Morangos com Açúcar

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.

I really love the show it rocks...it is almost as good as mundou meu, deite quas tudo and fala me de amor (also Portuguese soaps) its shows how Portuguese families live and the real problems they have. for example they teach kids about pregnancy and and the problems that follow with it, also they show kids how completely silly they can be..like Manuel (a rebel in the show)..and shows them a way that they can try and change and become better. Anyway dude u said u know someone from morangos com accucar who? hook me up. I too have needs....girls there are really cute guys on the show...what i cant help myself (kiko is really cute)

There is little talent nowadays on the Portuguese TV industry, I believe, and this show is another proof of it, from the news shows that last 2 hours to soap operas and soap operas in a row to this kind of teenager soap operas you can't really watch public television in Portugal and hope to not drop some IQ points in the process. Once now and then there are some movies and documentaries and that's about it as far as quality goes around here. This show in an attempt to imitate Brazilian teen soap operas that were popular a little before the show started, the acting is terrible, the plot is terrible, or random, it would be watchable if the actors, conscious of how bad the show is, turned it a little more satiric and fun, but alas, no - they genuinely try to make it as terrible as it is. I watched the first season, sporadically, it was launched on Summer vacation and by that time I was stuck with nothing to do but read and watch TV, needless to say I finished some giant books before being forced to poison myself with those strawberries. After I don't know how many seasons it hasn't changed much, they try to approach a new general topic such as abortion or homosexuality or racism now and then but overall the show puts up a very poor attempt. I do believe there is some talent in this industry, it's not employed by SIC or TVI though, that's for sure

God, let me just say that reading this it's just hilarious... People, if you don't like it just don't bother to watch - that simple...yeah. Remember, it's made for young teenagers, they just want some entertainment, stories that reflect today's problems with some flair, some fantasy, some 'happily ever after'. Just let them be, let the models/actors have fun, develop a new skill and make money. Yeah they're not the best actors in the world, at least it's a chance for someone to have a break into the acting world. Or at least they gain money, always good. The stories? Kinda in a loop, yeah. It's on season VI and it's kind of the same story, but the problems of today are there, just like the problems of last year were there. Jesus... it's a soap opera.. Me? i'm 20 and i still watch it, because it's addictive and really funny for me (yeah, i like to make fun of the silly situations, that's my prerogative).

"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.