Telenovela

A telenovela is a television serial drama produced primarily in Latin America that presents a continuous, melodramatic narrative over a finite number of episodes. Unlike long-running soap operas, a telenovela is designed to conclude with a final episode. The form emerged from radionovelas and early television productions in the mid-20th century and has since become a defining genre in Spanish- and Portuguese-language television. Most telenovelas air on weekdays and run for several months, typically totaling between 60 and 200 episodes, with each episode lasting about 30 to 60 minutes including commercials.

Content and production conventions center on romance, family dynamics, social class, and personal secrets, often employing heightened melodrama, cliffhangers, and resolutive endings. Common motifs include love triangles, incompatible marriages, illegitimate connections, and moral dilemmas. The production style relies on studio sets and rapid shooting schedules, with prominent performers and tightly scripted plots. Major producers include Televisa in Mexico, Venevisión in Venezuela, and various networks in Colombia and Brazil, among others. Telenovelas are widely exported and frequently adapted or remade for different markets; they are distributed through dubbing or subtitles to reach international audiences. The genre has influenced fashion, music, and popular culture in many regions and has adapted to streaming platforms, where classic and contemporary titles are made available globally.

Terminology and scope: the term "telenovela" combines tele- (television) and novela (novel). While most associated with Latin America, the genre's formats and storytelling have inspired similar productions elsewhere, though the term and conventions remain distinct from the traditional soap opera.