Telenovela is the Spanish and Portuguese word for prime time serial or soap opera.
Spanish language prime time serials, or telenovelas, are produced in all Spanish speaking countries, and the United States. Portuguese language telenovelas made in Brazil are also dubbed into Spanish for the Latin American market. Telenovelas are usually aired during prime time. Some of the most famous telenovelas have come from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Spain, and Puerto Rico. In Spain they are also called culebrón ("long snake") because of the convoluted plots and large number of episodes, usually in the hundreds.
However, unlike American soap operas, which can endure for decades with an ever rotating cast of players and characters, most Latin American telenovelas have an average run of four months, and have few cast changes within the course of a serial.
Telenovelas are not only immensely popular in Latin America, Spain, and in Hispanic communities in the United States, but also have a wide following in Russia, Eastern Europe, France, Malaysia, Singapore, China, the Philippines, and Japan as well.
In Argentina, they are usually produced by Telefe and Pol-ka, in Brazil they are usually produced by Rede Globo, SBT or Bandeirantes, in Chile they are produced by TVN and Canal 13, in Venezuela they are usually produced by Venevision or Radio Caracas Television, in Mexico by Televisa and TV Azteca, 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 soap operas, have started producing telenovelas with Latin American casts and, in the case of Telemundo, Mexican producers (Producciones Argos).
