Telenovela Totally Explained

Everything about Telenovela totally explained

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.
Patricio Wills, head of development at Telemundo, describes 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."

While most English language soap operas can potentially continue indefinitely, almost all telenovelas run for a predetermined duration. They usually feature a fictional romantic melodrama, 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 in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries and usually air during prime time. Prime-time 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 airings, Senda prohibida ("Forbidden path"), written by Fernanda Villeli, between 1957 and 1958.
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 most well-known telenovelas come from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela. In Spain they're also called culebrones ("long snakes") because of the convoluted plots.
One of the most common complaints is that telenovelas are not representative of the actual racial makeup of the country where they're produced. Most telenovelas, no matter where they're from, tend to have white, blond, blue-eyed stars. Whenever "ethnic"-looking people appear, they're usually of lower-class origins and hold jobs such as janitors, while all the higher-class jobs are reserved for the white actors. This criticism is especially remarkable in Brazil whose non-white population is relegated to a few roles in each telenovela(External Link

)The only country which the telenovelas represent the population is Argentina because it's a white majority nation (94% 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, they're 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, 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 and Colombian producers RTI.

Telenovelas by country

Argentina

Argentina's telenovelas focuses on traditional dramas and middle class life, with touches of comedy. Telenovelas are aired by the main three television networks; Artear, Telefe, and America TV. Argentine Television is quite different compare to other counties because Argentine television doesn't rely on telenovelas for their programming. Argentine Television aires both telenovelas and American or European-styled sitcoms or dramedies. One well known and popular form of Telenovela is telenovelas aimed for children and teenagers. Many popular "youth telenovelas" are mainly from Argentina, and these telenovelas are imported to other countries where they become hits and those countries might remake them to fit their own audiences. Some well known youth Telenovelas are Chiquititas, Rebelde Way, and Floricienta. While Argentina is predominantly White, compare to the rest of Latin America (except Uruguay), many criticize Argentine Telenovelas for having many actors with Germanic features (Blond and Blue eyes) when majority of Argentines are descendants of Italians and Spaniards (which brown hair and eyes are predominant).

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. A teenage telenovela, Malhação ("Working Out") is the longest-running telenovela in Brazil. Novelas usually last eight months at most in Brazil, but Malhação has been on the air since 1995. 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.

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, which aired on Radio-Canada in the 1950s.
The creation of the téléroman was during the time when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, then the only television network in Canada (as per the 1949 Massey Commission) began launching its television network. 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 often focus on comedy. However, some are in a more realistic vein, or 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 telenovela, María José...Oficios de hogar 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 has started to produce its own telenovelas. All telenovelas are telling romantic lovestories. Beside of Sturm der Liebe, which is produced by Bavaria Film Studios, every telenovela is produced by Grundy UFA. The most successful ones, Bianca - Wege zum Glück,Wege zum Glück, Verliebt in Berlin and Sturm der Liebe, were also released in Italy, France and other European countries. Verliebt in Berlin was also released in Canada. The telenovelas are aired on ARD, ZDF, Sat1 and Pro7.

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.

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 (External Link

) population is mestizo. The American telenovelas produced by Telemundo tend to follow the Mexican model.
After the end of the Cold War, Televisa found an enormous market for its telenovelas in countries in the former Eastern Bloc, as well as in Vietnam and other Asian countries. For example, Veronica Castro became an international star when the novela she'd 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.

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 science and 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 Gitanas in 2004. 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'll 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's 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.
A popular plot is that of a poor, beautiful girl who meets a rich, handsome boy. 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 Roma, 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.

Brazil

Brazilian telenovelas are a bit more complex, with convoluted subplots involving three or four different settings. Usually there's 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 isn't 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'd kept over the years. On the other hand, it isn't 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.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Telenovela'.

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