In the last decade the production of national audiovisual fiction has undergone profound seizures, with expression in the primetime of the main portuguese televisions. Starting from these changes but also from the fact that television is the primary mean of access to culture products of the portuguese population, in clear detriment of other mechanisms, we developed a critical analysis, from the marxist paradigm, to the national fiction, with a analysis of serials in prime-time emitted in an open channel, TVI, and a questionnaire to a sample of the population. We tried to understand social representations, as well as surreptitious ways of exercising power and domination from a particular ideology. We conclude, among other aspects, that there is a mismatch between the way as serials are perceived and what they actually transmit to its large audience, while we confirmed the centrality of television entertainment in portuguese society.Na última década a produção de ficção audiovisual nacional tem sofrido profundas convulsões, com expressão no prime-time das principais cadeias televisivas generalistas portuguesas. Partindo destas transformações mas também do fato da televisão ser o principal meio de acesso a bens de consumo cultural da população portuguesa, em claro detrimento de outros mecanismos, desenvolveu-se uma análise crítica, a partir do paradigma marxista, à ficção nacional, com uma análise das telenovelas emitidas em prime-time num dos canais abertos, a Televisão Independente (TVI), e um questionário a uma amostra da população. Procurámos desta forma apreender as representações sociais, assim como formas sub-reptícias de exercício do poder e de dominação a partir de uma determinada ideologia. Concluímos, entre outros aspetos, que se verifica um desajustamento entre o modo como as telenovelas são percecionadas e o que efetivamente estas transmitem à sua vasta audiência, ao mesmo tempo que confirmámos a centralidade do entretenimento televisivo na sociedade portuguesa.In the last decade the production of national audiovisual fiction has undergone profound seizures, with expression in the primetime of the main portuguese televisions. Starting from these changes but also from the fact that television is the primary mean of access to culture products of the portuguese population, in clear detriment of other mechanisms, we developed a critical analysis, from the marxist paradigm, to the national fiction, with a analysis of serials in prime-time emitted in an open channel, TVI, and a questionnaire to a sample of the population. We tried to understand social representations, as well as surreptitious ways of exercising power and domination from a particular ideology. We conclude, among other aspects, that there is a mismatch between the way as serials are perceived and what they actually transmit to its large audience, while we confirmed the centrality of television entertainment in portuguese society.