Characters
Carlos Augusto "Caco" Antibes
(played by Miguel Falabella)
A snotty husband to Magda, he was embarrassed by his wife's stupidity and liked to berate her. Despite that, both were a loving couple, despite the marriage occurring because Cassandra wanted to take advantage of the Antibes' money. Despite being lazy and hating work, Caco liked to spend money, preferably that of other people. Caco was indulgent and egotistical, frequently comparing himself as "a Danish prince", while also hating poor people. Falabella also played Caco's mother, Dona Caca, an equally arrogant woman from Minas Gerais with a heavy caipira accent.
Falabella had a tradition to ad lib, and even at times acknowledge he was forgetting the script. Frequent themes included phoney English sentences, stories on how pathetic the lifestyle of the poor is, and hazing Cassandra, at times with allusions to Aracy Balabanian's career.
In the revival, it is explained that Caco spent 11 years in a Danish prison before being deported.
Catchphrases: "Cala a boca, Magda !" (Shut up, Magda!) / "Eu tenho horror a pobre!" (I hate poor people!) / "Sou quase um príncipe Dinamarquês" (I'm almost a Danish prince!) / "Vamos fazer o Canguru Perneta!" (Let's do the "one-legged Kangaroo"!) / "Sai fora, cabeção dos infernos!!" (Get outta here, giant head from hell! — spoken to Cassandra whenever he was fed up with her) / Vai, toma teu rumo (Go, walk to your way - spoken to Ribamar) / "Surucucu de cabelo laquêado" (Bushmaster with laker hairs - spoken to Cassandra)
Magda Salão Antibes
(Played by Marisa Orth)
The lustful and stupid wife of Caco. The character was marked by an abysmal ignorance and complete lack of connection with reality, with frequent malapropisms and nonsensical behaviour. Magda and Caco also had a heightened sexual appetite, with their favorite sexual position being one they called the "one-legged Kangaroo".
In 1998, during the third season, Marisa Orth got pregnant, and the producers decided to write her pregnancy within the show. During Orth's maternity leave, Magda's absence was explained with her going to a clinic in order to have the baby away from the craziness of the family.
In the revival, Magda declares that after being deported from Denmark as Caco remained in prison, she lived for eleven years in Congonhas Airport because she did not know that could leave.
Catchphrase: "Num tô intendendu..." (I don't get it—misspoken) / "Caquinhooo!".
Caquinho
(played by Lucas Hornos/Rafael Canedo (2019 movie)
Magda and Caco's son, originating from Marisa Orth's pregnancy. Originally portrayed by an animatronic baby which Falabella liked to mock, eventually it was changed to a child actor, 8-year old Lucas Hornos. The sudden aging of the character was not explained aside from the characters doing eight birthday parties in a row so as to not confuse Magda.
The new child character, however, created trouble with the Brazilian Child Protection Justice, which thought that the heavy, sexually charged dialogue of the show was not suited for a child to participate, since the boy would have to participate at the "level" of the others. Finally, a judge ruled that the child could not participate in the program (which was consistent with the ban established by the network itself that kept children from being in the audience). The producers made a radical decision: the character was eliminated after only a few episodes, with the excuse of being sent to a boarding school, from whence he never returned, nor was ever mentioned again.
The doll and Hornos combined gave Caco Jr. a run of a little over one full season.
Wanderley "Vavá" Mathias
(Played by Luís Gustavo)
The owner of the apartment, a business man with various companies - at first, travel agency Vavatur. His life changes when his sister Cassandra, his niece Magda and her husband, Caco, move in with him. He was forced to take the family in because his sister reveals that the deed to the apartment, which had been inherited by Vavá, was actually splitting the property 50% with her. He and Aracy Balabanian were the only cast members to have appeared in every episode of the show.
Like Gustavo, Vavá was shown as a fan of the São Paulo FC, with the character's entrance beginning in November 2000 being accompanied by the first lines of the club's anthem. Falabella replied by having Caco's entrance punctuated by the anthem of his team, CR Vasco da Gama.
In the revival, Vavá explains that spent the previous 11 years in an Amazon rainforest expedition.
Catchphrase: "Aqui, Farroupilha!" (a made-up insult, could be translated as "no way, Jose").
Cassandra Mathias Salão
(Played by Aracy Balabanian)
A decadent socialite, who decides to move in with her brother Vavá along with daughter Magda and son-in-law Caco once she found out that her recently deceased brigadier husband had left her no pension. She hated her son-in-law Caco despite introducing him to Magda, but was as resentful as he when it came to her present financial situation, being capable of reproachable actions if it meant that she could make some money out of it.
The actress's particular hairdo inspired a recurrent joke about the amounts of lacquer that her character would use. Falabella constantly teased her about it, as well as her dresses, and a supposed lewd behavior.
Starting in 2000, Cassandra's entrance was punctuated with Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance".
The revival had Cassandra returning to Arouche after 11 years living with a cheapskate aunt who treated her like a maid.
Catchphrase: "Já pra cozinha!" (To the kitchen, now! — spoken to the maid whenever she got angry at her, usually followed by the name of the maid, which varied throughout the show)
Ribamar
(played by Tom Cavalcante)
The pesky doorman, an immigrant from Ceará. He frequently wore National Hockey League jerseys, in a parody of the hip hop wear. Ribamar dated Edileuza and Neide, with Caco expressing his disgust to the idea of "poor people procreating".
In 1999, amidst fights with the writers and other members of the cast, Tom Cavalcante left the show in mid-season. Scripts already written reassigned Ribamar's scenes to other characters of the cast, and later gave the position of doorman of the apartment building by a recently introduced new character, Ataíde.
Catchphrases: "É ripa na chulipa!" (a common Brazilian phrase, meaning something like "it's on!") / "Magoei..." (something like "My feeling are hurt", said when someone scolded him, and usually followed by a sad face expression commonly known in Brazil as beicinho)
Pereira
(played by Ary Fontoura)
A cheapskate executive who became infatuated with Cassandra Salão. The character was introduced in 2000, as the owner of the Cafe at the ground floor of the apartment building. He only lasted one season as Fontoura did not renew his contract to work in Porto dos Milagres.[5]
Ataíde
(played by Luiz Carlos Tourinho)
Originally the lackey of Pereira who liked to fawn over his boss, eventually he became Arouche Tower's doorman. Ataíde was often mocked for both his height and virginity, solved as he started dating Sirene.
The Maids
The maids were a chapter aside in the history of the show. The original idea called for there to be one maid working at the apartment. This concept was never abandoned by the writers, who, despite all the problems, insisted on having a maid as part of the ensemble.
In Brazil, it was common for middle class families to be able to afford the help of a maid full-time. This employee will sometimes even sleep at the job, and that was the excuse of the maid of the show to be present in the apartment at all times. The presence of this character was in keeping with Brazilian social structures. Furthermore, all of the characters received names that would be considered "typical of a maid" in the Brazilian middle class imaginary. This could be considered as a certain bias in the show, but it was fully acceptable because its bulk material came from an acid criticism of the Brazilian middle class culture (and how this segment of Brazilian society views the rest of the country and the world).
Four different actresses had the job throughout the show, due to several problems and complications. What follows is a list of them all, in chronological order of participation.
Edileuza
(played by Cláudia Jimenez)
Edileuza was the maid for the show's first season. The character was sassy, often speaking her mind freely to her direct employer, Vavá, and telling the others to their faces how much she disliked them. Whenever she got fired by one of the family members (which was rather frequent), she would respond that they could not fire her, since Vavá was the one who paid her salary and thus had the authority to dismiss her. There would be no repercussions to those "dismissal attempts", which many argue to have been possible because of the show's little commitment to reality. Although the character dated the doorman Ribamar, Jimenez had a strong chemistry with Falabella, who played Caco, and funny, sexual innuendos between the two were common, as well as the exchange of insults between the characters, as Edileuza would rebuke Caco for his dishonesty and he would tease her for being poor and a maid.
Jimenez left the show in 1997 after a huge fight with show runner Cláudio Paiva.
Catchphrase: "Ah, meu Deus!" (Oh my God! — spoken with dismay and often at the telephone, with the audience having no idea of what she would be hearing from the other side) / "Dona Casseta" (Mra. Casseta - spoken to Cassandra)
Lucinete
(played by Ilana Kaplan)
Kaplan was chosen to play the maid Lucinete and replace Edileuza after Jimenez's departure in 1997. Despite working on four episodes, the character was considered so out of sync with the rest of the cast that the decision was made to discard her only two days after the first episode with Kaplan had aired. The character's departure was never explained (as it was common when radical changes were made in the show).
Neide Aparecida
(played by Márcia Cabrita)
A heavily sexualized and at times ignorant maid, introduced in 1997. While at first Neide dated Ribamar, once the doorman left, the writers gave Neide a fiancé, a macho Army sergeant who was nicknamed "Mangalarga" (played by Ernani Moraes). Mangalarga was dropped once Neide discovered he was already married.
In October 2000, it was announced that Cabrita was pregnant and that her character would be temporarily replaced. The maid's pregnancy was written in as it could not be disguised, but never fully explained.
Neide was the catalyzer for 2013 revival, using a fortune gained by suing former bosses due to the new rights provided by a Constitutional amendment regarding maid rights to buy the Arouche apartment and bring back Vavá and his family. Eventually Caco swindles her out of the apartment's possession.
Actress Márcia Cabrita died in 2017.
Sirene
(played by Cláudia Rodrigues)
The fourth and final maid of the show, Cirene was a spitfire short woman which in reply to Caco's stories about the poor would start complaining about rich people. She dated Ataíde.
Every time she entered, a Brazilian northeast jingle would play, stopping only when ordered by Cirene herself. A running gag in those occasions was the brief repetition of the music when Cirene started to walk, frequently making her scold the sound operator.
