Telenovela

A Escrava Isaura ("Isaura the Slave"), a 2004 Brazilian telenovela based on an 1875 abolitionist romance novel

A telenovela (also spelled telenovella) is a limited-run television serial melodrama popular in Latin America and the Philippines. The word combines tele, short for television, and novela, a word that Latin literary studies associate with medium-span romances. Telenovelas are essentially soap operas in miniseries format. The telenovela combines ancient melodrama with the 19th century feuilleton and the Latin American radionovela. The medium has been used repeatedly to transmit sociocultural messages by incorporating them into storylines.

Patricio Wills, head of development at Telemundo, jokingly described the basic format of telenovelas thus:

The plot is always the same. In the first three minutes of the first episode the viewer already knows the novela will end with that same couple kissing each other. A telenovela is all about a couple who wants to kiss and a scriptwriter who stands in their way for 150 episodes.

Recent telenovelas have evolved in the structure of their plots and in the themes they address. Couples who kiss each other in the first minutes of the first episode sometimes stay together for many episodes before the scriptwriter splits them up. Moreover, previously taboo themes like urban violence, racism, and homophobia have begun to appear in the newest telenovelas.

While most English language soap operas can continue indefinitely, almost all telenovelas run for a predetermined duration. They usually air five or six days a week and run for an average of 120 episodes.

Evolution

Telenovelas, which are sometimes called "tassels" or "comedias", are produced primarily in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries and usually air during prime time. The first telenovelas were produced in Brazil, Cuba and Mexico: Sua vida me pertence ("Your Life Belongs to Me", Brazil, 1950) was shown twice a week, and Senderos de amor ("Paths of Love", Cuba, 1951) and Ángeles de la calle ("Angels of the Street", Mexico 1951) were shown once a week. Between 1957 and 1958, Mexico produced its first drama serial in the modern telenovela format of Monday through Friday airings, Senda prohibida ("Forbidden Path"), written by Fernanda Villeli.

The first global telenovela was Los ricos también lloran ("The Rich Cry Too", Mexico, 1979), which was exported to Russia, China, the United States and other countries. Currently, the best-known telenovelas come from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela. In Spain they are also called culebrones ("long snakes") because of the convoluted plots.

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, Greece, Italy, the Philippines, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, South Korea, and Japan. In the Arab world, telenovelas are incredibly popular with families stopping their day from midday onward to watch these shows whose contents often reflect many of the moral and social questions faced in cultures like Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt. The medium has been used repeatedly to transmit sociocultural messages by incorporating them into storylines.

In Argentina, telenovelas are usually produced by Telefe, Artear, Ideas del Sur and Pol-Ka; in Brazil, by TV Globo, TV Record, SBT, TV Bandeirantes, or the extinct Rede Manchete and TV Tupi; in Chile by TVN and Canal 13; in Colombia by Caracol TV, RTI Colombia, or RCN TV; in Venezuela by Venevisión or RCTV; in Spain by Telecinco, Antena3, EiTB (in Basque), or TV3 (in Catalan); in Portugal by RTP, TVI, or SIC; and in Puerto Rico by WAPA-TV or WKAQ-TV. 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 producer Argos Comunicación and Colombian producer RTI.

Telenovelas by country

File:Alberto Migré.jpg

Alberto Migré, writer and producer of many of the most successful telenovelas in Argentina

Argentina

See: Telefe, Artear, Ideas del Sur, and Pol-Ka

Argentina's telenovelas focus on melodramatic twists of traditional middle class life, with touches of comedy. Telenovelas are aired by the main television networks, Artear and Telefe. Many popular "youth telenovelas", aimed primarily at children and teenagers, are produced in Argentina. Several youth telenovelas have become hits in other countries, where they have been remade or shown in their original Argentine versions. Some well known youth telenovelas are Chiquititas ("Little Angels"), Rebelde Way ("Rebel's Way"), Floricienta, and Patito Feo ("Ugly Duckling"). While Argentina is predominantly white (along with neighboring Uruguay), many criticize Argentine telenovelas for having many actors with Germanic features (blond hair and blue eyes) when the majority of Argentines are descendants of Italians and Spaniards (among whom brown hair and brown eyes are predominant). Because Argentine television airs many American- or European-style situation comedies and dramedies, the telenovela is less pervasive in Argentina than in many other Latin American countries.

Glória Perez, writer of Brazilian telenovelas

Brazil

See: Rede Globo, Rede Record, SBT, and Rede Bandeirantes

See: Extinct companies - Rede Manchete, and Rede Tupi

Brazil's telenovelas (more often novelas) are both more realistic and apt to broach controversial subjects—many Brazilians can relate because of the telenovelas' realistic depiction of the middle class, working class and upper class. Brazilian productions are the most expensively produced in Latin America. Escrava Isaura (1976) was a major hit in South America, the Eastern Bloc, Africa and China. A teenage telenovela, Malhação ("Working Out") is one of the longest-running telenovelas in Brazil. Novelas usually last eight months at most in Brazil, but Malhação has been on the air since 1995; as such, it is commonly classified as an American-format soap opera instead.

Four telenovelas are shown on Globo, Brazil's leading channel. Rede Record, SBT, and Rede Bandeirantes also produce their own telenovelas. Rede Record telenovelas are either original stories or remakes of old telenovelas from its rival Rede Globo. SBT telenovelas are remakes of old telenovelas from its former Mexican partner, Televisa (now partner of Record). Rede Bandeirantes telenovelas are either original productions or co-productions with Portugal's RTP. Rede Manchete, a channel that ceased its operations in May 1999, produced its own telenovelas. The most famous was Pantanal, which peaked on audience ratings, the first telenovela outside Globo to do so since Rede Tupi was closed in 1980. It was recently aired on SBT, repeating its original success. Rede Tupi, extinct in 1980, was the pioneer on Brazilian soap operas.

Bolivia

See Red ATB, Bolivisión, Unitel Bolivia, Safipro and TeleArte.

File:Production of V7C.jpg

Safipro's La Virgen de las 7 calles ("The Virgin of the 7 Streets"), the first bolivian telenovela based on a 1920s society novel.

In Bolivia, telenovelas contain drama, love, music, natural landscapes, remote situations and adventures, some are based on novels, historical and real facts. Some melodramas produced in Bolivia include Las Tres Perfectas Solteras, Indira, Tierra Adentro, La Virgen de las 7 calles, Luna de Locos and Tres de Nosotras . The country has made over 15 telenovelas so far, most of the productions take place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Most of the mania has been made into much of prosperity for much of the country. Not many telenovelas made in the country. The exhibition on the television networks is international productions (from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico). The bolivian telenovelas are produced by independent producers, many producers are more dedicated to the movies.

Canada

Main article: Téléroman

See Culture of Quebec, Television of Quebec, Television in Canada

In Canada, telenovelas are known as téléromans in French and are a part of the culture of the Francophone province of Quebec. Nearly all French-language TV stations carry téléromans. The first téléroman was La famille Plouffe ("The Plouffe Family"), which aired on Radio-Canada in the 1950s.

The téléroman was created during the earliest days of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's television network, when the CBC was the only television network in Canada (as per the 1949 Massey Commission). Whereas theoretically the CBC's main English-language television network could broadcast English-language shows from American stations (and also was forced to compete with US TV networks), CBC's Radio-Canada network had to develop its own programs for French-Canadian viewers. As a consequence, Francophone television in Canada developed differently from Anglophone television.

In 2003, the French-language public TV station of Ontario, TFO, began airing the first Franco-Ontarian téléroman, Francoeur.

Chile

See: TVN, and Canal 13

Chilean telenovelas focus on both traditional drama and middle class life, with some touches of comedy. Often, they show life outside of the capital, like in TVN's Iorana (which took place on Easter Island). They are usually produced and aired by the Canal 13 and TVN channels, who launch their main telenovelas in March each year with a few days between them, which have led marketing to a "telenovela war" of sorts. Lately, other Chilean TV channels such as Mega and Chilevisión are joining the so-called war. Many of the most successful telenovels in Chile are set in a historic epoch such as Pampa Ilusión" (1935), "El Señor de la Querencia" and "Los Pincheira" (1918).

Colombia

See: Caracol TV, RTI, and RCN TV

Colombian telenovelas such as Betty la fea ("Ugly Betty") often focus on comedy. However, some are in a more realistic vein, or are adaptations of novels. Telenovelas produced by RTI Colombia and Telemundo usually air on Caracol, while Televideo and Telecolombia produce some of RCN's telenovelas. Caracol and RCN also produce and broadcast their own shows. Currently, four or five Colombian telenovelas are usually broadcast from 6 PM until around 11 PM on those networks.

Within the standards for novels — Colombians are considered to have the most intelligent and realistic novelas of Central and South America — the most realistic, character-driven genre without the guerrilla/crime/drug cliché and the most intelligent storytelling of all with great doses of creativity. One example is the "magical realism" shown in many works by Colombian Nobel Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez's books where reality is romanticized into almost fantastic proportions without employing any plots revolving around magic, the supernatural, or science fiction.

It is notable that many novelas designed and written by Colombians sell outside their country well, as a prime export. Then other countries "nationalize" them by creating novels based on the same story, barely changing names, settings and, more often than not, mixing the cast with Colombian actors to respect ownership/property agreements and copyright laws. One fine example is Betty la Fea (adapted in the USA as Ugly Betty) in which the franchise for the storyline was translated and adapted by over 30 networks around the world.

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic has started to produce its own novelas thanks to Venevision International, Iguana Productions and Antena Latina Productions. The first Dominican telenovela, María José, oficios del hogar ("María José, Housewife"), was produced by Venevision and the TV station Color Visión, which formed the first Dominican telenovela company (now inactive), in 1986. Comedy-drama series such as Catalino el Dichoso and sequel En La Boca de los Tiburones were also considered telenovelas, during early nineties. The telenovela Tropico was made by Venevision International, Iguana Productions, and Antena Latina Productions, in 2007 with mostly Dominican actors and a few from Venezuela and Peru. It is being aired by Antena Latina 7 in the Dominican Republic and on Univision in United States. There are currently plans for more telenovelas made, filmed, and produced in the Dominican Republic.

Germany

See: Bavaria Film Studios, and Grundy UFA

In 2004 Germany started to produce its own telenovelas. All German telenovelas are melodramatic love stories. Except Sturm der Liebe ("Storm of Love"), which is produced by Bavaria Film Studios, every German telenovela is produced by Grundy UFA. The most successful ones, Bianca - Wege zum Glück ("Bianca: Paths to Happiness"), Wege zum Glück ("Paths to Happiness"), Verliebt in Berlin ("In Love in Berlin/In Love with Berlin") and Sturm der Liebe, were also released in Italy, France and other European countries. Verliebt in Berlin was also shown in Canada. German television channels ARD, ZDF, Sat. 1 and ProSieben all include telenovelas in their program schedules.

Indonesia

Indonesia has Sinetron, which follow the same format as telenovelas.

The word is a portmanteau of Sine, short for cinema, and Tron, short for electronic. Sinetron are essentially soap operas in miniseries format. While most English language soap operas can continue indefinitely, almost all Sinetron run for a predetermined duration. They usually air five or six days a week and run for an average of 120 episodes.

The sinetron productions are usually made by production house such as Sinemart, MD Entertainment, etc. It is commonly aired by national TV Network during prime time (6.00 pm to 11.00 pm) and becoming priority program since it has significant rating that attract advertiser to buy commercial spot during such broadcasting.

File:AraceliArambula2009.jpg

Mexican actress and model Aracely Arámbula is featured in the telenovela Corazon Salvaje ("Wild Heart")

Mexico

See: Televisa, TV Azteca, and Argos Comunicación

Mexican telenovelas are often traditional and tend to fall in seven sub-genres:

Working class melodrama, which is easy to understand and contains less explicit content. They typically feature a poor woman who falls in love with a rich man whose family spurns her, such as María la del Barrio (1995).

Historical romance, is set in the past, such as the colonial period (Martín Garatuza, 1960), the restoration of the Republic (El carruaje, 1967), the late 1800s (El vuelo del águila, 1996) and the revolution (Bodas de odio, 1982).

Teen drama, which portrays the lives of high school teenagers and their issues with sex, drugs, and other coming-of-age topics. It started with Quinceañera in 1987.

Pop band story, portrays the lives of aspiring musicians such as in Alcanzar una estrella (1990) and its sequel Alcanzar una estrella II (1991), as well as Rebelde (2004), which spawned a multi-platinum pop group, RBD.

In Mexico, Televisa is the largest producer and exporter of telenovelas. TV Azteca and the independent company Argos Comunicación are its main competition. Performers are typically white, even though most of Mexico's population is mestizo. The American telenovelas produced by Telemundo tend to follow the Mexican model. Traditionally, telenovelas were often used as a government tool to distract citizens from the authoritarian PRI regime.

Starting around 1990, Televisa found an enormous market for its telenovelas in Eastern Europe, as well as in Vietnam and other Asian countries. For example, Veronica Castro became an international star when the novela she had starred in many years ago, Los Ricos Tambien Lloran (1979), became a huge hit in Russia. By the late 1990s, the company claimed telenovelas were Mexico's leading export product. At the same time, as the Mexican government loosened its control over television, telenovelas, primarily those produced by Argos Comunicacion, addressed new themes, including poverty, political corruption, immigration and drug smuggling.

In recent years some Mexican telenovelas have been adaptations of productions from other countries, such as La Fea Más Bella (2006) (counterpart of Colombian Yo soy Betty, la fea, 1999), Rebelde (which shares its name with its Argentinian counterpart Rebelde Way, 2003), Lola...Érase una vez (2007) (which is a remake of the Argentine teen/children's telenovela Floricienta, 2005) and Fuego en la Sangre (2008) (a Mexican remake of Pasión de Gavilanes (2003), which is in turn a remake of Colombian telenovela Las aguas mansas, 1991) and Atrevete a Soñar (a remake of the Argentine children's novela Patito Feo, 2007).

The Philippines

Main article: Philippine drama

Philippine telenovelas emerged into Philippine television by the 1960s. The first Filipino TV soap opera produced was Hiwaga sa Bahay na Bato by ABS-CBN. The format of Philippine telenovelas is almost the same as Latin telenovelas, since it was derived from them due to the Hispanicized culture of the Philippines. Usual telenovela clichés also appear in Philippine telenovelas, like any other Latin telenovelas.

Classical Philippine telenovelas mainly focus on the miserable life of the protagonist, with a plot mainly focusing on either their love life, the search for their broken family, or both. Meanwhile the antagonists, or villains, usually have a plan to kill or kidnap the protagonists in return for money. Antagonists in the old telenovelas were very greedy, rude and violent. Philippine telenovelas usually begin with the protagonists' past, then moves on to their future, while some telenovelas have a few flashbacks. Twists are also popular, mainly focusing on the protagonists' acquaintances who find out that they were actually siblings or relatives, or love triangles. The story usually ends with the antagonist being killed painfully mainly by a shot or bomb, while the protagonist getting injured, then sent to the hospital (usually ending up safe) and get married and having children in the future. Endings became very obvious and predictable amongst viewers. Casting was also tiresome with the same actor acting as protagonist/antagonist in different series. Example of classical Philippine telenovelas were Mula Sa Puso, Mara Clara, Valiente, and Saan Ka Man Naroroon, Sana Ay Ikaw Na Nga, and Te Amo, Maging Sino Ka Man.

Modern Philippine telenovelas also focus on the life of the protagonist, but expands to the lives of the characters they meet during the series. Antagonists are also on every telenovelas, but less violent compared to the classical telenovelas, also, the lives and the "humane" persona of the antagonists were also beginning to be adapted into the mainstream Philippine telenovela. New twists are also added to expand the series, which usually lasts 6–8 months. Directors also hire successful reality TV winners or runner-ups, regardless whether they can act or not, as minor characters or someteimes even major characters. The ending too is very different. Unlike the old telenovelas, antagonists have a room for forgivness and reconciliation between the main characters, and nowadays do not die in the end. There are even different themes such as suspense, comedic, political. Main examples of current Philippine telenovelas are Ang Babaeng Hinugot Sa Aking Tadyang, Kung Mawawala Ka, Impostora, La Vendetta, I Luv NY, Ligaw na Bulaklak, Adik Sa'Yo, Gulong ng Palad, and Iisa Pa Lamang.and Prinsesa ng Banyera and Tayong Dalawa

Latin telenovelas were also shown, with dubbed Tagalog and Visayan language. Nowadays only a few Latin telenovelas are shown, due to the popularity of Koreanovelas. Main examples famous Latin telenovelas in the Philippines were Rosalinda, Marimar, and Ilusiones. Current Latin telenovelas shown in the Philippines are El Cuerpo del Deseo and Las Tontas No Van al Cielo

File:TVI, novela.jpg

Billboard advertising a TVI telenovela in Portugal

Portugal

Main article: List of Portuguese telenovelas

The first Portuguese telenovela was Vila Faia, in 1982. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s almost all Portuguese telenovelas were broadcast by RTP. However, since the turn of the century, TVI has emerged as the most prolific broadcaster of Portuguese telenovelas. Morangos com Açúcar, one of its most successful telenovelas, is currently in its seventh season.

SIC, which usually imported telenovelas from Brazil's Rede Globo, has also started to produce its own telenovelas, but most are remakes of Spanish language telenovelas (mainly from Argentina). In Portugal, telenovela from other languages use dubbed-in Brazilian Portuguese.

Puerto Rico

List of some Telenovelas filmed and produced in Puerto Rico:

• 1968: Recordar
• 1978: Cristina Bazán
• 1982: Yo Sé Que Mentía
• 1983: Coralito
• 1985: Tanairi
• 2006: Dueña y Señora
• 2008: Al Borde del Deseo (miniseries/Telenovela)

Russia

Televolas were first introduced to Soviet viewers in 1988, when a stripped-down version (only 15 episodes) of Escrava Isaura was shown on the central TV. The series made was very popular with Soviet viewers. An even bigger success was Los Ricos También Lloran, shown shortly after. People were actively discussing the plot in stores and buses. Since that time Russian channels broadcasted telenovelas (usually Brazilian) on the regular basis. Starting in the early 2000s, Latin American telenovelas were replaced by Russian-made ones. Many modern Russian telenovelas are adaptations of the successful foreign ones (primarily Latin American).

United States

See: MyNetworkTV, NBC Universal, Telemundo, and Univision

For listings or sources see:

See MyNetworkTV telenovelas

See Telemundo telenovelas

In the United States, the telenovela concept has been adapted into English. MyNetworkTV, an upstart network launched by News Corporation, launched two with nightly serials on September 5, 2006. After the moderate success of "Desire" and "Fashion House", ratings began to decline. The second pair of telenovels, "Wicked Wicked Games" and "Watch Over Me" had decent ratings but not as successful as the debut telenovels. By the time the third batch, "American Heiress" and "Saints and Sinners" aired the ratings were disastrous and the format is being phased out. On the other hand, Ugly Betty has already proven to be a success story on ABC, although the network dropped the idea of the show as a telenovela and developed it as a standard weekly series. NBC is developing an adaptation of a racy Colombian telenovela titled Without Breasts There Is No Paradise.

In 2001, when Telemundo was purchased by NBC-Universal, Telemundo decided to stop importing telenovelas from Latin America and to start producing its own telenovelas. In order to produce its own telenovelas, Telemundo allowed the Colombian production company RTI Colombia and the Mexican production company Argos Comunicación to co-produce the telenovelas with Telemundo. Telemundo's telenovelas follow the Mexican model. To have its telenovelas recognized by the audiences of the US and Latin America, Telemundo hired famous actors and actresses from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, and Puerto Rico. Telemundo's first co-produced telenovelas was Amantes del Desierto, with RTI. The first co-production with Argos was Cara o Cruz in 2001. Another co-production made with Globo from Brasil in 2002 Vale Todo that didn't do well in the ratings. In 2003 Telemundo produced for the first time in Miami with RTI Amor Descarado. Telemundo's telenovelas have become successful, Telemundo began to export its telenovelas where it also became successful in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Argentina. As of December 31, 2006, Argos no longer co-produces any new projects with Telemundo. The last co-produced telenovela with Argos was Marina. Telemundo continues to co-produce telenovelas with RTI, but Telemundo has also started to produce telenovelas by itself. In 2005, Telemundo created the Telemundo Television Studios in Miami to produce telenovelas, and Telemundo's first fully produced telenovela was Dame Chocolate. In 2006, Telemundo aired two telenovelas not created by themselves or its partners, the programs are Amor Mío (Televisa/Telefe) and La Esclava Isaura (Rede Record). In 2005, Telemundo partnered with FremantleMedia's Freemantle OY Productions to produce La ley del silencio featuring international soap stars Flora Martinez and Andrea Leon, but the Dallas based production was short lived. It is unknown if Telemundo will import more telenovelas in the near future, or it will continue with its production.

A webnovela from Univision called Vidas Cruzadas (webnovela) has aired online. It will soon be broadcast on television as well.

Some Spanish-language telenovelas are now translated directly into English for US viewers. Novelas on Telemundo are all closed-captioned in English because there is a small, but influential number of English speaking Americans who watch the Spanish telenovelas. Xenon Pictures also adds English subtitles to its DVD versions of Mexican serials, including Amor Real, La Madrastra, and Rubí.

The sudden interest in English telenovelas can be attributed to the appeal and successful ratings of the genre. Producers 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.

Venezuela

See: RCTV, and Venevisión

Telenovelas in Venezuela are mainly produced by RCTV and Venevisión. Like Televisa in Mexico, Venevision controls a large portion of all show business in that country. Some of Venevision's telenovelas also air on Univision in the United States. Some major telenovelas produced in Venevision include Amor Comprado, Dulce Enemiga, Bellisima, and Pecado de Amor.

Venezuelan Telenovelas tend to fall in five sub-genres:

Working-class melodrama - which is easy to understand and contains less explicit content. They typically feature a poor woman who falls in love with a rich man, or vice-versa; examples of this trend includes Cuando Hay Pasion, Valeria, La Dama de Rosa and Esmeralda.

Historical Romance - are melodramas set in the past, such as during the Industrial Revolution, Colonial times or the Westward Expansion.

Mysteries - some famous telenovelas like "La Mujer de Judas", "Angelica Pecado", "Estrambotica Anastasia" produced by RCTV tell the story of mystery serial killers. That telenovelas had a huge success in Venezuela.

Romantic Comedy - melodramas with drama with a touch of comedy, such as Clemencia. Other productions include Clair de Sierra, coming in 2011.

Venezuela is one of the largest producers of telenovelas in the world, with up to 279 serials of this style aired to date. Many of the major productions have been exported to countries like Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, the U.S (on Univision) and many others.

Awards

The most important Telenovela award show is the TVyNovelas Award hosted by the Televisa TVyNovelas magazine in Mexico and the one presented by Contigo in Brazil. TVyNovelas also has editions in Colombia, Chile, Puerto Rico, United States and Contigo has an edition in Chile. In 2008, The International Emmy Awards created a category for best Telenovelas.

Comparison with soap operas

The standard American, British, 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 six months up 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 one exception to the rule, with a total of 605 chapters (1974–1977), and a few cast changes during the course of the serial. Some earlier Argentine telenovelas (most of them penned by Alberto Migré) also ran for a few years.

Telenovelas also have a different type of story from English-language soaps, the typical telenovela story being focused on a rivalry between two people or families in romance or business.

File:Elcuarteador 1977.jpg

Advertising for the Argentinian telenovela El cuarteador (1977)

Comparison between Mexican, Argentine and Brazilian telenovelas

Mexico

In Mexico, telenovelas are often traditional, usually ending with a wedding. It usually has a love couple and a villain. Most telenovelas in Mexico always seem to have the same drama going on, consisting of two people that fall in love and encounter many problems throughout the telenovela and the novela ending with a wedding, and the villain dies or goes to jail. This has happened for almost every telenovela produced in Mexico (mainly by televisa). Despite this, the novelas produced in Mexico are the best made export products in the world, mainly exported to Eastern Europe, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, and the United States (on Univision).

Argentina

In Argentina, telenovelas are more or less dramatic, having many white characters, mainly because most of the population in Argentina are descendant of Spaniards and Italians. The soaps made in that country usually have a lot of American/European style situations, which makes it less prevelent than most other countries. Mexico has made adoptions of many telenovelas from Argentina, more or less in a year.

Brazil

Brazilian telenovelas, often referred just as novelas, are a bit more complex, with convoluted subplots involving three or four different settings. Usually there is a rich setting, a poor setting and one or more settings in which the characters of both settings can interact. There is no black-and-white cut between good and evil characters, with the protagonists often displaying weaknesses like promiscuity, drinking, stupidity, excessive ambition, etc. and the antagonists showing features or motivations that attract sympathy, like abuses suffered in the past, family problems, poverty, etc. It is not uncommon for a villain to attract the sympathy of the public, or even to end well. In 2006, for instance, the evil Bia Falcão, played by Fernanda Montenegro in Belíssima (Pretty Beautiful) managed to escape a police siege and flee the country to France, where she resettled with a handsome boyfriend living on a secret bank account in Switzerland, which she had kept over the years. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for a hero to be relegated to a secondary role due to the actor's lack of charisma.

Besides the convoluted plots, Brazilian telenovelas also approach sensitive social issues and try to present a bit of the country's actual culture, sometimes in an idealized way.

Another important difference is that Brazilian telenovelas rely much less on individual stars than other Latin American works. A Brazilian telenovela may have a permanent cast of more than 40 actors, of which some 7 or 8 are central. The chief reason for this is that telenovelas are not shot in advance (instead chapters are shot only fifteen days before being aired) so that they can respond to public reaction. Under this scheme, the eventual death or bad performance of the actor playing the main character may turn the production into a flop (which happened to Sol de Verão in 1982 after the death of Jardel Filho).

Rede Globo is the main producer of telenovelas in Brazil. Its productions are split into three different categories, according to the airtime:

• at 6PM (novela das seis), stories are romantic and family-oriented (like Cabocla or Sinhá Moça). No violence, sex or bad language (with a few exceptions) and plenty of historic and religious themes.
• at 7PM (novela das sete) they air comedy plots, filled with action, humour and romance (with a considerable amount of implicit sex). This is the schedule in which new writers are tested. Plots tend to be more experimental but themes are usually repetitive.
• at 9PM (novela das nove) plots tend to be more formulaic, but a wider range of themes are explored. These productions include action, romantism and humour and usually last longer than the others. These are the productions with the highest rates.

These categories became widely adopted by most TV companies in Brazil.

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.

See also

• Teleserye – The Filipino counterpart
• Fantaserye – a genre of teleserye
• MyNetworkTV telenovelas
• List of famous telenovelas
• Téléroman – The French-Canadian equivalent
• Fotonovela – The magazine equivalent, a sort of photo-comic book usually with a romantic theme.
• Soap opera – The English-language counterpart

External links

• Telenovelas (in Croatian)
• Telenovelas Online (in English)
• TV novele (in Serbian)
• El mundo de telenovelas
• Telenovelas latin (in Czech)
• TelenovelasyEstrellas.com (in English and Spanish)
• Telenovele-slo (in Slovenia)
• Club De Noveleras (Bilingual )
• Telenovela's Synopsis (in English)
• Telenovela's news and reviews (in Spanish)
• Blog Telenovela (in Spanish)
• [1] (in French)
• Iscrpan vodič kroz svijet telenovela (in Croatian)
• Novela Lounge
• The Telenovela Channel on YouTube
• Telenovelas Mania (Italy)
• Telenovelas in Lithuania
• Telenovelas in Greece (in English and Greek)