# Pé na Cova

Pé na Cova is a Brazilian television series produced by TV Globo. It was shown from 24 January 2013 to 7 April 2016, with 71 episodes and 5 seasons.
Created and written by Miguel Falabella, with scripts by Alessandra Poggi, Antonia Pellegrino, Artur Xexéo, Flávio Marinho and Luiz Carlos Góes, collaboration by Ana Quintana, final script by Miguel Falabella and Flávio Marinho, under the direction of Cris D'Amato, Hsu Chien and Cininha de Paula, general direction by Cininha de Paula and core direction by Roberto Talma.
It featured Miguel Falabella, Marília Pêra, Lorena Comparato, Daniel Torres, Luma Costa, Mart'nália, Karin Hils, and Karina Marthin in the main roles.

## Production

Although the apparent backdrop of the series is death, Miguel Falabella said that, in fact, its backdrop “is the great tragedy of national education.” Cininha Paula noted that “death surrounds, but does not star in the series” and Falabella concluded that “in Brazil, death has a very morbid footprint and I imagined that it would be banal to make a comedy with the theme” and that is why he would try to seek a “lightness”.
The author said that although the plot deals with controversial issues, the text “borders on ‘nonsense’.” Cininha de Paula, the general director, described the series as a realistic comedy. The “crazy realism”, as the director calls it, has diverse inspirations, ranging from the Cohen brothers to Cuban and Portuguese films. Falabella said that “Pé na Cova” is a reflective program and not just about the relationship with death, but at the same time, it is very "light".
About the central family, the author commented that they “have no money, no education, are completely crazy”, as well as having “an unusual characteristic”: they are “a group of people who are eccentric to the limit, who border on the absurd and survive over death”, but which, according to him, does exist. Falabella also said that he thought of them as an “Addams Family from Irajá.”
As the series is set in the Irajá neighborhood, Cininha de Paula went there to find the necessary references, where she acquired information about funeral services, sets, and costumes. For the latter, she also used “things from Portuguese films, because of the great influence of the Lusitanian colonies.”
In the third season, which began on 8 April 2014, Marília Pêra left the series due to a health problem. On June 11, she returned to recording the series. During the airing of the fourth season, the actress, who played the character Darlene, died on December 5, 2015. Rede Globo met with the actress's family and the cast and kept the series going even after the actress's death until the end of the last season on April 7, 2016. Despite the actress's death, she had already left one more season recorded.

### Casting

The choice of Mart'nália was made by Falabella himself, who adapted the lines considering her difficulty speaking and her debut as an actress. Luma Costa, for her part, had to take tests in order to play Odete Roitman. When she heard that the series needed a blonde, light-eyed actress, she signed up for the selection, which she won. Luma also took pole dancing classes to prepare for her role, which included wearing lingerie as part of her costume.
The role of Juscelino, the funerary driver, was originally going to be played by Ney Latorraca, who, however, had health problems and was hospitalized. He was then replaced by Alexandre Zacchia. However, the author has said that when the actor is fully recovered, he will be able to play another character, Doctor Zoltan, an unreliable doctor who works as a psychiatrist and surgeon. In June 2013, Ney Latorraca communicated with Falabella and decided not to join the cast, citing his intention to take more time before returning to acting, passing the character on to Diogo Vilela, who had already worked with the author on Toma Lá Dá Cá.
Actress Marília Pêra, who played the character Darlene, died on December 5, 2015. However, the series continued to be shown, because she had already left one more season recorded. Miguel Falabella contacted the actress's family so that her image could be used in the last recorded season of the series, in 2016.

## Plot

Set in Irajá, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, the plot focuses on the Pereira family, headed by Gedivan Pereira, better known as Ruço (Miguel Falabella), who is dating Abigail (Lorena Comparato), an orphan girl who is thirty years younger than him, and is the owner of F.U.I. - Funerária Unidos do Irajá -, a company that is almost bankrupt due to past mismanagement and which doesn't make enough money to support everyone in the house. To help out at home, Ruço's daughter Odete (Luma Costa) works producing adult content on internet sites for subscribers and is also the girlfriend of transsexual mechanic Tamanco (Mart'nália). The patriarch's youngest son, Alessanderson (Daniel Torres), doesn't care about working and wants a career in politics, being a braggart who manages to manipulate people in the neighborhood with false promises for the future. The family is completed by Darlene (Marília Pêra), Ruço's ex-wife, who struggles with alcohol dependence, and his best friend and confidant, who works as a make-up artist for a funeral home.
The house is also home to Bá (Niana Machado), Ruço's former nanny, who struggles with memory loss, which occasionally leads to challenging situations for the family, and Adenóide (Sabrina Korgut), a maid who always has a story of tragedy and poverty to tell. The funeral home is run by the gloomy handyman Juscelino (Alexandre Zacchia), a terrible driver who regularly ends up losing a body, and is the brother of the schizophrenic Luz Divina (Eliana Rocha), a woman who resorts to schemes to obtain money for her medication. The neighborhood is also home to the mechanic Marco (Maurício Xavier), Tamanco's brother who performs as a drag queen at night, Floriano (Rubens de Araújo), a grouchy and paranoid neighbor, and the barista twins Soninja (Karin Hils) and Giussandra (Karina Marthin), who are absolutely different and run a snack cart with creative names inspired by the funeral home, such as X-túmulo (X-tomb) and caixão-quente (hot-coffin).
In the third season, Dr. Zóltan (Diogo Vilela), a plastic surgeon with OCD, joins the cast, while in the fourth, Luiziane, Odete's stripper co-worker who gets involved with Alessanderson, and Men Fu (Chao Chen), a Chinese man who has an affair with Odete but falls in love with Adenóide.

## Cast
### Main roles

| Actor | Character | Season | Season | Season | Season | Season |
| Actor | Character | 1st 2013 | 2nd 2013 | 3rd 2014 | 4th 2015 | 5th 2016 |
| Miguel Falabella | Gedivan Pereira (Ruço) | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Marília Pêra | Darlene dos Santos | Main | Main | Guest | Main | Main |
| Lorena Comparato [pt] | Abigail de Jesus | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Daniel Torres | Alessanderson Pereira dos Santos | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Luma Costa | Odete Roitman Pereira dos Santos | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Mart'nália | Cristiane Oliveira (Tamanco) | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Alexandre Zacchia [pt] | Juscelino Jardim da Mata | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Eliana Rocha [pt] | Luz Divina Jardim da Mata | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Sabrina Korgut | Adenóide Cidreira Cipó | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Karin Hils | Soninja Torres Sampaio | Main | Main | Main | Does not appear | Main |
| Karina Marthin | Giussandra Torres Sampaio | | | | | |
| Maurício Xavier | Marco Antônio (Marcão / Markassa) | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Niana Machado | Isaura Silvino (Bá) | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Rubens de Araújo [pt] | Floriano | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Helady Araújo | Dircéia | Recurring character | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Gabriel Lima | Sermancino dos Santos Pereira | Guest | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Magno Bandarz [pt] | Clécio Pereira | Does not appear | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Marcelo Picchi [pt] | Legislator Arlindo Sebonetti | Recurring character | Recurring character | Main | Main | Main |
| Diogo Vilela [pt] | Dr. Zóltan Davidson de Jesus | Does not appear | Does not appear | Main | Main | Main |
| Laura Keller | Luiziane da Silva | Does not appear | Does not appear | Recurring character | Main | Main |

### Recurrent role

| Intérprete | Personagem | Temporadas | Temporadas | Temporadas | Temporadas | Temporadas |
| Intérprete | Personagem | 1ª 2013 | 2ª 2013 | 3ª 2014 | 4ª 2015 | 5ª 2016 |
| Eline Porto [pt] | Prínces | Recurring character | Does not appear | Does not appear | Does not appear | Does not appear |
| Ester Elias [pt] | Márcia Regina Sebonetti | Does not appear | Does not appear | Does not appear | Recurring character | Recurring character |
| Amauri Oliveira | Falsa Soninja | Does not appear | Does not appear | Does not appear | Recurring character | Does not appear |
| Maria Gladys | Drª. Elisabete Tazcanha | Does not appear | Does not appear | Does not appear | Does not appear | Recurring character |

### Special guests

| Intérprete | Personagem |
| Anna Luz | Dircéia (young) |
| Viétia Zangrandi | Maria de Lourdes (Lurdinha) |
| Laura Cardoso | Mozica Pereira |
| Ângela Dip [pt] | Vera Lúcia Pereira |
| Prazeres Barbosa [pt] | Nivalda |
| Júlio Rocha | Marcinho Azeitona |
| Andrea Dantas | Veridiana |
| Rodrigo Rangel [pt] | Horácio Pimenteira |
| Bernardo Mendes [pt] | Webson |
| Roberto Pirillo [pt] | Jurandir |
| Roney Facchini [pt] | Lourival |
| Larissa Cunha [pt] | Conan |
| Waldir Gozzi [pt] | Julinho Varejeira |
| Alessandra Maestrini | Hérnia Lopes Delfino / Rénner |
| Jarbas Homem de Mello [pt] | Detective Samir Nabucha |
| Stella Miranda [pt] | Jandira |
| Zezeh Barbosa | Paulina |
| Bia Nunnes | Maria Isabel |
| Cassiano Carneiro [pt] | Haroldinho |
| Marcos Breda [pt] | Mariozinho |
| Eliseu Carvalho | Zanata |
| Giovanna Antonelli | Her self / Priscila |
| Márcia Cabrita | Felícia |
| Ilvio Amaral | Legislator Mr Coisinha |
| Ricardo Graça Mello [pt] | Garnizé |
| Patrícia Bueno [pt] | Amarula |
| Alejandro Claveaux | Pablo |
| Fernando Benini [pt] | Ladislau Souza |
| Fátima Freire [pt] | Zaíra |
| Débora Olivieri [pt] | Elisinha/Jurema |
| Fafy Siqueira [pt] | Mrs Aracy |
| Cosme dos Santos [pt] | Rosalro |
| Carlo Briani [pt] | Alcides |
| Osvaldo Romano | Capitain Rodrigo |
| Thaís Portinho [pt] | Romilda |
| Liza Vieira [pt] | Doralice |
| Andréia Sorvetão [pt] | Quarentona Toda Boa (Sexy Old Lady) |
| Mary Sheila [pt] | Soninja (After Liposuction) |
| Lana Guelero [pt] | Pastora Jurema |
| Chico Diaz | Damasceno |
| Jane di Castro [pt] | Patrícia Swanson |
| Lumi Kin | Heleninha Wu (adult) |
| Rômulo Simões | Neymã (adult) |
| Malu Valle [pt] | Rivalda |
| Bethy Lagardère [pt] | Solange / Lange Wilson |
| Narjara Turetta [pt] | Jacira |
| Camila Amado [pt] | Ivonete |
| Denise Milfont [pt] | Rosa |
| Márcio Vito [pt] | Mário |
| Theresa Amayo | Ruço's client |
| Frederico Reuter [pt] | Ruço's client |
| Gláucia Rodrigues [pt] | Mrs. Lady |

## Seasons

| Season | Season | Episodes | Original Exhibition | Original Exhibition | Overall average |
| Season | Season | Episodes | Season premiere | Season finale | Overall average |
| | 1 | 22 | January 24, 2013 | June 20, 2013 | 14 |
| | 2 | 11 | October 1, 2013 | December 17, 2013 | 16 |
| | 3 | 14 | April 8, 2014 | July 8, 2014 | 15 |
| | 4 | 12 | September 29, 2015 | December 29, 2015 | 14 |
| | 5 | 12 | January 21, 2016 | April 7, 2016 | 14 |

## Spin-off

On the program's official website, there was a web series called Lembranças do Irajá (Memories of Irajá), where the main focus was on showing the past of the central characters.

## Rebroadcast

From January 10, 2019, to March 19, 2020, It was rebroadcast on Canal Viva.

## Reception
### Audience

The series premiered with an average of 17 points in São Paulo.

### Critical evaluation

Columnist Nilson Xavier of the UOL website praised the show, saying: "There's nothing like black humor to play with death and prejudice by taking a debauched and amusing look at human tragedy."

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Categorie | Nomination | Result |
| 2014 | Extra Television Awards [pt] | Best Comedy | | Nominated |
| 2013 | Extra Television Awards [pt] | Best Comedy | | Nominated |
| 2013 | Extra Television Awards [pt] | Best Costume Design | | Nominated |
| 2013 | Extra Television Awards [pt] | Best Make-Up | | Nominated |
| 2013 | Extra Television Awards [pt] | Most Promising Actress | Mart'nália | Nominated |

## Soundtrack

* "Pé na Cova" - Mart'nália (Opening theme)
* "Canto Para a Minha Morte" - Raul Seixas (General)
* "Mon Amour Meu Bem Ma Famme" - Reginaldo Rossi (Abigail's theme)
* "Eu Te Amo Meu Brasil" - Os Incríveis [pt]
* "Lábio que Beijei" - Orlando Silva
* "The Green Leaves Of Summer" - The Brothers Four