters speak in a specific order, without overlaying the others:

A - "Did you know that he stole the money?"

B - "Really?"

C - "Is that so?"

D - "This is bad..."

E - "Are you serious?"

F - "That can't be..."

And every time a character speaks, there's a close up paired with an annoying post production sound. How annoying...

In four seasons, there is only one good thing I've seen in this show: at some point we could relate to the female antagonists and protagonists.

Morangos com Açucar was a Portuguese series for teenagers and childreen that gave from Monday to Friday in the evenings on TVI. This series followed a group of teenagers and their love, school, or parenting problems. In each season there was always the season of school grade that passed during the school year and the summer vacation series, which gave during the summer.

This series marked my childhood and adolescence, I saw from season 2 to 8, that is, from my 8 to 15 and always thought it was fantastic and best series ever. Now almost 10 years after it was over, as I watched the replays that go on at Panda Biggs (it's now the 6th summer season), my opinion couldn't be more different and completely contrary to what it was when I was little.

The series is very cringe and most of the young actors didn't know how to perform, it all seemed very forced and unnatural (although here I even give them a discount because it was the first experience of many in the performance and some of them later succeeded in the world of representation). Everyone was very melodramatic and thought she was the owner of the breed, especially with her parents, because they are all poor things and they have the worst parents. At that time I thought it was an injustice for parents not to let them out or something, now I feel like giving a couple of pops to the annoying kids, who deep down are too much spoiled.

This series marked a generation, that is true, but it was certainly made for the younger layers because now as an adult I see how the series was not good, not even at close range.

That is all true. I agree that the series is most of the times too sugary and simple and yes, there is not too much place for real acting. You have to remember, however, that the show is being created for teenagers and not for refined connoisseurs of the ambitious cinema. The concept is to have a catchy pastime that will brighten up people's lives. It shows colourful and fine lives of young people striking with idealization but also does not avoid teaching what is right and wrong to do. Emotions, of course, play the leading role and the spectator is given a feeling of amusement, though empty, still enjoyable. In my opinion the idea of Morangos Com Acucar is a really successful one because it gives a fresh setting to classical soap operas that became trite long ago. The "factory" of actors and musicians also does not have to be reprehensible. After all not everyone gets the first role in a blockbuster and here many beginners are at least given a chance. I am not a teenager but I enjoyed watching the series and I am sure, not only being influenced by the popularity of the show in Portugal, that many people do as well.