O Americano

When we talk about Portuguese TV fiction, it's easy to start thinking about telenovela. A format inherited from Brazil, but one that has never grown in Portugal beyond being a sub-product of something that is in itself a cultural sub-product. In recent years, and with the rise of streaming, Portugal has been producing series that almost appear embarrassed by the legacy of the telenovelas. Some filmmakers who once tried their hand at auteur cinema are now trying their hand at auteur series. But if it's easier for a TV director to make an auteur series, it's practically guaranteed that mega-nepobaby Ivo M. Ferreira won't be the maker of a TV masterpiece. The plot is perhaps the most lifeless (and sexless) thing that has ever graced our screens. Pretensions to being American in style are undermined by a verbose script with no particular literary force, informative dialogue that would make the series better as a radio drama, and flimsy performances that don't lift the story's madcap potential beyond the academism of dimensionless character types. As much as the true story piqued my curiosity, the first episode didn't make me want to watch the second.

Well going to wait for the second episode, but the first impression: not great. Portuguese series have an excessive lack of motion and emotion. Also in the first episode in the 80's the Police uniform is not blue, also the sirens are not from the 80's. In the hospital the main actor is in the hospital with a sheet over the head that give the impression that he is dead but In the next scene he is more or less well...i hope this improve on the next episodes otherwise it will be a flop. Soundtrack ok, but the dialogues are poor and seems that we are watching all in slow motion. Did watch till the end.