Dream Fiction Wiki
Dream Fiction Wiki
Dream Fiction Wiki
44,460
pages
in: Television programs, Television program blocks, Programming blocks,
and 7 more

Lorena e Companhia

View source


Lorena e Comphania ("Lorena & Company") was a Portuguese children's television show produced by Telebom Porto in association with Kirschner Ibérica and aired on RTP2 from March 13, 2000 to December 31, 2003. Licensed by Magic World, the show makes use of characters from a few of the studio's then most successful cartoons as well as Kirschner's Gatarina and two original characters. The show was the brainchild of songwriter-composer and children's book author Lota Maria Simões, who was the wife of Telebom's president at the time.

Premise[]

The show revolved around Lorena (Wisteria from Sonnawood), Adel Fox, José (Joe from Joe's Real Weird School Life), Gatarina and original characters Luiz (an Iberian wolf) and Gonçalvo (a rooster), as they got into various different situations from which a lesson would be eventually learned by the characters (and by extension the audience). In addition to covering topics such as hygiene, manners, healthy eating and exercise, there were also episodes dealing with necessary communication for problem-solving (including negotiation and compromise) and dealing with one's own/identifying others' emotions.

There were also short comedy sketches (including commercials for fictional products) and musical numbers in-between episodes of the included television shows. Another popular feature was an educational segment on computers, which also acted as a vehicle to advertise games from semi-Magic World-owned game company Comportu SA.

Overall, the program was intended for kids aged 5 to 9, a "mid-point" between preschooler and tween, reflected in the inclusion of both educational and action/comedy cartoons and moral lessons/topics of interest during the show's puppet segments.

Characters[]

  • Lorena (Wisteria) - The titular protagonist of the show. Much like how she's depicted on Sonnawood, she is (occasionally foolish and fun-loving tendencies notwithstanding) wise and caring, opting to use encouragement rather than pushing a specific way to think or act on anyone else. That said, she knows when enough is enough and will scold her friends if they go too far with their negative habits or conflicts.
  • Adel Fox - One of Lorena's companions and the mischief-maker of the lot. He is very childlike and eager to be the center of attention but abides by a "variable moral compass" he himself has devised, to avoid letting his powers get out of hand (though he still can get cocky and mess up/pay the price as a consequence at times).
  • José (Joseph Benjamin Walker) - The only human character of the cast. He is a quirky and free-spirited boy with various odd habits, beliefs, likes and dislikes, alongside social obliviousness which tends to exacerbate or even kickstart conflicts between him and the others. Quite notably, he does not get along too well with Gatarina because of his ailurophobia.
  • Gatarina - A calico cat with a very kindhearted disposition and balanced childlike and mature sides. Even so, when situations get tough, she often turns to Lorena for advice or help in general. That being said, she has a mildly negative relationship of sorts with José, due to his fear and dislike of cats despite her attempts to be nice with everyone.
  • Luiz - An Iberian wolf who is very athletic and the one to encourage exercising and healthy eating habits from Lorena and the others. Even so, he tends to get overcompetitive and work himself to exhaustion because he (despite his intelligence) doesn't know when to quit until long after the fact.
  • Gonçalvo - A rooster and the only avian of the cast. Inspired by the Galo de Barcelos, he makes up for his generally arrogant nature by acting as mediator in conflicts to help solve them as justly as they should be. Moreover, whoever is learning their lesson after his intervention tends to receive good luck as a result.

Shows included[]

Broadcast[]

The show ran twice on weekdays, in the mornings at 7:15-8:15 AM and again in the late afternoons/early evenings at 5-6 PM, for one hour without ad breaks (as was standard with RTP2 programming). It also aired on Saturday mornings at 8:30-10:30 AM.

Every year during the show's run, three-hour Christmas specials were shown on RTP2, containing specials based on the cartoons featured along with a plotline and musical interludes featuring the show's main cast.

Reception[]

The show turned out to be successful amongst Portuguese youths and parents alike, despite that RTP channels had a lower audience compared to private commercial networks SIC and TVI. This was helped largely by the semi-educational nature of the program alongside merchandising and other forms of promotion, such as live shows and school tours across the country.

When the show ended on New Years' Eve of 2003, many young fans wrote in with letters (and in some cases petitions collecting their peers' signatures) and wanted the show to return but the rebranding of RTP2 as 2: and the launch of Zig Zag in its place early the following year prevented this from happening.

Musical[]

In 2002, the stage musical Lorena Contra os Mestres do Medo toured throughout Portugal. Adapted from the 2001 Argentine-Uruguayan musical Los Dibujéroes, it tells a crossover narrative in which Lorena and her companions join forces with protagonists from cartoons/anime featured on the program to stop a group of villains from planning to control the world with fear.

Merchandise[]

Computer and web icons-12-512 This article/section is under construction.
Please excuse its informal appearance while it is being worked on. We hope to have it completed as soon as possible. As usual, do not edit this page without the owner's permission unless you are correcting spelling and/or grammatical errors.

Due to the show's popularity, a wave of merchandise was made available, including items such as pencils, backpacks, lunchboxes, plush toys, figurines, bath/beach towels, and CD albums. These were most prominently featured in advertising for the Continente chain of hypermarkets nationwide, alongside sponsoring the program itself.

Additionally, books featuring the characters in different situations were written by Simões herself and published by Kirschner Ibérica, well into 2007 after the program had ended its run, alongside sticker albums and colouring books from the same publisher.

The Portuguese branch of Nestlé also released multimedia CD-ROMs (including Magic World-related discs from developers such as BUGS Programmers AB and Kirschnersoft) distributed and sometimes also developed by Comportu SA inside packages of breakfast cereals at various times during 2001 and 2002, also in conjunction with brands with whom Magic World had connections.

Albums[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.