1. “Today they [diretores das televisões] they want soap opera and entertainment people with thousands of social media followers. The more of them, the better. Talent doesn’t mean much anymore,” the TVI source laments, not believing that this reality in 2022 will be a decisive factor in the success of anything.
The most egregious example is the name of Fernando Mendez. The Right Price star has “only” 100,000 fans on his Instagram account and is the audience leader, killing every day in his schedule (19:00/20:00) the most direct opponents, namely “Rua das”. Flores, the big bet of Cristina Ferreira, the champion of this social network, with 1.5 million followers. It is true that there is no turning back. Today, Instagram is a powerful weapon in promoting actors and hosts, their work and projects on television – Daniel Oliveira, imagine, suggested that he chose Carolina Loureiro as the protagonist of “Nazare” because of the thousands of followers – to make money, but this phenomenon falls far short of the dimension that many directors think it should win on its own.
I look at the latest issues of O Preço Certo, a simple competition that has been broadcast on a public channel for two decades, and Rua das Flores, which the director of TVI is touting as a fantastic soap opera, and they are stunning, even with the arrival of summer: the difference between they are more than 300 thousand spectators. I ask: what’s the point of being an influencer in Portugal with a unique commitment to social media if later, in Quelos de Baixo, you lose? “A party is a party” is not enough for kingship.
Fernando Mendez, a layman in these modern times, goes his own way – and what a way! – On TV. Interestingly, in the last two years O Gordo has always removed Saloya da Malveira, be it Dia de Cristina, Cristina Comvida or Rua das Flores. “This subscriber issue is bullshit… Most people don’t watch TV,” defends this face of TVI.
2. The tragedy in Melilla, when more than 40 people died and hundreds were injured among migrants trying to get to Spain, passed by our television. “This is not Ukraine,” they explain to me… with irony.
