TV Globo's Lá Na Minha Terra Opens to 18.6 Points and Stereotype Accusations

TV Globo's new telenovela Lá Na Minha Terra drew 18.6 audience points for its premiere on Monday, June 9 — a number that beat the slot's previous production and still landed among the weakest launches in the network's recent history.

The figure makes the show the second-worst debut for a first-run telenovela in the 6 p.m. slot since August 2021, when Globo resumed productions in that hour after the pandemic. Of the ten telenovelas launched in that period, only A Nobreza do Amor opened to a lower first-episode rating. The network has not commented publicly on the numbers or the criticism, at least not in the material available so far.

What are viewers actually objecting to?

The backlash centers on how the show portrays the Brazilian Northeast, the sertão. Set in the 21st century, the opening episodes showed characters riding in the open bed of a pickup truck — the pau de arara — and houses without indoor bathrooms. Audiences found those images jarring.

Critics on social media argued the production recycles stereotypes tied to poverty and backwardness. They concede that social inequality exists in the region. But they point out that the rural Northeast today has internet access, technology and modern services, and that the show's costumes, dialogue and setting ignore this.

Much of the debate played out on X, formerly Twitter. Some users drew a direct comparison with how the same show's universe treats São Paulo: the state capital, they argued, appears close to its present-day reality, while the Northeasterner is rendered as caricature.

What does this change for the telenovela?

In practice, the numbers cut both ways. An 18.6-point premiere is a win against the slot's immediate predecessor, which suggests the format still pulls an audience. Yet a near-record-low debut since 2021 signals erosion, and the stereotype controversy gives the slow start a narrative that could harden if early episodes do not adjust the portrayal.

The complaint is not new to Brazilian television, but its speed is. Within a day of broadcast, costume choices and set design were being dissected frame by frame, with concrete examples — the truck bed, the missing bathrooms — cited as evidence.

The production's response, if one comes, will likely arrive through adjustments in upcoming episodes rather than a statement. Until then, Lá Na Minha Terra carries both a ratings benchmark and a representation problem into its first full week on air.