Strawberries with Sugar

A series with so many fans and detractors, which lasted for more than a decade, made so much money and started so many artistic careers, can only be considered a success. Despite this, it is a weak, uninteresting, tiring and very amateur series.

This series, strongly aimed at teenagers, was created by TVI Channel, airing in prime time on weekdays. I think they were very inspired by Malhação, a similar series from Globo that was shown in Portugal through the TVI's rival channel SIC. The final formats of the series already have a certain influence of High School Musical and Glee. In any case, the series was a sure bet for the Queluz de Baixo TV channel: it acquired extraordinary popularity and guaranteed TVI the beginning of an audience supremacy that lasted for years. It also became a huge source of income for the channel, at the expense of advertising and massive merchandising.

The series appeared in 2003 and followed the lives of a group of school-aged teenagers from an elitist particular high school, Colégio da Barra. Each season ended with the end of the school year and gave way to a mini summer season. Each season there was a renewal of the cast and sometimes also a renewal of the environments: in the fifth season, the particular high school gives way to a public high school full of problems, which turns into a performing arts school in season 7 and disappears in season 9, to make way for another elite high school. In addition to the beach, flirting, extreme sports and teenage problems, the series dealt with deeper themes, from anorexia and bulimia, bullying or social prejudice. It also invested a lot in music, even giving rise to two teen bands. D'ZRT will be the most remembered: this boy's band was influenced by similar projects, such as Excesso and Backstreet Boys, and was very active until 2009.

Unsurprisingly, TVI bet on colossal and very mediatic castings to choose the actors for the various seasons. In the overwhelming majority, they had zero experience and were learning to act right there, in front of the cameras, so the quality level of the cast was extremely poor and those young people couldn't sound more forced and clumsy. Nevertheless, the series was a factory of young actors from which an entire generation of talents emerged, and which included João Catarré, Benedita Pereira, Cláudia Vieira, Pedro Teixeira, Joana Duarte, L