The old model of lifetime commitment is becoming a choice rather than an inevitability
Em um momento em que o streaming reescreve as regras do entretenimento, a Globo ensaia sua maior aposta dramática dos últimos anos com o remake do Pantanal — e as tensões internas que emergem revelam algo mais profundo do que um simples desentendimento criativo. O choque entre o diretor Rogério Gomes e o chefe de entretenimento Ricardo Waddington, às vésperas da estreia prevista para março de 2022, é também um choque entre duas visões do que a televisão brasileira deve ser e a quem pertence a última palavra sobre a arte.
- Papinha e Waddington travam embates acalorados sobre decisões artísticas que o diretor considera exclusivamente suas, criando um clima de tensão que já vazou para fora dos bastidores.
- A ausência de um intermediário entre a liderança executiva e os criadores deixa o departamento dramático à deriva, com mágoas acumuladas e confiança em erosão desde a saída de Silvio de Abreu.
- Em conversas privadas, Gomes admite o desejo de trabalhar fora da Globo, ecoando uma fuga de talentos que já levou diretores e atores para plataformas de streaming com contratos mais curtos e pagamentos em dólar.
- O Pantanal estreia em março de 2022 no horário das nove — o espaço mais valioso da grade — carregando a missão de reverter a queda de audiência e provar que a nova gestão dramática da emissora é capaz de entregar.
Nos bastidores da Globo, a produção do remake do Pantanal — previsto para estrear em março de 2022 como âncora do horário nobre — tornou-se palco de um conflito que vai além de duas personalidades em rota de colisão. O diretor Rogério Gomes, o Papinha, veterano de 42 anos na emissora e filho do primeiro apresentador do Jornal Nacional, defende uma linguagem clássica de telenovela. Ricardo Waddington, chefe de entretenimento, quer algo mais ousado. Os desentendimentos já geraram discussões abertas, e Gomes sente que sua autonomia artística está sendo invadida.
O que torna o conflito mais grave é o vácuo institucional ao redor dele. Waddington não conta com a simpatia dos diretores e autores do departamento dramático, e ninguém ocupa o papel de ponte entre a liderança executiva e os criadores — papel que existia na gestão anterior de Silvio de Abreu. O resultado é um departamento desconectado, onde o atrito se acumula sem válvula de escape.
Em paralelo, Gomes observa colegas migrarem para o streaming, atraídos por contratos mais curtos, menos desgaste e remuneração em moeda estrangeira. Ele próprio confidencia a amigos o desejo de trabalhar fora da Globo — sem ter pedido formalmente a saída.
O Pantanal, escrito por Bruno Luperi a partir do original de Benedito Ruy Barbosa, tem elenco robusto e produção já em andamento. Mas o que está em jogo ultrapassa a novela: é um teste sobre se a nova gestão consegue reter talentos, equilibrar controle institucional e liberdade criativa, e se o modelo tradicional de televisão brasileira ainda tem fôlego diante de um mundo que oferece outras escolhas.
Behind the scenes at Globo, the machinery of one of Brazil's most anticipated television productions is grinding against itself. Director Rogério Gomes and Ricardo Waddington, the network's entertainment chief, have begun to clash over Pantanal, the remake of the 1980s Manchete telenovela that will premiere in March 2022 as Globo's prime-time anchor. The tension has exposed a deeper fracture running through the drama department—one that speaks to larger questions about what Brazilian television should be, and who gets to decide.
The stakes surrounding Pantanal are unusually high. This is the first major drama project greenlit under Globo's new leadership structure, and the network is determined to get it right. The story, written by Bruno Luperi and based on Benedito Ruy Barbosa's original screenplay, carries the weight of institutional expectation. Globo wants perfection across every dimension—technical, narrative, artistic. That kind of pressure tends to expose fault lines.
Gomes, known as Papinha, has been at Globo for forty-two years, since 1980. He is the son of Hilton Gomes, who was the first anchor of Jornal Nacional alongside Cid Moreira. He brings to the role a particular sensibility: technical precision married to classical telenovela language. Waddington, by contrast, is pushing for something bolder, more daring. According to multiple sources, Gomes has grown uncomfortable with what he sees as Waddington's interference in both the production process and the artistic decisions that should belong to the director. The disagreements have been heated enough to produce real arguments, though Gomes has not formally requested a departure.
But something else is happening beneath the surface. Gomes has been telling friends in private conversations that he wants to work outside Globo. He has watched other directors leave—Pedro Vasconcellos departed earlier in the year to pursue shorter projects and a better quality of life. He has seen actors and writers migrate to streaming platforms, where contracts are shorter, production is less grueling, and payment often comes in dollars. The calculus is shifting. The old model of lifetime commitment to a single network is beginning to feel like a choice rather than an inevitability.
The problem runs deeper than one conflict between two men. Waddington is not a popular figure among the directors and writers who work in Globo's drama department. There is no one serving as a bridge between the creative talent and the executive leadership—no intermediary handling the daily friction that inevitably arises. Under the previous management of Silvio de Abreu, that relationship was warmer, more collaborative. José Luiz Villamarim, the current head of the drama nucleus and technically Waddington's subordinate, has not filled that role. The result is a department that feels disconnected from its leadership, where grievances accumulate and trust erodes.
Pantanal itself is a substantial production. The cast includes Alanis Guillen as Juma Marruá, alongside Renato Goés, Bruna Linzmeyer, Juliana Paes, Osmar Prado, Dira Paes, Juliano Cazarré, José Loreto, Debora Bloch, Murilo Benício, Julia Dalavia, and Gabriel Sater. Much of the script is already written. The show will begin production on March 14 and run through September, occupying the nine o'clock slot—the network's most valuable real estate. The mission is clear and difficult: reverse the declining ratings that have plagued prime time.
What unfolds over the coming months will matter beyond this single production. Pantanal is a test of whether Globo's new drama leadership can hold its talent, whether it can balance artistic ambition with institutional control, and whether the old model of Brazilian television production can survive in an era when streaming offers a different kind of freedom. The remake of a forty-year-old story has become a referendum on the present.
Citações Notáveis
Gomes has been telling friends in private conversations that he wants to work outside Globo— Multiple sources cited in reporting
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter that Gomes and Waddington disagree about how bold the show should be? Isn't that just normal creative tension?
It would be, except Waddington isn't just offering notes—he's inserting himself into decisions that traditionally belong to the director. And Gomes has no one to talk to about it. There's no buffer.
So the real problem is structural, not personal.
Exactly. Under the old regime, there was someone in the middle who could translate between the executive vision and the creative one. Now there's silence, and silence breeds resentment.
And Gomes is thinking about leaving?
He's been at Globo for forty-two years. But he's watching people go to streaming, watching them work shorter hours for better pay. He's telling friends he wants out. That's not nothing.
Does Waddington know?
Probably not directly. But everyone else does. And that's the real danger—when the leadership doesn't realize it's losing people until they're already gone.