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Telenovela

[tel-uh-noh-vel-uh]

A telenovela is a limited-run television serial melodrama of the type made famous in Latin America. The word is a portmanteau of tele, short for television, and novela ("novel/soap opera"). Telenovelas are essentially soap operas in miniseries format. The telenovela combines ancient melodrama with the 19th century feuilleton and the Latin American "radionovela". This formula has proven to be highly efficient, regularly attracting millions of viewers worldwide.

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 homosexuality have begun to appear in the newest telenovelas. In Brazil, even mutants, similar to those of Heroes and X-Men, have been the subject of a successful telenovela.

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 "teleseries" 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.

One of the most common complaints about telenovelas is that they are not representative of the racial makeup of the countries where they are produced. Most telenovelas, no matter where they are created, tend to have white, blond, blue-eyed stars. When "ethnic-looking" people appear, they are usually of lower-class origins and hold menial jobs such as janitors, while all the higher-class jobs are reserved for the white characters. This criticism is especially trenchant in Brazil, whose large non-white population is relegated to just a few roles in each telenovela The only country whose telenovelas represent the racial composition of the population is Argentina, where whites constitute 94 percent of the population.

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, Italy, the Philippines, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, South Korea, and Japan.

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; 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

Argentina

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"), and Floricienta. While Argentina is predominantly white compared to the rest of Latin America (except 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.

Brazil

Brazil's telenovelas (more often novelas) are both more racy with ample nudity 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 Mexican partner, Televisa. 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. Rede Tupi, extinct in 1980, was the pioneer on Brazilian soap operas.

Canada

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 Québec. 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.

Colombia

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.

Chile

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, with have led to a "telenovela war" of marketing. Lately other TV channels such as Mega and Chilevisión are joining the so-called "telenovela war".

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. 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

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.

Mexico

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

The "working class melodrama," which is easy to understand and contains less explicit content. They typically feature a poor girl who falls in love with a rich man whose family spurns her, such as María la del Barrio.
The historical romance, set in the past, such as the colonial period (Martín Garatuza), the restoration of the Republic (El carruaje), the late 1800s (El vuelo del águila) and the revolution (Bodas de odio).
The 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 the late 1980s.
The pop music story, portrays the lives of aspiring musicians such as in Alcanzar una estrella and its sequel Alcanzar una estrella II, as well as the worldwide phenomenon of Rebelde, 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 light-skinned, even though most of Mexico's population is mestizo. The American telenovelas produced by Telemundo tend to follow the Mexican model.

Starting around 1990, Televisa found an enormous market for its telenovelas in countries 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 years before, Los Ricos Tambien Lloran, 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 the mexican telenovela has been adaptations of other countries telenovelas such as La Fea mas Bella (counterpart of colombian Yo Soy Betty la Fea), Rebelde (that shares name with the argentinian production) and Fuego en la Sangre (a mexican remake of colombian telenovelas Las Aguas Mansas and, more predominantly, Furia de Gavilanes.)

The Philippines

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.

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. 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 nowdays do not die in the end. Main examples of current Philippine telenovelas are Ligaw na Bulaklak, Gulong ng Palad, and Iisa Pa Lamang.

Latin telenovelas were also shown, with dubbed Tagalog language. Nowdays 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

Portugal

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 fifth 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). Unlike in Brazil, Spanish language telenovelas dubbed in Portuguese never became popular in Portugal, dubbing never having been popular there: the Portuguese prefer subtitles, and only children's programs are dubbed.

United States

See MyNetworkTV 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 producting 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). It is unknown if Telemundo will import more telenovelas in the near future, or it will continue with its production.

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 influencal 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.

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 Brasil. TVyNovelas also has editions in Colombia, Chile, Puerto Rico, United States and Contigo has an edition in Chile.

Comparison with soap operas

Technical differences

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 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.

Conceptual differences

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

The main differences are in the story and in the technology applications. The story normally is about a rivalry between two people or families, because of some romance or business. There are usually one rich family and one poor family. A lot of socials questions are touched upon, such as homosexuality, drugs, alcoholism, etc. In the technology level, the Latin Americans Telenoveleas, are the most expensive and advanced, mainly in Brazil.

Brazil

Brazilian telenovelas 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, though).

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, soft and shallow (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 (and a bit of implicit sex). This is the schedule in which new writers are tested (the most recent talent to show up being João Emanuel Carneiro, with his conspiracy plots, filled with intrigue and social critique). Plots tend to be more experimental but thematic is usually formulaic.
at 8PM (novela das oito) plots tend to be more formulaic, but a wider range of themes are explored. These productions include action, romanticism and humour and usually last longer than the others. These are the productions with the highest rates.

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.