To kafe tis Charas (Greek: Το καφέ της Χαράς lit. Joy's café) is a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
TV series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...
that broadcast on
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It laun ...
for three seasons from September 2003 to mid-2006, before being revived for a fourth and a fifth season since December 2019. The show was originally broadcast at 21:00
local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
immediately after ''
ANT1 NEWS'', while the fourth season was broadcast on Fridays at 21.45. Together with Romas' previous show
Konstantinou kai Elenis
''Konstantinou kai Elenis'' ( el, Κωνσταντίνου και Ελένης; en, Konstantino's and Eleni's) is a Greek TV sitcom broadcast on ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spel ...
, episodes of the first three seasons of Kafe tis Charas have been re-run almost daily since the end of the show's original run, making it one of the most popular and recognisable shows in the history of Greek television. The show is produced by
Kostas Lychnaras and written and directed by Charis Romas and Anna Chatzisofia. The show stars
Charis Romas (who also wrote and starred in ''
Mama Mia'', ''
Oi Men Kai Oi Den'' and ''
Konstantinou kai Elenis
''Konstantinou kai Elenis'' ( el, Κωνσταντίνου και Ελένης; en, Konstantino's and Eleni's) is a Greek TV sitcom broadcast on ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spel ...
'') as the ultraconservative mayor of a fictional village in
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
, who is obsessed with preventing Chara (lit. Joy) Chaska, an
Athenian
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
single mother, played by
Renia Louizidou, from opening a
café
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...
(the eponymous Kafe tis Charas) in his village. The series also stars
Joyce Eveidi, Vassilis Chalakatevakis, Kostas Flokatoulas, Christina Tsafou, Foteini Demiri, Haris Grigoropoulos, Stelios Goutis, Rania Ioannidou, Sofia Moutidou, Periklis Lianos, Dimitris Tsakalas, Hara/Chara Ismirou/Ismyrou, Dimitrios Macheras and Giannis Papathanasis.
Reruns of Kafe tis Charas were one of the first Greek programs to air with closed captioning for the hearing impaired. In August 2018, Haris Romas announced that "To Kafe tis Charas" will return for a 4th Season in 2020.
The new season premiered on
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
2019, to record ratings.,
and it ended on December 11, 2020.The success of 4th season lead to the production of one more season which premiered on January 15, 2021 and it consists of 20 episodes. The 5th season is the last season of the series.
Opening sequence
The instrumental opening of "Beautiful Eggs" by
Spike Jones
Lindley Armstrong "Spike" Jones (December 14, 1911 – May 1, 1965) was an American musician and bandleader specializing in spoof arrangements of popular songs and classical music. Ballads receiving the Jones treatment were punctuated with gun ...
serves as the opening and closing theme song in Seasons 1-3 and as the opening theme as of Season 4.
The original opening credits show photos of the cast as children inside children's drawings of the village's buildings (the town hall, Chara's cafe, the bakery etc.), while a drawing of a hot air balloon flies above. The Season 4 opening credits feature the same children's drawings (without the childhood photographs), transforming one by one into updated 3D cartoon renderings, with exception of Chara's cafe, which is shown burning down (reflecting the fourth season's central plot point).
For the show's return in 2019, a new closing theme called "Put on a coffee" (Βάλε ενά καφέ), was recorded by
Michalis Hatzigiannis
Michalis Hatzigiannis (Greek: Μιχάλης Χατζηγιάννης; born 5 November 1978) is a Greek-Cypriot singer, musician, and record producer. From 2000 to 2010, he received over 30 sales certifications in Greece, making him one of the ...
, with lyrics by
Haris Romas
Charis Romas or Haris Romas (Greek: Χάρης Ρώμας) is a Greece, Greek actor, screenwriter, and lyricist. He was born on 23 March 1960 in Piraeus as Haralambos Rassias (Χαράλαμπος Ρασσιάς). He is most well known for co-wr ...
, and was a released as a single to coincide with the premiere of Season 4.
Plot
The story begins in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, with Chara Chaska (
Renia Louizidou), a single mother who works at an advertising agency. When her boyfriend and fellow co-worker steals her ideas for a campaign and gets promoted instead of her, she decides to quit her job and move with her 10-year-old daughter Valia (Effie Rassia) to the remote mountain village of Kolokotronitsi (Κολοκοτρωνίτσι, named after
Theodoros Kolokotronis
Theodoros Kolokotronis ( el, Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης; 3 April 1770 – 4 February 1843) was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) against the Ottoman Empire. Kolokotronis's g ...
), in
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
, where she has just inherited some property.
Chara's hopes for a peaceful life away from the cutthroat environment of the big city are quickly dashed when she meets the village's traditionalist and misogynist mayor Periandros Popotas (Περίανδρος Πώποτας), who has a pathological hatred of everything "modern" and views the very presence of an Athenian woman with an illegitimate child in his village as a threat to his idyllic community's motto of "Order and Morality" (Τάξις και Ηθική). A British-educated folklorist with a mysterious past, Periandros lives with his ten-year-old son Emmanuel, who develops a crush on Valia, and their housekeeper Tasia.
Popotas is particularly outraged at Chara's plans to open a modern cafeteria (which she calls "To cafe tis Charas", literally "The cafe of joy", a pun on her name) and rallies the villagers to boycott her.
The first season focuses on Chara's struggle to open her café against Periandros' machinations and follows her slowly winning the villagers over to her side, culminating in her attempt to unseat Popotas at municipal elections in the penultimate episode. The second season explores the protagonists' backstories, through the arrival in the village of various characters from their past. The third season has Chara and Periandros develop feelings for each other, and follows their doomed efforts to find a way to live to together despite their deeply contrasting beliefs. Season 4, set 14 years after the third season's cliffhanger ending, follows a now adult Valia returning to the village to investigate the cafés destruction in a mysterious fire.
Other characters include Periandros' sister, Stavroula, her adulterous, lazy and linguistically challenged husband, Vangellis, who as the village's coffee house owner is also Chara's main competitor, the
village idiot
The village idiot in strict terms is a person locally known for ignorance or stupidity but is also a common term for a stereotypically silly or nonsensical person or stock character.
Description
The term "village idiot" is also used as a ster ...
Trelantonis whom Chara takes in, the bakers, Lefteris and Kanella, who have a long-running feud with the greengrocers, Tasos and Chaido over a
fig tree
''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending ...
(only to have their feud resolved when their children, Billy and Gogo get together and eventually marry), the village's priest Papa-Triantafyllos and his gossiping wife Marika and Aglaia, the wacky teacher who is madly in love with Periandros and fantasizes about marrying him.
About the village
The village features a square where its bakery, its greengrocers, its primary school and the city hall are all located. A number of neighboring villages are also mentioned many times in the series: Megalochori (lit. Big Village), the biggest village of the region, Ano and Kato Kremasta (lit. Upper and Lower Dangling) and Pera Rachoula.
Trivia
* The fictional village of Kolokotronitsi is portrayed by Karia village in
Argolis
Argolis or Argolida ( el, Αργολίδα , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula and part of the tri ...
in the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
* Effie Rassia, the actress who plays Chara's daughter Valia, is the niece of protagonist
Haris Romas
Charis Romas or Haris Romas (Greek: Χάρης Ρώμας) is a Greece, Greek actor, screenwriter, and lyricist. He was born on 23 March 1960 in Piraeus as Haralambos Rassias (Χαράλαμπος Ρασσιάς). He is most well known for co-wr ...
in real-life
* The scenes for the café were in fact shot in
Kallithea
Kallithea (Greek: Καλλιθέα, meaning "beautiful view") is a district of Athens and a municipality in south Athens regional unit. It is the eighth largest municipality in Greece (96,118 inhabitants, 2021 census) and the fourth biggest i ...
,
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
* The actor who plays Trelantonis, Charis Grigoropoulos is actually married to Foteini Demiri that plays Kanela
Music
The show features an eclectic soundtrack which makes heavy use of tracks from classic movies, as well as mid-20th century Greek and foreign hits and classical music. Alan Silvestri, Joaquin Rodrigo and Jon Brion play a lot through the series. For example, in a scene where Aglaia performs voodoo, in order to make Periandros fall in love with her,
Halloween (1978 movie) theme song plays in the background. A number of songs were also composed and recorded by various prominent Greek artists especially for the series, with lyrics written by Haris Romas.
Cast
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, 0384745, To kafe tis Charas
2003 Greek television series debuts
2006 Greek television series endings
2000s Greek television series
2010s Greek television series
2020s Greek television series
2019 Greek television series debuts
Greek-language television shows
ANT1 original programming
Greek comedy television series
Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic