Telenovela

A telenovela is the term used to describe Spanish and Portuguese television serials derived from the terms tele short for television and novela ("novel"). In spite of their many differences, telenovelas are in ways, soap operas. While most English-language soap operas run indefinitely - that is until the ratings no longer justify the production costs - most telenovelas run for a fixed period of time, 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, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Israel, the Philippines, 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 Producciones Argos.

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 Producciones Argos; 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. There are also two other types of telenovelas that are rarer than most others. The first type is Child-Telenovela, in which all the protanists are children (usually under the age of 13) and the plot deals usually deals with innocent

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.

United States

In the United States, plans are underway to adapt the telenovela concept to English-language television networks, with ABC planning to turn Betty La Fea into a dramedy titled "Betty the Ugly," which just made the Fall 2006-2007 TV season lineup as a weekly series, while My Network TV, an upstart network being launched by News Corporation, has announced that two popular telenovelas, Desire and Secrets, will be adapted into English prior to its debut in September 2006. 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 #1 and oldest company in the Telenovela industry.

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.

Comparison with soap operas

The technical difference

Unlike American, UK and Australian soap operas, which are invariably designed to theoretically continue indefinitely and indeed sometimes do endure for decades with an ever-rotating cast of players and characters (such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale in the UK, Guiding Light, All My Children, Days of Our Lives, One Life To Live, and General Hospital in the USA, and Neighbours in Australia), 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, as well as some dramedies.

The conceptual difference

Telenovelas also have a different type of story from English-language soaps.

Except for Brazilian 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:
* at 6 PM, stories that are set in past times of Brazil (such as colonial, slavery, immigration times), usually with a romantic touch
* at 7 PM, contemporary comedies, with plots based in revenge and conspiracy
* at 9 PM, stories with controversial social issues, such as homosexualism, older women dating younger men, abortion, human cloning, disabledness, corruption, drug abuse. Sometimes there is a mystery around a crime investigation.

Some stories in Brazilian novelas probably would have never been shown on American soap operas, for example Xica da Silva is about women who have risen above poverty and slavery through prostitution, a theme that would be considered inappropriate in US.

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

*Rebelde Way (2002 - 2003) - Rebel Way
*Floricienta (2004) - Little Florencia
*Muñeca Brava (1999) - Brave Doll
*Padre Coraje (2004) - Father Courage
*Yago, Pasión Morena (2001) - Yago, Pure Passion
*Cabecita (2000) - Little Head
*Ricos y Famosos (1999) - Rich and Famous

From Brazil

*A Escrava Isaura - The Slave Isaura
*A Lua Me Disse - The Moon Told Me
* Sítio do Picapau Amarelo Yellow Woodpecker Ranch
*Alma Gêmea - Soulmate
*América
*Barriga de Aluguel
*Belíssima - Very Beautiful
*Beto Rockfeller
*Top Model
*Chocolate com Pimenta - Chocolate with Pepper
*Força de um Desejo - Power of a Desire
*Irmãos Coragem
*Laços de Familia - Family Connections
*Malhação -- "Workout"
*Mulheres de Areia - Sand Women
*O Clone - The Clone
*Pantanal
*Pedra sobre Pedra - Stone over Rock
* Por Amor - For Love
*Prova de Amor
*Roque Santeiro
*Senhora do Destino - Lady of Destiny
*Sinhá Moça
*Terra Nostra - Our Land
*Vale Tudo - Everything's Permitted
*Vamp
*Xica da Silva - Xica (Shee-kah)

From Chile

*La intrusa - The Intruder
*Los títeres - The Puppets
*La madrastra - The Stepmom
*La última cruz - The Last Cross
*A la sombra del ángel - By the Shadow of the Angel
*Ángel Malo - Bad Angel
*Trampas y caretas - Traps and Masks
*Adrenalina - Adrenaline
*Romané - Romané (a female's given name)
*Machos - Manly Men/The Males
*Pecadores - Sinners
*Complice$ - Acomplice$
*Sucupira$ - Sucupira$
*Los Venegas - The Venega Family

From Colombia

* Betty La Fea - Betty the Ugly One
* Pedro El Escamoso - Pedro the Scammer
* Pasión de gavilanes - Hawks' Passion
* Francisco, El Matematico - Francisco the Mathematician
* Sofia Dame Tiempo - Sophia, Give Me Time
* Yo amo a Paquita Gallego - I Love Paquita Gallego
* Café con aroma de mujer - Coffee with the Aroma of Women
* Perro amor - Dogged Love
* Guajira - Country Girl
* Solterita y a la Orden - Single and Available
* El Inútil - The Useless One
* La Mujer del Presidente - The President's Woman
* El Amor es mas Fuerte - Love is Stronger

From Dominican Republic

*María Jose, oficios de hogar - first Dominican novela co-produced by Venevisión and the no longer active Colórvisión starring Nurin Sanlley, Augusto Feria, Miriam Bello, Ana Hilda Garcia, Fernando Christoforis, Fernando Casado, Martin Lantigua, Mari Soliani, Elio Rubens, Chelo Rodriguez, Daniel Lugo. Written by Pilar Romero and José Simon Escalona (president of RCTV, Venezuela).
*Amor de conuco - starring Karla Hutton. Opening credit theme song is sung by Juan Luis Guerra.

From Ecuador

*El Ángel de Piedra (1989) - Stone Angel
*La Baronesa (late 1980's) - The Baroness
*Ángel o Demonio (1993) - Angel or Demon
*Isabela (1995)
*Yo vendo unos ojos negros (2004) - I Sell Black Eyes
*Amores que matan (2006) - Loves that Kill

From Mexico

:''See list of Mexican telenovelas{|- valign=top
*Aguamarina - (name of female lead role)
*Alondra - Lark
*Alborada - Dawn
*Amarte es mi pecado - Loving You is My Sin
*Amor real - Real Love
*Amor en custodia - Love Under Custody
*Angela
*Catalina y Sebástian
*Carrusel - Carousel
*Corazón salvaje - Savage Heart
*Cuando Seas Mia - When You Become Mine
*Cuna de lobos - Wolf's Cradle
*Clase 406 - Class 406
*El derecho de nacer - The Right to be Born
*El Privilegio de Amar - The Privilege to Love
*Esmeralda
*Laberintos de pasión - Labyrinths of Passion
*La Madrastra - The Stepmother|
*La Mentira - The Lie
*La Usurpadora - The Usurper (female)
*La fea mas bella - The Prettiest Ugly Girl
*La hija del Jardinero - The Gardener's Daughter
*Los Ricos También Lloran- The Rich Also Cry
*Maria Mercedes
*Maria Isabel
*Maria La Del Barrio - Mary from the Hood
*Mariana de la noche - Mariana of the Night
*Mirada de Mujer - The Gaze of a Woman
*Perla - Pearl
*Por tu amor - For Your Love
*Rebelde - Rebel
*Rosa salvaje - Wild Rose
*Rosalinda
*Rubí