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Telenovela - Comparison with U.S. soap operas

Telenovela - Comparison with U.S. soap operas: Encyclopedia II - Telenovela - Comparison with U.S. soap operas

Unlike American, UK and Australian soap operas, which are invariably designed to theoretically continue indefinitely and indeed sometimes do endure for decades with an ever-rotating cast of players and characters, most Latin American telenovelas have an average run of eight months 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 the exception to the rule, with a total of 605 chapters (1974� ...

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Telenovela: Encyclopedia II - Telenovela - Comparison with U.S. soap operas

Telenovela - Comparison with U.S. soap operas

Unlike American, UK and Australian soap operas, which are invariably designed to theoretically continue indefinitely and indeed sometimes do endure for decades with an ever-rotating cast of players and characters, most Latin American telenovelas have an average run of eight months 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 the exception to the rule, with a total of 605 chapters (1974–1977), and a few cast changes within the course of the serial.

Telenovelas also have a different type of story than English-language soaps. A popular plot is that of a poor, beautiful girl that meets a rich and handsome guy. 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 gypsies, 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 spectaculary violent, gruesome, painful and gory end and the two heroes end up getting married and with a child, sometimes, even twins.

There are also stories in telenovelas that have never be shown on American soap operas, such as stories about people who have been cloned (O Clone) as well as women who have risen above poverty and slavery through prostitution (Xica da Silva).

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.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Comparison with U.S. soap operas", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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