that damn thing has been pulling ratings for 25 years
Por 33 anos, as Videocassetadas acompanharam Fausto Silva como uma sombra fiel — da Globo à Band, do VHS ao viral —, testemunhando a forma como o brasileiro sempre encontrou humor no tropeço alheio. Agora, em fevereiro de 2023, a produção encerrou o quadro em silêncio, reconhecendo que o que um dia prendia multidões à televisão foi, aos poucos, engolido pelo próprio tempo que ajudou a preencher. É o fim de um formato que sobreviveu não por ser amado, mas por ser inevitável — e que agora cede espaço à segunda vida de um programa em busca de nova identidade.
- Após 33 anos no ar, as Videocassetadas foram retiradas da grade sem cerimônia, encerrando um dos quadros mais duradouros da televisão brasileira.
- A produção do Faustão na Band concluiu que o formato havia envelhecido e já não segurava audiência em um cenário televisivo radicalmente transformado.
- A concorrência interna pesou: O Perrengue, também da Band e construído sobre vídeos virais da internet, já domina as manhãs de domingo com três a quatro pontos de Ibope em São Paulo.
- Manter dois quadros minerando o mesmo filão de humor digital na mesma emissora tornou-se indefensável do ponto de vista estratégico.
- Com as gravações da temporada 2023 já iniciadas em 28 de fevereiro, o programa avança para uma reformulação cujo contorno ainda está por ser definido.
Fausto Silva encerrou as Videocassetadas em 2023, colocando fim a um quadro que o acompanhou desde a estreia do Domingão da Globo, em março de 1989, até sua chegada à Band em 2022. A decisão foi tomada durante o planejamento da nova temporada, com a produção concluindo que o formato havia se tornado ultrapassado e incapaz de reter audiência com a mesma força de antes.
O quadro já vinha perdendo espaço na grade no segundo semestre de 2022, aparecendo com menos frequência à medida que o programa se reorganizava. O golpe final veio de uma leitura pragmática: as Videocassetadas simplesmente não moviam mais o ponteiro do Ibope. Somava-se a isso a presença de O Perrengue, atração dominical da própria Band construída sobre vídeos virais da internet, que consistentemente marcava entre três e quatro pontos em São Paulo — tornando redundante manter dois formatos concorrentes na mesma emissora.
O quadro não nasceu no Brasil. A fórmula de flagrar pessoas comuns em situações inusitadas já havia sido explorada pela televisão americana nos anos 1980, e quando Faustão chegou à Globo, o segmento se encaixou naturalmente na era do videocassete doméstico. Por décadas, parte do material veio de produtoras estrangeiras; só em 2011 a Globo abriu o espaço para que os próprios telespectadores enviassem seus vídeos.
O próprio Faustão, em 2016, resumiu com franqueza a natureza do quadro: a Globo nunca gostou muito das Videocassetadas, mas não podia ignorar o que os números mostravam por 25 anos. O segmento funcionava não por ser querido, mas por ser confiável. Agora, com as gravações da temporada 2023 já em curso, o programa segue em frente — sem o quadro que por tanto tempo foi sua âncora invisível.
After three decades of home video mishaps, pratfalls, and animals behaving badly, Fausto Silva has decided the format has run its course. The Videocassetadas—the signature segment that followed him from the Globo studios in 1989 all the way to Band in 2022—will no longer air. The decision came as part of the network's planning for the 2023 season, a quiet acknowledgment that what once held audiences to their sets had become, in the eyes of his production team, simply outdated.
The segment had already begun to fade in the second half of 2022, appearing less frequently as the show's structure shifted and time slots compressed. But the formal end came this year, driven by a practical calculation: the quadro, as it's known in Brazilian television, no longer moved the needle on ratings the way it once did. The production understood it was time to move on, to give Faustão's program on Band a fresh shape in its second year of broadcast.
The timing of the decision also reflected a crowded landscape. Band itself airs another program built almost entirely on viral internet videos—O Perrengue, which has become the network's most-watched Sunday attraction, consistently pulling between three and four Ibope points in São Paulo. There was little reason to maintain two competing formats on the same network, both mining the same vein of digital humor.
The Videocassetadas did not originate in Brazil. American television had already discovered the formula in the 1980s: America's Funniest Home Videos, Candid Camera, Totally Hidden Video—all built on the same premise of ordinary people caught in extraordinary moments. When Fausto Silva arrived at Globo in March 1989 to launch the Domingão do Faustão, the segment fit perfectly into the emerging home video era. Much of what aired came from abroad; the American production company Vin Di Bona Productions supplied a steady stream of material through the 1980s and 1990s. By 2011, Globo opened the gates to viewers, inviting them to submit their own clips online. The segment had become a two-way street between broadcaster and audience.
Yet even Fausto himself seemed to understand the paradox at the heart of the format's longevity. In 2016, when the Risadaria festival in São Paulo honored him, he spoke candidly about the segment's appeal. Globo, he said, did not particularly like the Videocassetadas. But the network could not deny what the numbers showed: for twenty-five years, the format delivered. "People don't like it, but that damn thing has been pulling ratings for 25 years," he said. It was a frank admission that the segment worked not because it was beloved, but because it was reliable—a gravitational force that kept viewers watching.
Faustão began taping his 2023 season on Tuesday, February 28th, already moving ahead with the new shape of the program. The first day of work advanced the edit for the following week's broadcast. New episodes will resume the following Monday, March 6th. The Videocassetadas will not be among them. What replaces the segment, and whether the show itself finds the same audience pull without it, remains to be seen.
Citas Notables
People don't like it, but that damn thing has been pulling ratings for 25 years— Fausto Silva, speaking at the Risadaria festival in 2016
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did it take until 2023 to end something that Faustão himself admitted was working against audience taste?
Because it was working. For thirty-three years, it delivered ratings even if people said they didn't enjoy it. That's a powerful thing to let go of. You only kill something that reliable when you believe the audience has genuinely moved on—or when you have something else to fill the space.
Did Band push him to cancel it, or was this his choice?
The reporting suggests it was a mutual understanding between Faustão and his production team. They looked at the second half of 2022, saw the segment appearing less and less, and decided rather than let it limp along, they'd end it cleanly and rebuild the show around something fresher.
But Band has O Perrengue doing almost the same thing—viral videos, funny moments. Isn't that redundant?
Exactly. That's the real reason. Why have two segments on the same network mining the same material? O Perrengue is pulling three to four Ibope points. It's the network's strongest Sunday draw. Keeping Videocassetadas would just be cannibalizing your own audience.
So this is less about the format being tired and more about Band's business logic?
Both things are true. The format *is* tired—home video compilations are everywhere now, free on social media. But the business decision crystallizes it. You don't kill a thirty-three-year institution unless the math no longer works.
What does Faustão do now to hold an audience without that anchor?
That's the question Band is betting on. They're betting that Faustão himself is the draw, not the segment. Whether that's true will show up in the ratings starting March 6th.