The soap opera began in 1995, and was initially set in a fictional Gym Club called Malhação on Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.
The series has been broadcast in several countries by Globo Internacional, including SIC (between 1995 and 2007, airing with the name "New Wave") in Portugal and by ABC Spark in Canada.
[4] The series had been renewed for a twenty-eighth season titled Malhação: Transformação, written by Márcia Prates and Priscila Steinman, which also had its production suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic and postponed to 2021.
[5] Transformação was eventually scrapped and replaced by Malhação: Eu Quero é Ser Feliz written by Eduardo and Marcos Carvalho, until the series was cancelled altogether.
[6] Malhação revolves around the everyday life of teenagers, their conflicts, including school, friends, families, and especially their relationships, which occupy the central focus of all the seasons.