Telenovelas

A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include ''teleserye'' (Philippines), ''téléroman'' (Canada, specifically Quebec), and ''sinetron'' (Indonesia).

Commonly described using the American colloquialism Spanish soap opera, many telenovelas share some stylistic and thematic similarities to the soap opera familiar to the English-speaking world. The significant difference is their series run length; telenovelas tell one self-contained story, typically within the span of a year or less whereas soap operas tend to have intertwined storylines told during indefinite, continuing runs. This makes them shorter than most other television series, but still much longer than a miniseries. This planned run results in a faster-paced, more concise style of melodrama compared to a typical soap opera. Episodes of telenovelas usually last between 30 and 45 minutes, and rarely more than an hour, except for final episodes. The telenovela combines drama with the 19th-century ''feuilleton'', and naturally evolved from the Latin American radionovela, according to Blanca de Lizaur.

The medium has been used frequently by authorities in various countries to transmit sociocultural messages by incorporating them into storylines. By the 1950s, Brazil became one of the first countries to produce novelas with high budgets and aimed both to the national and international markets. Mexico soon followed, and by the 1970s and 1980s the country started to engage more profusely in using telenovelas to shape behavior. This was particularly successful in introducing the idea of family planning.
The 1990s played a key role in the international export of telenovelas, thus the so-called 'Telenovela Craze' that spread in many regions in the world.

By 2018, some signs of fading popularity had emerged.

History

Brazil is considered the pioneer of the telenovela genre. In 1951 Brazil produced '' Sua vida me pertence'' ("Your Life Belongs to Me"), the first telenovela in the world. In 1952 Cuba released ''Senderos de amor'' ("Paths of Love") and Mexico released ''Ángeles de la calle'' ("Angels of the Street"), shown once a week. Between 1957 and 1958 Mexico produced its first drama serial in the modern telenovela format of Monday to Friday slots, ''Senda prohibida'' ("Forbidden Path"), written by Fernanda Villeli. 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.

Genres

Telenovelas tend to fall within these seven categories:
*Working-class melodrama, which is the most popular to date, easy to understand and contains less explicit content. This is heavily reliant of the common rags-to-riches plot, typically featuring a poor woman who falls in love with a rich man whose family spurns her, such as the ''Las Tres Marias'' ("Maria Trilogy", 1992, 1994 and 1995).
*Historical romance is set in the past, such as the colonial period (''Martín Garatuza'', 1986), the restoration of the Republic (''El carruaje'' "The Carriage", 1972), the late 19th Century (''El vuelo del águila'' "The Flight of The Eagle", 1994) the Mexican Revolution (''Bodas de odio'' "Weddings of Hate", 1982), and the 20th-century military dictatorships (such as '' Anos Rebeldes'' "Rebellious Years", 1992)
*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'' ("Wolves Crib"), ''La Casa al Final de la Calle'' ("The House at the Street End"), ''La Mujer de Judas'' ("The Woman of Judas"), ''¿Dónde está Elisa?'' ("Where's Elisa?"), ''El Rostro de la Venganza'' ("The Face of Revenge") or ''La Casa de al Lado'' ("The House Next Door"). Chile has produced this genre.
*Horror is a subgenre of telenovelas that is rarer than the rest, it can deal with anything of the horror genre, but the majority of these telenovelas deal with the themes of the supernatural like demons, witchcraft, ghosts, and the occult. It is one of the few subgenres that use special effects. It always portrays the main protagonist trying to find out the truth while at the same time confronting frightening events and the main antagonist which is always a witch or a warlock, demon, evil or vengeful ghost, or the devil itself such as El maleficio, El Extraño Retorno de Diana Salazar, and La chacala.
*Romantic comedy, which portrays love stories with some or much comedy such as ''Las tontas no van al cielo'' "Fools Don't Go to Heaven" or ''Yo soy Betty, la fea'' (the most successful telenovela in history).
*Pop band story portrays the lives of aspiring popstars such as in '' Alcanzar una estrella'' ("Reaching a Star", 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.
*Narcotraffic Recently narcotrafficer telenovelas have become frequently produced.

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

Telenovelas have geographically diverged into two major groups – the Latinovelas, and the Asianovelas, portmanteaus of Latin and Asian with ''novelas''. Telenovelas, in particular, are the most popular non-English-speaking scripted forms of entertainment in the world to date.

Novelas made in Spain and the Spanish-speaking Americas are widely popular in spanish-speaking countries and communities.

Novelas made in Portugal and Brazil are highly popular in Lusophone countries, with Angolan novelas also making their way recently.

Some novelas also have a huge following in Europe's Mediterranean and eastern countries, as well as in Asia and Oceania. Latinovelas are primarily responsible for the telenovela trend in regions outside of Latin America, which is known as the biggest producer of telenovelas up until the early 2000s.

The Asianovelas are dominating television programming through most of Africa and Eurasia, and have recently made inroads in the Latinovelas-dominated television in the Americas. In the Arab world, telenovelas are very 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. The medium has been used repeatedly to transmit sociocultural messages by incorporating them into storylines.

Millennial telenovela

In the 2010s, the terms "millennial telenovela" and "modern telenovela" have been coined to describe an emerging genre related to the telenovela. Based in the same culture, the target audience is much younger (the millennials); the typical storylines and melodrama were recreated to better appeal to this demographic. Commenters have written that a millennial telenovela will contain many of the following themes: it fits into contemporary politics and culture; has positive representations of LGBT+ people when present; features themes of female empowerment and the sexualization of the male body; involves use of social media; presents characters of moral ambiguity rather than in black and white, and with more complexity; contains intentionally comedic moments; and is centered on an unconventional family.

Though the term "millennial telenovela" was first used in 2016 when BuzzFeed and Telemundo co-produced a short series to cater for the emerging Latin American millennial market, it became more widely used in 2018 after the success of the Netflix black comedy ''The House of Flowers''.

The development of the genre may be a response to a controversial market practice of importing telenovelas to US channels, with a Univision and Televisa deal having to be renegotiated when traditional telenovelas fell in popularity around 2016; at this point, the majority of Hispanic people in the US were millennials, and "drawn to edgier and more fast-paced programs than traditional telenovelas." Though Univision did not start making its own hybrid shows, they began investing in online and multimedia programming, and bought into Netflix's original Mexican programming.

;Series described as millennial telenovelas
* ''Jane the Virgin''
* ''Much Ado About Nada''
* ''The House of Flowers''
* '' Luis Miguel: The Series''

Major producers of telenovelas

Some of the world's major producers of telenovelas include the following:
*North America
**United States
***Telemundo, Univision
**Canada
*** CBC ( Ici Radio-Canada Télé), TVA, Noovo, TFO

*Latin America
**Argentina
***Telefe, El Trece, Pol-Ka, Underground Producciones
**Brazil
*** Globo, RecordTV, SBT, Band, Manchete (defunct), Tupi (defunct) and Excelsior (defunct)
**Chile
***TVN, Canal 13, Mega, Chilevisión
**Colombia
***Caracol, RTI, RCN
**Ecuador
***Ecuavisa, TC Televisión
**Mexico
***Televisa, TV Azteca, Argos Comunicación
**Peru
***América Televisión, ATV, Inka Visión
**Puerto Rico
***WAPA-TV, WKAQ-TV
**Venezuela
***Venevisión, RCTV (defunct), Marte TV, VTV, Televen
*Europe
**Spain
***Telecinco, Antena 3, EITB (in Basque), TV3 (in Catalan)
**Portugal
*** RTP, TVI, SIC
**Germany
*** ARD ( Das Erste), ZDF, ProSieben, Sat.1, RTL
**Croatia
*** HRT, RTL, Nova TV
**Serbia
***RTS, BK TV, Prva, Pink
**Russia
***Channel One Russia, STS, NTV, VGTRK, Peretz, TNT, REN TV, TV-3
*Asia
**Philippines
***ABS-CBN, GMA, TV5
**East Timor
*** RTTL
**Turkey
*** TRT, Kanal D, Star TV, ATV, Show TV, Kanal 7, TV8, Samanyolu TV (defunct)
**South Korea
*** KBS, MBC, SBS, tvN, OCN, JTBC, Channel A, MBN, TV Chosun
**Thailand
*** Channel 3, Channel 7, Channel 8, One 31, GMM 25
**Pakistan
*** Hum TV, Geo TV, Geo Entertainment, PTV
**India
*** Zee TV, &TV, Zee Bangla, Zee Punjabi, Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada, Zee Tamil, ZEE5, Zindagi Sony Entertainment Television, Sony SAB, Colors TV, Colors Bangla, Colors Marathi, Colors Tamil, DD Metro, DD National, StarPlus, Hotstar, Life OK, Star One, Star Vijay, Star Bharat, Star Jalsha, Sun TV, Sahara One, Gemini TV, Imagine TV, ALTBalaji, Asianet

Telenovelas by country

Argentina

Argentina's telenovelas generally focus on melodramatic twists of traditional middle class life, with touches of comedy. Many telenovelas are broadcast by the main television networks, Canal 13 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 rebroadcast. Some well known youth telenovelas include '' Chiquititas'' ("Tiny Angels"), ''Rebelde Way'', '' Floricienta'', Muñeca Brava ("Wild Angel"), Violetta and ''Patito Feo'' ("Ugly Duckling").

Bolivia

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

In Bolivia, themes of drama, romance, music, natural landscapes, remote situations and adventure are common. Some are based on novels, historical and factual events. Such 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, and most of the productions take place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The majority of telenovelas shown on domestic television networks are international productions (imported from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Mexico). A lot of Bolivian telenovelas are produced by independent producers, since many producers are more dedicated to the country's film industry.

Brazil

:''See TV Globo, RecordTV, Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão, Rede Bandeirantes, Rede Manchete and Rede Tupi''

Brazilian telenovelas (more often "novelas") are both more realistic and apt to broach controversial subjects. These programs tend to showcase realistic depictions of middle class, working class and upper class individuals in society. Brazilian productions are the highest-budget telenovelas in South America. '' Escrava Isaura'' (1976) was a major hit in South America, the Eastern Bloc, Africa and China. ''Novelas'' usually last six to eight months at most in Brazil. One of the longest-running telenovelas in the country, however, is the teen-oriented ''Malhação'' (''Young Hearts''), which had aired from 1995 until 2020; as such, it is commonly classified as a Western-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 clear-cut line between "good" and "evil" characters, with protagonists often displaying weaknesses such as promiscuity, drinking, drug abuse, stupidity and excessive ambition, among others. Antagonists equally show positive features or motivations, including 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 instance, in the novela ''Belíssima'' ("Most Beautiful") in 2006, villainess Bia Falcão (played by Fernanda Montenegro) escaped a police siege and fled to France, where she settled with a boyfriend, living using a secret bank account in Switzerland that she had maintained prior. As well as this, it is not uncommon for a hero to be relegated to a secondary role due to an actor's lack of charisma. Besides the convoluted plots, Brazilian telenovelas also approach sensitive social issues and try to present some of the country's actual culture, occasionally in an idealized way.

Another important characteristic of Brazilian telenovelas is that they rely less on individual stars than other South 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 around two weeks before their airdate) so that they can respond to public reaction. Under this scheme, the occasional death or poor performance of the actor playing the main character may turn the production into a flop, which happened with the 1982 telenovela ''Sol de Verão'' ("Summer Sun") after the death of main star Jardel Filho and in 2016, in '' Velho Chico'' ("Old River"), after the death of lead-actor Domingos Montagner.

Canada

:''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.

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

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

Beginning with its tenth season in 2010, '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' was produced and broadcast in a style similar to the telenovelas format. This lasted until episode 21 of the twelfth season in 2012. '' Degrassi: Next Class'' also adapts this format for its broadcast on Family Channel.

Chile

Chilean telenovelas typically 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 Canal 13, and the public broadcaster Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), 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 telenovelas in Chile are set in a historical era such as ''Pampa Ilusión'' (1935), ''El Señor de la Querencia'' (1920), ''Los Pincheira'' (1918), '' Secretos en el jardín'' (1981) or '' Perdona Nuestros pecados'' (1953–1961).

Colombia

:''See Caracol TV, RTI Colombia, and RCN TV''

Colombian telenovelas such as ''Betty la fea'' ("Betty, the ugly one") often focus on comedic storylines. However, some are of a more realistic vein or are adaptations of novels.

The first Colombian telenovela was ''El 0597 está ocupado'', produced in 1959 by the ''programadora'' Producciones PUNCH. 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 localize 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.

Croatia

The first Croatian telenovela was '' Villa Maria'', made in 2004 by AVA Production. After Villa Maria, AVA made '' Ljubav u zaleđu'' (2005–2006), '' Obični ljudi'' (2006–2007), '' Ponos Ratkajevih'' (2007–2008) and '' Zakon ljubavi'' (2008). Telenovelas made by AVA were aired in more than 25 countries.

With Serbian FOX Televizija, RTL Televizija made Serbo-Croatian version of ''Yo soy Betty, la fea'' called '' Ne daj se, Nina'' (2007). After that RTL made ''Ruža vjetrova'' (2011–2013), '' Tajne'' (2013–2014), ''Vatre ivanjske'' (2014-2015) and '' Prava žena'' (2016–2017). Ring Multimedia production made '' Sve će biti dobro'' (2008–2009), '' Dolina sunca'' (2009–2010) and ''Pod sretnom zvijezdom'' (2011) for Nova TV. Nova TV itself made some telenovelas too: ''Najbolje godine'' (2009–2011), ''Larin izbor'' (2011–2013), '' Zora dubrovačka'' (2013–2014), '' Kud puklo da puklo'' (2014–2016), '' Zlatni dvori'' (2016–2017) and '' Čista ljubav'' (2017–2018).

Croatian telenovelas by AVA Production are very popular in Serbia too, so AVA created a branch office, AVA Film, in Serbia. AVA Film's first project is a Serbian telenovela called '' Zaustavi vreme''.

Dominican Republic

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 to be filmed and produced in the Dominican Republic.

Germany

:''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 ''Storm of Love'' ("Sturm der Liebe"), 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"), ''Storm of Love'' 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.

India

Indonesia

In Indonesia, a similar format exists called the ''sinetron'' (a portmanteau

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