TV in the Azores

I just saw An Officer and a Gentleman on TV in the Azores. I was going to write about the movie and how it introduced us all to what soon became the most over used wedding song ever (…okay, maybe not ever, but certainly if you went to any weddings in the ‘80s, there’s a good chance that the bride and groom’s first dance was to “Up Where We Belong.”), but instead, I thought I’d introduce you all to Azorean TV.

When I first started coming here as a child, my grandparents only had two channels—the local, Azorean channel, RTP, and another one from the mainland. Lucky for me, my grandpa recorded all the English movies he came across (hence my introduction to one of my all time favourites, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). Today my parents have cable with 36 channels—one of which is still the local RTP.

A good portion of channels are in English with Portuguese subtitles and are recognizable to us at home. There’s the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, the Turner Movie Classics Channel, and oddly, something called Fox Life. Fox Life showcases a lot of dramas and sitcoms including Desperate Housewives, the Ghost Whisperer, and How I Met Your Mother. I don’t mind having so many English channels to rely on. I don’t have cable at home, so it’s practically all new to me and the Portuguese channels are hard to follow since my language skills aren’t up to par.

The odd thing is that most of the shows that are in Portuguese are telenovelas. These are over the top soap operas with a story arc that lasts a season. They are on all the time. There are two that my parents like to watch at lunchtime. One has something to do with Brazilians in Italy and the mafia. A car blew up in one episode that was full of children. In the other, it’s olden times, the 1800’s I would guess. I have no idea what’s going on in it, but there were some courtroom scenes. I do like seeing the costumes they arrange. Then there's the one this images comes from. There are wolves, I guess. I kind of wish they had English subtitles so I could catch more.

Then there are other ones on at dinner time and late into the evening. The one my grandma likes to watch is on then and takes place in Lisbon with someone who’s got amnesia or something. Like I said, it’s hard for me to follow—but I’m sure you can throw your own plot line together. Just make sure there’s lots of intrigue and meaningful looks and embraces. Oh and throw some eavesdropping in.