Pé na Cova

Although the apparent backdrop of the series is death,^[7][8][9] Miguel Falabella said that, in fact, its backdrop "is the great tragedy of national education."^[8] 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".^[7]

The author said that although the plot deals with controversial issues, the text "borders on ‘nonsense’."^[9] 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.^[7] 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".^[9]

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",^[7] but which, according to him, does exist. Falabella also said that he thought of them as an "Addams Family from Irajá."^[10]

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."^[11]

In the third season, which began on 8 April 2014, Marília Pêra left the series due to a health problem.^[12][13][14] On 11 June, she returned to recording the series.^[15] During the airing of the fourth season, the actress, who played the character Darlene, died on 5 December 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 7 April 2016. Despite the actress's death, she had already left one more season recorded.^[16]

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.^[7][8]

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,^[22] and Men Fu (Chao Chen), a Chinese man who has an affair with Odete but falls in love with Adenóide.

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.^[27]

From 10 January 2019, to 19 March 2020, It was rebroadcast on Canal Viva.^[28]

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

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