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A telenovela (/ˌtɛlənˈvɛlə/ or /ˌtɛlənəˈvɛlə/;[1] Spanish: [telenoˈβela], Portuguese: [telenoˈvɛlɐ]) is a type of limited-run serial drama originally from Spain[clarification needed] and popular on Southeast Asian, Latin American, East Asian, South Asian, Arab World, Portuguese and Spanish television networks. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão (Spanish and Portuguese words for television), and novela, a Spanish and Portuguese word for "novel".[2] There are similar genres to the telenovela that use the novela format, but go by varying names including Teleserye (Philippines), Téléroman (Canada specifically Quebec), or simply dramas (Asia from East Asia to the Arab World).

Telenovelas almost invariably come to an end after a run of less than one year: this makes them shorter than soap operas, but still much longer than serials. The telenovela combines drama with the 19th-century feuilleton, and naturally evolved from the Latin American radionovela, as Blanca de Lizaur determined.[3] The medium has been used repeatedly by authorities to transmit sociocultural messages, by incorporating them into storylines,[4] which has decreased their credibility and audiences in the long run. Recent telenovelas have evolved in the structure of their plots and in the themes that 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 been incorporated into telenovelas in more recent years.

Many telenovelas share some stylistic and, to a certain extent, thematic similarities to the soap opera, a format popular in the English-speaking world; because of these similarities, the American colloquialism Spanish soap opera has come to describe the telenovela format (the telenovela format in and of itself has been attempted in the United States but, generally, to much less success than in Latin America). Telenovelas differ from soap operas primarily in their length; soap operas tend to have indefinite and continuing runs (with such programs only ending via cancellation by their network because of weak viewership) with intertwined storylines that can last in the most successful cases for decades, while telenovelas tell one self-contained story, typically within the span of a year or less.[5] The end result is that the telenovela requires a faster-paced, more concise style of melodrama compared to the soap opera.[6]



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


Telenovelas tend to fall within these six categories:

  • 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, 1986), the restoration of the Republic (El carruaje, 1972), the late 19th Century (El vuelo del águila, 1994) 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. This genre started with Quinceañera in 1987.
  • Mystery/thriller is a category of telenovela that is more cold-hearted than the other subgenres. It may portray a mysterious death or disappearance, which may tear couples, even families apart, such as Cuna de Lobos, La Casa al Final de la Calle, La Mujer de Judas, ¿Dónde está Elisa?, El Rostro de la Venganza or La Casa de al Lado.
  • Romantic comedy, which portrays love stories with some or lots of comedy such as Las tontas no van al cielo or Yo soy Betty, la fea (the most successful telenovela in history).[7]
  • 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. Some, though not all, of these type of telenovelas are geared towards a teenage and/or pre-teen audience.

Besides these, another category of serial that has become popular in recent years is the youth telenovela, which borrow some elements of the teen drama format but are usually more family-oriented in structure, contain comedic elements and sometimes maintain a high concept or supernatural plotline (such as 11:11: En mi cuadra, nada cuadra and Chica vampiro).

Telenovelas are widely popular in Latin America and Iberian countries such as Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and in Hispanic speaking communities in the United States. They also have a huge following in Russia, Eastern Europe, France, Greece, Italy, the Philippines, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China and Japan.[8] In the Arab world, telenovelas are incredibly popular with families taking breaks during the day from midday onward to watch these shows whose content often reflects many of the moral and social issues faced in cultures like Morocco, Algeria and Egypt.[9] The medium has been used repeatedly to transmit sociocultural messages by incorporating them into storylines.[10]

Major producers of telenovelas[edit]

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 defunct 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, RCTV, Marte TV and VTV; 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 Asia, especially the Philippines, ABS-CBN is the largest producing quality telenovelas with Filipino cast and became more popular across the region and dubbed in their own language in different countries. In the United States, Telemundo and Univision, mostly importers of Latin American telenovelas, have started producing telenovelas with Latin American casts and casts of American stars of Hispanic descent and, in the case of Telemundo, Mexican producer Argos Comunicación and Colombian producer RTI and Caracol TV, and, in the case of Univision, Televisa and Venevisión (the former of which maintains minority ownership of Univision).[citation needed]

Telenovelas by country[edit]


Argentina's telenovelas focus on melodramatic twists of traditional middle class life, with touches of comedy. Telenovelas are broadcast 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, Muñeca Brava ("Brave Doll") and Patito Feo ("Ugly Duckling"). Because Argentine television broadcasts many American- or European-style situation comedies and dramedies,[citation needed] the telenovela is less pervasive today in Argentina than in many other Latin American countries.



In Bolivia, telenovelas contain drama, romance, music, natural landscapes, remote situations and adventures, some are based on novels, historical and factual events. 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 popularity has been made into much of prosperity for much of the country. Not very many telenovelas are made in the country. The genre's carriage on domestic television networks comes from international productions (imported from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico). The Bolivian telenovelas are produced by independent producers, many producers are more dedicated to the country's film industry.


See Rede Globo, Rede Record, Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão, Rede Manchete, and Rede Tupi

Brazilian telenovelas (more often "novelas") are both more realistic and apt to broach controversial subjects – many Brazilians can relate to these because of the programs' realistic depiction of the middle, working and upper classes.[citation needed] Brazilian productions are the most expensively produced telenovelas in Latin America.[11] Escrava Isaura (1976) was a major hit in South America, the Eastern Bloc, Africa and China.[12] Novelas usually last eight months at most in Brazil. One of the longest-running telenovelas in that country, however, is the teen-oriented Malhação ("Working Out"), which has aired since 1995; as such, it is commonly classified as an American-format soap opera instead.

Brazilian telenovelas often have 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, drug abuse, stupidity and excessive ambition, among others; and the antagonists showing features or motivations that attract sympathy, like abuses suffered in the past, family problems and poverty. It is not uncommon for a villain to attract the sympathy of the public, or even to have their storylines conclude with a satisfactory ending for them (for instance, in the novela Belíssima ("Pretty Beautiful") in 2006, villain Bia Falcão (played by Fernanda Montenegro) 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.[citation needed]

Another important difference with telenovelas from other countries 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 seven or eight are considered "central" to the show. The chief reason for this is that telenovelas are not shot in advance (instead chapters are shot only fifteen days before their airdate), 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 with the 1982 serial Sol de Verão after the death of main star Jardel Filho).[citation needed]

Rede Globo ("TV Globo" or "Globo") is the main producer of telenovelas in Brazil. is the only station in the country to have won the International Emmy Award, and has a total of 12 statuettes, 4 times won the International Emmy Award for best telenovela. Its productions are split into three different categories, according to the airtime:

  • Novelas airing at 6:00 p.m. (novela das seis) feature stories that are romantic and family-oriented (like Cabocla or Sinhá Moça). These novelas contain no violence, sexual content or profanity (with a few exceptions), and often contain plenty of historic and religious themes.
  • Novelas airing at 7:00 p.m. (novela das sete) incorporate comedic plots, filled with action, humour and romance (with a considerable amount of implicit sex). Novelas airing in this time period are which new writers are tested. The plots of these programs tend to be more experimental, but themes are usually repetitive.
  • Novelas airing at 9:00 p.m. (known as novela das oito, or 8:00 p.m. soap, but these programs are never broadcast at 8:00 p.m, the earliest known time that a novela of this period has aired was 8:30 p.m.) feature plots that tend to be more formulaic, although a wider range of themes are explored (like Roque Santeiro, O Clone, Senhora do Destino, Caminho das Índias or Avenida Brasil). These productions include elements of action, romantism and humour and usually last longer than the other novelas. These productions usually garner the highest ratings. These categories became widely adopted by most television companies in Brazil.


Main article: Téléroman
See Culture of Quebec, Television of Quebec and 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 television stations in the country that broadcast in the French language carry téléromans. The first téléroman was La famille Plouffe ("The Plouffe Family"), which was broadcast on Radio-Canada in the 1950s.


In 2003, Ontario's provincial French-language public television service, TFO, began broadcasting the first Franco-Ontarian téléroman, Francoeur.


See TVN and Canal 13

Chilean telenovelas focus on both traditional drama and middle class life, with some touches of comedy. Often, these programs show life outside of the capital, like with the TVN novela Iorana (which took place on Easter Island). Telenovelas in the country are usually produced and broadcast by the Canal 13 and TVN networks, which debut their main telenovelas in March each year with a few days between their premiere dates, which have led marketing to a "telenovela war" of sorts. Lately, other Chilean television networks such as Mega and Chilevisión are joining the so-called "telenovela war". Many of the most successful telenovels in Chile are set in a historical era such as Pampa Ilusión (1935), El Señor de la Querencia (1920), Los Pincheira (1918) and Adios al Septimo de Linea ("War of the Pacific").


See Caracol TV, RTI Colombia, and RCN TV

Colombian telenovelas such as Betty la fea ("Ugly Betty") often focus on comedic storylines. However, some are more realistic in vein, or are adaptations of novels.

The first Colombian telenovela was El 0597 está ocupado, produced in 1959 by the programadora Producciones PUNCH.[13] From then until the late 1990s arrival of private television in the country, a variety of programadoras produced and aired their own telenovelas, such as those from Colombiana de Televisión, TeVecine, Cenpro Televisión (the producer of Perro amor, which was popular in the late 1990s).

Telenovelas produced by RTI Colombia and Telemundo are usually shown and produced on Caracol, while Televideo and Fox 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 6:00 to around 11:00 p.m. on those networks.

It is notable that many novelas designed and written by Colombians sell outside the country well, as a prime export. Other countries then "nationalize" them by creating novelas 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 by ABC in the United States as Ugly Betty) in which the franchise for the storyline was translated and adapted by over 30 networks around the world.

Over the years, a new style of novelas/series have been produced by Caracol and RCN dubbed "narco-novelas" or "narco-series", including El Cartel, El Capo and "Sin senos no hay paraíso, which have been greatly successful in the American market and have achieved high ratings. These tend to focus on drug trafficking and situations related to it such as violence, mafiosos living luxurious hedonistic lives and women selling themselves to them in order to escape poverty.

These stories have often been made in the format of television series even making seasons of these shows like El Cartel which consists of 2 seasons


There are Croatian telenovela Pod sretnom zvijezdom (Under a lucky star) and Larin izbor (Lara's choice). Nova TV made two season of Lara's choice, which has got 367 episodes together. The main actors are Lara (played by Doris Pinčić) and Jakov (played by Ivan Herceg). The telenovela is created by Jelena Veljaca and written by Tomislav Hrpka.

Dominican Republic[edit]

Television networks in the Dominican Republic have started to produce their own novelas through 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 television 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 the early 1990s. The telenovela Tropico was produced by Venevision International, Iguana Productions, and Antena Latina Productions, in 2007 with mostly Dominican actors and a few from Venezuela and Peru. It aired domestically on Antena Latina 7 and in United States on Univision. There are currently plans for more telenovelas that are filmed and produced in the Dominican Republic.


See Bavaria Film Studios,Studio Hamburg Serienwerft and Grundy UFA

In 2004, Germany began producing its own telenovelas. All German telenovelas are formatted as melodramatic love stories. With the exception of Sturm der Liebe ("Storm of Love"), which is produced by Bavaria Film Studios, and "Rote Rosen" which is produced by Studio Hamburg Serienwerft, 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"),Sturm der Liebe and "Rote Rosen", were also syndicated in Italy, France and other European countries; Verliebt in Berlin was also syndicated in Canada. German television channels ARD, ZDF, Sat. 1 and ProSieben all include telenovelas on their programme schedules.


In Indonesia, a similar format exists called the Sinetron (a portmanteau of sine, short for cinema and tron, from "electronic"), which are essentially soap operas in a miniseries-style format. While most English-language soap operas can continue indefinitely, almost all Sinetrons have a predetermined duration, usually running for only five-, six- or seven days a week and in total for more than five months.

Sinetron are usually made by production companies such as Sinemart and MD Entertainment. These programmes are usually broadcast on national television networks during the country's designated primetime period (6.00 to 11.00 p.m.), becoming a priority since these programme earn significant ratings that attract advertisers to buy commercial space during such timeslots.


In Malaysia, the equivalent of telenovela for a local language drama is drama rantaian. The drama may last for 13 episodes for a weekly drama and more than 15 episodes if broadcast by a daily basis, usually three to five days a week.

However, since almost all television broadcasters that air domestically produced dramas also air foreign dramas, Malaysian television dramas are less prolific compared to Indonesian, Philippine or South Korean dramas.


See Televisa, TV Azteca, and Argos Comunicación


In Mexico, Televisa and TV Azteca are the largest producers and exporters of telenovelas. Their main competitor is independent company Argos Comunicación. Telenovelas produced by U.S.-based network Telemundo tend to follow the Mexican model. Traditionally, telenovelas were often thought to be used as a government tool to distract citizens from national issues. Starting around 1990, Televisa found an enormous market for its telenovelas in Eastern Europe, as well as in Brazil, Vietnam and other Asian countries. For example, Verónica Castro's international fame enlargered when the novela she had starred in many years earlier, Los Ricos Tambien Lloran in 1979, became a major hit in Russia. Thalía earned the title as the "Queen of Soap Operas" after starring in the so-called Las Tres Marias or the "Maria Trilogy" telenovelas - Maria Mercedes, Marimar and Maria la del Barrio - and Rosalinda in the 1990s and 2000, converting her into one of the world's foremost television icons, as her telenovelas were exported from Mexico to more than 180 countries in the world, viewed by more than 2 billion people, and earned the all-time highest television ratings in Mexico and in other nations. By the late 1990s, the company claimed that telenovelas were Mexico's leading export product. Many consider the period from 1958 to 2004 to be Televisa's Golden Age of telenovelas.

At the same time, as the Mexican government loosened its control over television, telenovelas, primarily those produced by Argos Comunicación, addressed new themes, including poverty, political corruption, immigration and drug smuggling. However, with American drama and comedy series becoming increasingly popular among Mexican audiences through cable or satellite television and piracy of television programs has grown, the television companies opted to adapt stories from Argentina, Colombia or Brazil and use veteran actors in order to decrease expenses in an industry that is decaying, at least, for both Televisa and TV Azteca.

Currently the most successful telenovelas are being created by Argos and Telemundo and are rebroadcast (or adapted) by the main companies. The most successful one, La Reina del Sur, based on the book by Arturo Perez Reverte, is based on the true story of a female drug trafficker in Sinaloa. Though it was censored somewhat due to the Drug War and was broadcast on a low-rated channel, it achieved higher viewership than other programs in the same timeframe.


Main article: Philippine drama

Domestically produced telenovelas first appeared on Philippine television in the 1960s, beginning with the ABS-CBN program Hiwaga sa Bahay na Bato. The format of Philippine telenovelas is almost the same as Spanish and Mexican telenovelas, as they have borrowed many elements including many clichés.

Classic Philippine telenovelas focus on the miserable life of the protagonist ("bida"), with a plot centred on some quest such as finding love or their lost family. Antagonists (called "kontrabida") were depicted as thoroughly evil – characterized as very greedy, rude and violent, and often planning to kill or kidnap the protagonist for money. Telenovelas usually begin with the protagonists' past, move on to their present situations, and sometimes include flashbacks. Twists are also popular and often feature characters who are revealed to be siblings or relatives of the protagonist, or love interests. A typical ending is obvious and predictable, with the antagonist dying painfully (as a form of retribution), and the protagonist only being injured and hospitalised, later marrying and having children.[citation needed] Casting was limited, with actors appearing as protagonists or antagonists in different, sometimes simultaneously-running series. Examples of classic telenovelas are Anna Liza, Flordeluna, Villa Quintana, Mara Clara, Esperanza, Valiente, Kung Mawawala Ka, Mula Sa Puso and Sa Dulo Ng Walang Hanggan.

Modern Philippine television dramas are usually termed teleserye, a portmanteau of the Filipino words "telebisyon" ("television") and "serye" ("series"), and are sometimes called P-drama overseas. Series may belong to one or several genres such as suspense, comedy, politics and fantasy. Teleseryes focus on the life of the protagonist, but incorporate story arcs on the lives of other characters they meet; plot twists are often used to prolong series, which typically run for six to eight months. Antagonists are less violent compared to the older, stereotypical telenovela villain and are depicted as more human and even pitiful. Unlike older telenovelas, they may reconcile with the protagonists, and often survive the show's ending. Directors also hire successful reality television contestants regardless of acting skill, either as minor characters or occasionally major characters. Examples of teleseryes that stood out to its popularity until recently include Pangako Sa 'Yo, Basta't Kasama Kita, the Philippine adaptation of MariMar, Sa Piling Mo, Maging Sino Ka Man, Tayong Dalawa, May Bukas Pa, Walang Hanggan, Be Careful With My Heart, Ina Kapatid Anak and The Legal Wife.

Philippine telenovelas nowadays also gained popularity abroad particularly in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Cambodia and Vietnam and other countries in Africa.


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 start of the 21st century, TVI has emerged as the most prolific broadcaster of Portuguese telenovelas. Morangos com Açúcar, one of its most successful telenovelas, lasted for nine seasons. SIC, which usually imported telenovelas from Brazil's Rede Globo, has also started to produce its own telenovelas.

Portuguese telenovelas have since began to find expression in the world. In 2010, Portugal won the first Emmy for a Telenovela, with Meu Amor ("My Love"). In 2011, Portugal won its second consecutive International Emmy for a Telenovela with Laços de Sangue ("Blood Ties"). Portugal also sells telenovelas to Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Puerto Rico[edit]

The history of telenovelas produced in Puerto Rico often must be divided into before and after in many situations. There was a lot of acceptance of the telenovela genre in that country and there still is some interest to this day. The serials then were usually broadcast on domestic television stations three days a week at 6:30 p.m., with hour-long telenovelas airing at 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. during prime time. During the 1980s Puerto Rican telenovelas were shown daily. Production of telenovelas in the U.S. territory began in the 1950s with "Ante la ley" in 1955. Successful novelas to have come out of Puerto Rico have included La Mujer de aquella noche, El Hijo de Angela Maria, El Cuarto Mandamiento, Tomiko, Cristina Bazan, El Idolo, Yo Se Que Mentia, Vivir Para Ti, Tanairi, Tres Destinos and many others. It is unknown if Puerto Rico will continue with its production.


Telenovelas were first introduced to Soviet viewers in 1988, when a stripped-down version of Escrava Isaura (running only 15 episodes) was shown on central TV. The adaptation of that series 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 have broadcast telenovelas (usually those imported from Brazil) on a regular basis. Starting in the early 2000s, Latin American telenovelas were replaced by Russian-made programs of that genre. Many modern Russian telenovelas are adaptations of the successful foreign series (primarily Latin American).

South Korea[edit]

Main article: Korean drama

In general concept, there are two main genres of Korean telenovelas. The first genre is similar to the soap opera, but without the neverending plot and frank sexual content. These dramas typically involve conflicts such as single and marital relationships, money bargaining, relationships between in-laws (usually between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law), and often complicated love triangles while the heroine usually falls in love with the main character who may treat her badly from the beginning, instead of the one who always cares for her. These telenovelas last anywhere from 16 episodes to over 100 (most often not exceeding 200). The main broadcasters and producers of telenovelas are KBS, SBS and MBC. Korean telenovelas have been exported to the rest of world and have contributed to the general phenomenon of the Korean wave, known as "Hallyu".


Spanish telenovelas are known in the nation as culebrones (Spanish of "long snakes") because of their convoluted plots. Broadcasters of telenovelas in the country are Telecinco, Antena3, and La 1; there are regional telenovelas produced in Basque and Catalan languages and are produced by EITB (in Basque) and TV3 (in Catalan). However, Spain is not a producer of telenovelas so much as it is an importer of these programs.

Telenovelas have also aided in the formation of a transnational 'Hispanic' identity, as the Venezuelan scholar Daniel Mato has suggested. The appeal of the genre lies in the melodramatic and often simplistic narrative which can be understood and enjoyed by audiences in a wide variety of cultural contexts. Bielby and Harrington have argued that this reverse flow has influenced soap operas in the United States, leading to "genre transformation," especially with daytime soaps.[14]

United States[edit]

See English language producers Fox Broadcasting Company and The CW
See Spanish language producers Univision and Telemundo
See MyNetworkTV telenovelas

In the United States, the telenovela concept has been adapted into the English language. The first telenovela was the soap opera Port Charles, which, although starting off as a traditional soap when it debuted in 1997, adopted a 13-week telenovela-style storyline format beginning in 2000 which continued in use until the show's cancellation in 2003. MyNetworkTV, an upstart network launched by News Corporation (now owned by 21st Century Fox), launched on September 5, 2006 with two nightly serials. The inaugural series Desire and Fashion House were moderately successful, however ratings began to decline. The second pair of telenovelas, Wicked Wicked Games and Watch Over Me had decent ratings but were not as successful as its two predecessors. By the time the third batch of serials, American Heiress and Saints and Sinners debuted, ratings had declined significantly to where the network scaled back and eventually dropped the novela format in favor of reality-based series and specials by the fall of 2007.

In contrast, ABC's adaptation of Betty la fea, Ugly Betty, proved to be successful; however, the network opted to develop the show as a standard weekly series with elements of the comedic telenovela. NBC developed an adaptation of the racy Colombian telenovela Sin Tetas no Hay Paraíso called Without Breasts There Is No Paradise, however it was never picked up to series.

In 2001, after it was purchased by NBC (which later merged with Vivendi Universal to form NBCUniversal in 2003), Telemundo decided to stop importing Latin American telenovelas and produce its own. The network collaborated with RTI Colombia and Argos Comunicación to co-produce its telenovelas, which follow the Mexican model. In order for its telenovelas to recognized by U.S. and Latin American audiences, Telemundo chose to hire established telenovela actors from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Puerto Rico; the network's novelas have since also hired American-born Hispanic actors. Telemundo's first telenovela co-productions were Amantes del Desierto (with RTI) and Cara o Cruz (with Argos) in 2001. The network also co-produced the 2002 novela Vale Todo in conjunction with Rede Globo, that series did not fare well in the ratings. In 2003, Telemundo began producing its novelas stateside in Miami, beginning with the RTI co-production Amor Descarado. Telemundo has experienced increasing success with its telenovelas, which have also been syndicated to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Argentina. Argos ended its co-production deal with Telemundo on December 31, 2006, with the last such co-production being Marina. Telemundo continues to co-produce telenovelas with RTI, but has also started to produce these serials on its own. In 2005, the network opened Telemundo Television Studios in Miami, as a production studio for its telenovelas; Dame Chocolate also became the first telenovela to be fully produced by Telemundo. In 2006, Telemundo broadcast two telenovelas not created by the network or its partners, Amor Mío (co-produced by Televisa and Telefe) and La Esclava Isaura (produced by Rede Record).

Venevisión International has also produced American-based telenovelas, which follow the Venezuelan model and aired on Telemundo competitor Univision in the U.S. (in addition to being carried by main Venevisión network in Venezuela); its telenovelas portray the lives of Venezuelan Americans in the United States. In recent years, Univision has also begun producing its own telenovelas for its primetime schedule.

Some Spanish-language telenovelas are now translated into English. Univision and Telemundo provides closed captioning in English in order to attract English-speaking American viewers (primarily American-born Hispanics who are not fluent in Spanish), carried as the second or third caption channel depending on the station. Xenon Pictures also includes English subtitles on its DVD releases of Mexican serials. 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 production format in the United States, in which a television program runs for 20-25 episodes a season, on a once-weekly basis.


See RCTV and Venevisión

Telenovelas in Venezuela are mainly produced by RCTV and Venevisión. Like Televisa in Mexico, Venevision controls a large portion of the entertainment industry in that country. Some of Venevision's telenovelas were also broadcast on Univision in the United States until the late 2000s. Some major telenovelas produced in Venevision include Amor Comprado, Dulce Enemiga, Cara Sucia, Bellisima and Pecado de Amor.

Venezuela is one of the largest producers of telenovelas in the world, with up to 279 serials of this style having aired to date. Many of the major productions have been syndicated to Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, Japan and the United States, among other countries.

In the beginning, Venezuelan telenovelas followed the telenovela rosa format of a poor Cinderella who falls in love with Prince charming. Later in the 80s, writers began writing realistic telenovelas that reflected everyday life of the common citizens where the audience could relate with the characters with telenovelas such as El sol sale para todos, Natalia de 8 a 9 and La señora de Cárdenas. The most famous of such telenovelas was Por estás calles which ran from 1992 to 1994. Another popular telenovela genre was the mystery telenovela which involved a serial killer with telenovelas such as Angélica Pecado, La mujer de Judas and La viuda joven which became successful during their original run and were sold to several countries around the world.

In recent years, telenovela production has declined in the country especially after the closure of RCTV which was a major telenovela producer and exporter. Channels such as Venevisión end up producing only one national production per year. Government sanctions and regulations on media content has led to self-censorship of telenovela writers, also leading to reduced telenovela production.


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

Comparison with soap operas[edit]

The standard American, British or Australian soap opera is of indefinite length, sometimes running 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 creators and producers 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 written by Alberto Migré) had 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 or more people or families in romance or business. Many of them use stock themes like a cinderella (who is a rival of the male protagonist's evil girlfriend), two brothers after one woman (or two sisters after one man) or mistaken/unknown parentage. Typically, the hero gets shot (or some form of fate equivalent to that).[15][not in citation given][unreliable source?]

Telenovelas comprise the great majority of the dramatic productions by South American television networks, whereas in the United States, other formats like sitcoms or drama series are more popular on English language networks.

Accusations of white ethnocentrism[edit]

Some North American media outlets object to telenovelas on Latin American and U.S. Hispanic media on grounds that they are not representative of the racial make-up of the countries where they are produced, as they tend to have white, blond or blue-eyed people in major roles.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22] It has also been noted that characters in telenovelas who are economically successful tend to look more Caucasian. This is seen as a form of acceptance towards Caucasian models of beauty (present since Colonial times) and as a form of acceptance of inequality in terms of class, race and gender.[23]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Telenovela | Define Telenovela at Retrieved on 2013-07-21.
  2. ^ The word for "novel" in Portuguese is "romance", so "telenovela" should be "teleromance" in Brazil. But due to the popularity of the Spanish term, it was adopted in Portuguese-speaking countries, which helped fuel confusion between the novel and novella literary forms ("novela" is the word for "novella" in Portuguese).
  3. ^ "La telenovela en México 1958-2002: Forma y contenido de un formato narrativo de ficción de alcance mayoritario". Tesis de Maestría en Letras Mexicanas. Univ. Nal. Autónoma de México. 2002. 
  4. ^ Brown, William J. (Winter 1992). "Sociocultural Influences of Prodevelopment Soap Operas in the Third World". Journal of Popular Film and Television 19 (4) (Carnegie Endowment for International Peacen). p. 157. Archived from the original on July 18, 2008. Retrieved September 4, 2008. 
  6. ^ Beccera, Hector (April 17, 2015). A not-so-fond farewell to 'Sábado Gigante,' a corny, buffoonish show. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 17, 2015. “The telenovelas were better than American soap operas because the action was faster(.) Mercifully, unlike their slower-paced American brethren, they also were finite.”
  7. ^ "Yo soy Betty la fea’ entra al libro de los Guinnes Records
  8. ^ :: Latin Soaps Fever:: Tv listings
  9. ^ Vigo, Julian (1995). "The Latin American telenovela and Moroccan Popular Culture". Logos, Ethos, Mythos in the Middle East and North Africa. Special Issue (151) (Etvos Lornd University & University of Leeds). p. 48. 
  10. ^ Brown, William J. (1996). "Sociocultural Influences of Pro-development Soap Operas in the Third World". Journal of Popular Film and Television 19 (4) (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace). p. 157. Retrieved September 4, 2008. [dead link]
  11. ^ "Telenovelas in Latin America". 1999-11-08. Retrieved 2007-07-15. 
  12. ^ "Brazilian telenovela actor Rubens de Falco, star of The Slave Isaura, dies at 76". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2008-02-24. 
  13. ^ El 0597 está ocupado in Colarte
  14. ^ 4th edition published 2012, edited by Frank J.Lechner and John Boli, Wiley-Blackwell p.355
  15. ^ phorum - Amarte Así (Frijolito) forum. Retrieved on 2013-07-21.
  17. ^ The Blond, Blue-Eyed Face of Spanish TV
  18. ^ Blonde, Blue-Eyed Euro-Cute Latinos on Spanish TV
  19. ^ Racial Bias Charged On Spanish-Language TV
  20. ^ Black Electorate
  21. ^ Skin tone consciousness in Asian and Latin American populations
  22. ^ POV - Corpus Film Description
  23. ^ Uribe, p. 68-72

Further reading[edit]

  • de Lizaur Guerra, María Blanca (2002). La telenovela en México 1958-2002: Forma y contenido de un formato narrativo de ficción de alcance mayoritario. Master degree dissertation in Mexican Literature. Univ. Nal. Autónoma de México.»
  • Uribe, Ana B. (2009). Mi México Imaginado: telenovelas, televisión y migrantes. México: Porrúa
  • Villanueva Solorio, Mario (1997). Para una tipología de villanos telenoveleros en México. Tesis profesional. México: ENEP (FES) Acatlán. Mención Honorífica.