I've never seen anything like this at Globo
The opening flood sequence required innovative practical effects, digital resources, and high-resolution LED panels to achieve unprecedented realism in Brazilian television production. The ensemble cast includes established actors across generations, with the story following a physiotherapist rebuilding her life after losing her home and husband in the disaster.
- Quem Ama Cuida premieres May 18, 2026 on TV Globo
- Opening sequence filmed at a 13,000 m² artificial lake in Deodoro, Rio de Janeiro
- Production uses practical effects, digital resources, and a 200 m² LED panel for realism
- Cast includes Tony Ramos, Letícia Colin, Jesuíta Barbosa, Antônio Fagundes, Chay Suede, and others
Actor Tony Ramos expressed amazement at the technical sophistication of 'Quem Ama Cuida,' Globo's upcoming prime-time telenovela debuting May 18, highlighting unprecedented production infrastructure including a 13,000 m² artificial lake and 200 m² LED panels.
Tony Ramos walked out of the press conference on Monday afternoon with something close to wonder in his voice. The actor, whose career spans decades of Brazilian television drama, had just spent time discussing the technical apparatus behind Quem Ama Cuida, the prime-time telenovela set to premiere on Globo on May 18th. What he kept returning to, what seemed to genuinely arrest him, was the sheer scale of what the production had built to tell its opening sequence—a flood that destroys São Paulo and sets the entire story in motion.
"I've never seen anything like this at Globo," Ramos said, and he meant it as a statement of fact, not hyperbole. He plays Otoniel, the grandfather of the protagonist Adriana, a physiotherapist portrayed by Letícia Colin. But his amazement wasn't about the role itself. It was about the infrastructure that had been constructed to make the disaster feel real.
The production had assembled something genuinely unusual for Brazilian television. Between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the team built a 13,000-square-meter artificial lake at Deodoro's Parque Radical. Inside that space, they constructed scenographic houses designed to withstand and react to the force of water—not as static sets, but as structures that could move, break, and respond the way real buildings do when flooded. High-pressure hoses, wave generators, flotation systems, and compressed-air drums were deployed to simulate the physics of disaster. A 200-square-meter LED panel projected real-time images of the city, giving the actors something to react against, a visual environment that approximated reality rather than asking them to imagine it.
This was not standard telenovela production. The combination of practical effects, digital resources, and high-resolution LED technology represented an investment and a philosophy: that the emotional weight of the story—a woman losing her home and her husband in a single catastrophic event—demanded that the viewer feel the physical reality of that loss. The husband, Carlos, is played by Jesuíta Barbosa. His death in the flood is the hinge on which the entire narrative turns. Adriana must rebuild not just a house but a life, and she must do it while carrying responsibility for her family.
Ramos emphasized that despite this technological ambition, the production hadn't abandoned what he called the "magic triangle" of telenovela: love, passion, and suspense. "We have all of that," he said, "and we have humor and a Brazilian perspective on Brazilian people." The story, in other words, wasn't trying to be something other than what it was. It was trying to be a better version of itself.
The ensemble assembled for the production reads like a survey of Brazilian dramatic talent across generations. Antônio Fagundes, Chay Suede, Nathalia Dill, Renato Góes, Isabel Teixeira, Alexandre Borges, and Flávia Alessandra anchor a cast that spans decades of work in the medium. The writing comes from Walcyr Carrasco and Claudia Souto. When Quem Ama Cuida airs on May 18th, it will replace Três Graças in Globo's nine o'clock slot—the network's most visible real estate, the place where Brazilian television still gathers its largest audiences.
What Ramos seemed to be articulating, in his repeated expressions of surprise, was that the medium itself had shifted. The technology had caught up to ambition. A telenovela could now show you a flood that looked like a flood, not a suggestion of one. Whether that changes what the audience feels, whether it deepens the story or simply makes it louder, remains to be seen. But the production has already made its statement: this is not the telenovela of five years ago.
Notable Quotes
We have the magic triangle of telenovela—love, passion, and suspense—and we have humor and a Brazilian perspective on Brazilian people.— Tony Ramos
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
When Tony Ramos says he's never seen anything like this at Globo, what do you think he's really reacting to?
He's reacting to the gap between ambition and execution finally closing. For decades, telenovelas have been constrained by budget and time. You work fast, you work cheap, you rely on performance and writing to carry you. This production seems to have said: what if we didn't have to choose?
But is that a good thing? Does a flood need to look photorealistic to move you?
That's the real question, isn't it. Ramos himself seems aware of it—he keeps insisting they haven't abandoned the emotional core, the "magic triangle." Maybe he's trying to convince himself as much as the press.
The husband dies in the opening sequence. That's the entire engine of the story.
Right. So the production is betting that if you feel the physical reality of the disaster, you'll feel the emotional reality of the loss more acutely. Whether that works depends on whether the actors can hold their own against the spectacle.
And can they? Is the cast strong enough?
On paper, yes. Ramos, Barbosa, Colin—these are serious actors. But there's always a risk when you build something this big. The machinery can swallow the performance.
So this is a test.
It's always a test. But this one has more money behind it.