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A telenovela is the term used to describe limited-run television serials and is derived from the terms tele short for television and novela ("novel"). In spite of their many differences, telenovelas are in ways, soap operas in mini-series format with an origin in Spanish and Portuguese broadcasting. While most English-language soap operas can potentially continue indefinitely - often only concluding when the show had been cancelled by its producers for business reasons such as declining ratings - most telenovelas run for a pre-determined duration, but there are some long-running exceptions. Spanish-language prime time serials, or telenovelas, are produced in all Spanish-speaking countries, Brazil (Portuguese-speaking country, where they are called just novelas), Portugal and the United States. Portuguese-language novelas made in Brazil are also dubbed into Spanish for the Latin American market. They are usually aired during prime time. The first drama serials were first produced in Brazil, Cuba and Mexico with Sua vida me pertence ("Your life belongs to me", Brazil, 1950) showing twice a week, Senderos de amor ("Love paths", Cuba, 1951) and Ángeles de la calle ("Angels from the street", Mexico 1951) which was shown once a week. Mexico produced its first drama serial in the modern Telenovela format of Monday through Friday showing between 1957 and 1958 called Senda prohibida ("Forbidden path") of Fernanda Villeli and Brazil in 1963 with 2-5499 Ocupado ("2-5499 busy"). Venezuela produced its first telenovela in 1954 titled La criada de la granja ("The farmer's servant"). Puerto Rico produced its first telenovela in 1955 titled Ante la ley ("Before the law"). The first Colombian telenovela was El 0597 está ocupado ("Extension 0597 is busy", 1959). Peru produced its first telenovela in 1959 titled Bar Cristal ("Cristal Bar") and Panamá did so with En la esquina del Infierno ("On Hell's corner") in 1964. The first telenovela viewed in different countries was Simplemente María ("Simply Mary", Perú, 1969) The first global telenovela was Los ricos también lloran ("The rich cry too", Mexico, 1979) and was exported to Russia, China, United States, etc. A great success was also experienced with the Brazilian production Escrava Isaura ("The Slave Isaura", 1976), because it was watched by 450 million people in China, and actress Lucélia Santos became one of the more famous personalities in that country. Currently, the most famous telenovelas have come from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. In Spain they are also called culebrón ("long snake") because of the convoluted plots and large number of episodes, of which the standard is 180. One of the most common complaints are that telenovelas are not representative of the actual racial makeup of the country where they are produced. Most telenovelas, no matter where they are from, tend to have white, blond, blue-eyed stars. Whenever an "ethnic" looking person appears, usually they are of lower class and hold jobs such as janitors, reserving all the higher-class jobs for the lightest-skinned actors. Worldwide appeal Telenovelas are not only immensely popular in Hispanic America, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and in Hispanic communities in the United States, but also have a wide following in Russia, Eastern Europe, France,the Philippines, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, South Korea, and Japan as well. In Argentina, they are usually produced by Telefe, Ideas del Sur and Pol-ka; in Brazil, usually by Rede Globo, SBT, TV Record or Bandeirantes; in Chile by TVN and Canal 13; in Colombia by Caracol TV, RTI Colombia, or RCN TV; in Venezuela by Venevision or Radio Caracas Television; and in Puerto Rico, they were produced by WAPA-TV or Telemundo Puerto Rico. In the United States, Telemundo and Univision, mostly importers of Latin American telenovelas, have started producing telenovelas with Latin American casts and, in the case of Telemundo, Mexican producers Argos Comunicación. In Mexico telenovelas are produced by the two main networks Televisa, which is the largest producer and exporter of Telenovelas and Spanish-language media, TV Azteca, and by the independent company Argos Comunicación; these telenovelas are more traditional and one of the four main types is the stereotypical aimed at the working class, which explains their worldwide popularity—they are easy to understand and appropriate family viewing. The plots are often based on stories about a poor girl who falls in love with a rich man whose family spurns her. Four telenovelas are shown on Mexico's most-watched channel alone. Another type of telenovelas in Mexico are "era telenovela" and based on the early 20th century or before, during the colonial period (Martín Garatuza), the independence (El carruaje), the late 1800s (El vuelo del águila) and the revolution (Bodas de odio). A third type of telenovelas started with (Quinceañera) in the late 1980s, this is the "teen telenovela" which portrays the lives of high-school teenagers and their issues with sex, drugs and other coming-of age topics. The fourth type is the "musical telenovela" which portrays the lives of aspiring musicians such as in Alcanzar una estrella and its sequel Alcanzar una estrella II and the new batch of Rebelde telenovelas, which started with Rebelde Way in Argentina and have licenced copies in many other countries, including Israel. Brazil's novelas are both more racy and apt to broach controversial subjects—many Brazilians can relate, because of the novelas realistic depiction of the middle class, working class and upper class. Brazilian productions are the most expensively produced in Latin America. A teenage novela, Malhação ("Working Out") is the longest-running novela in Brazil. Novelas usually last 8 months at most in Brazil, but Malhação has been on the air since 1995. Four novelas are shown on Globo, Brazil's leading channel. Venezuelan, Peruvian and Peruvian-Venezuelan co-productions are watched all over the world and have been dubbed into Russian, Greek, Filipino, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Arabic, among other languages. Puerto Rico no longer produces telenovelas, although there are negotiations to reopen production there. One of the new productions is going to be called Dueña y señora which will be co-produced with Venevision Internacional and a 90% Puerto Rican cast. Telenovelas are the most-watched shows in Latin America and are the top-rated shows in all Latin-American countries. Each telenovela runs 30, 60 or 90 minutes per episode. The most-widely marketed telenovelas are Televisa's, from Mexico, followed by Globo's from Brazil. They are more popular worldwide than American, British and Australian soap operas combined, keeping in mind that they are more vastly produced. United States In the United States, the telenovela concept has been adapted into English, with ABC turning Betty La Fea into a dramedy titled "Ugly Betty," which already has become a major hit in the Fall 2006-2007 TV season lineup as a weekly series, while MyNetworkTV, an upstart network being launched by News Corporation, has turned two popular telenovelas, Desire and Fashion House (formerly Secrets), into English after the network's launch on September 5, 2006. Outside of the US both Desire and Fashion House also debuted on Canada (on CKXT/Toronto) the same week as the US premiere, with Australian cable television picking the shows up on October 2 of that same year. Despite a high profile marketing campaign, the ratings for both shows have not lived up to expectations, but since the two shows are telenovelas, MyNetworkTV is expected to stick with the genre and already have several more shows scheduled in the future. However, Ugly Betty has already proven to be a success story, having raked in a average of 14 million viewers per week and placing among the top 20 in the Nielsens since the series' debut on September 28, 2006. Betty's success can be atributed to positive reviews, a grass-roots campaign, test marketing of the series' pilot and targeting the hispanic community, including the fans of Betty La Fea. Like Desire and Fashion House they too are also seen in Canada (on Citytv) and is expected to debut on Australia' Seven Network in 2007. Other countries that are adding Betty to their TV schedule between now and 2007 includes Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Singapore, The Philippines, and Ireland. The sudden interest in telenovelas among the major TV networks can be attributed to the appeal and successful ratings of this genre, which has beaten several popular English-language shows on each of the major networks. The networks also see this as a way to attract the fast-growing Hispanic population, most notably the female sector of this demographic. In addition, telenovelas break the traditional United States television format, where a show runs for 20-25 episodes a season, once a week. Telenovela World Summit The Third World Summit of the Telenovela and Fiction Industry ("3ra. Cumbre Mundial de la Industria de la Telenovela y la Ficción") will be held in Madrid, Spain on October 13th and 14th with the participation, for the first time, of Televisa, the Other countries attending the conference are Argentina, Brazil, China, Croatia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Syria, Turkey, United States, Venezuela. Awards The most important Telenovela award show is hosted by the Televisa TVyNovelas magazine in Mexico and the one presented by Contigo in Brasil. TVyNovelas also has editions in Chile, Puerto Rico, United States and Contigo has an edition in Chile. The technical difference The standard American, UK, or Australian soap opera is invariably designed to theoretically continue indefinitely, and indeed sometimes do endure for decades, with an ever-rotating cast of players and characters. However, most Latin American telenovelas have an average run of eight months to a year. The show's duration is pre-planned at the show's inception, with the overall story-arc and conclusion also known by the show's makers at its inception. Mundo de Juguete is the exception to the rule, with a total of 605 chapters (1974–1977), and a few cast changes within the course of the serial. Some earlier Argentine telenovelas (most of them penned by Alberto Migré) endured a few years. The conceptual difference Telenovelas also have a different type of story from English-language soaps. Except for Brazilian and Chilean novelas, a popular plot is that of a poor, beautiful girl that meets a rich and handsome guy. He breaks up with his rich, evil and frivolous girlfriend to be with the heroine, at first to simply annoy his rich and callous relatives, but eventually falling in love because of her kind, caring heart and beautiful soul. The evil ex-girlfriend (usually accompanied by the rich guy's mother, sister or other close relative) stands in their way to happiness. Sometimes the struggle is ethnic (such as in Gitanas and Yesenia with Gypsies, or in María Isabel with people of indigenous origin). A popular plot twist is also the discovery of the real father or mother of the poor heroine, who almost always turns out to be incredibly wealthy. The story usually ends with the villains meeting spectacularly violent, gruesome, painful and gory end and the two heroes end up getting married and with a child, sometimes, even twins. In Brazil, there are several kinds of plots. Rede Globo, the most popular network, traditionally airs: Telenovelas comprise the great majority of the dramatic productions by South American TV networks whereas in the US other formats like sitcoms or TV dramas are more popular. Famous telenovelas/novelas From Argentina From Brazil From Chile From Colombia From Dominican Republic From Ecuador From Mexico See list of Mexican telenovelas From Perú From the Philippines usually referred to as teleserye instead of telenovela From Portugal From Puerto Rico From Spain From Venezuela Actors and actresses Some of the famous actors and actresses who have made their mark in these shows include: Argentina Brazil Colombia Cuba Dominican Republic Mexico Peru Philippines Portugal Puerto Rico Venezuela See also Sites News articles | |||||||
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