The Guide #211: What the world is watching, from Brazilian telenovelas to superheroes made of red bean paste

<p>In this week’s newsletter: Guardian writers spotlight the much-loved shows in the country they live, including Jamaican breakfast telly, Big Brother Naija and X Factor for Polish pianists</p><p>A little while ago the Guide looked at the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/aug/15/localised-dystopian-tv-shows-are-captivating-global-audiences-im-all-in">wave of international post-apocalyptic dramas </a>washing up on our shores, bringing tales of climate catastrophe, violent autocracy and alien invasions from as far afield as Argentina, Nigeria and Korea. As well as revealing just how terrified the whole world is of the prospect of institutional collapse, it also – somewhat more positively – underscored what a globally connected industry TV is in 2025. Streaming networks, satellite channels, YouTube and hooky pirate streams can instantly serve up local content from every continent (Antartica excepted, though I’d love to hear if there’s a penguin mob drama from King George Island that I’ve missed).</p><p>Still, as intermingled as TV is these days, there are still so many programmes that will probably never reach our shores despite being absolutely massive with their domestic audiences. So this week we wanted to shine a light on those shows by asking some of the Guardian’s foreign correspondents and contributors what people are watching in the countries they cover. Read on for tales of Jamaican breakfast telly, Brazilian telenovelas and Japanese red bean paste-based superheroes.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/oct/03/what-the-world-is-watching-tv-big-brother-naija-brazilian-telenovelas">Continue reading...</a>