Telenovelas – Popular Spanish TV Viewing

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Each year millions tune into Univision and Telemundo to watch the latest prime time telenovelas.  Having always been popular in Central and South America, telenovelas have gained greater popularity in the United States over the last few years, with many telenovelas now offering English subtitles so non-Spanish speaking viewers may enjoy the shows.  Here are a few of the telenovelas that are airing in 2011:

La Reina del Sur
Noted as one of the up-and-coming novelas for 2011, “La Reina del Sur” follows the life of Teresa Mendoza as she becomes a top drug lord in Europe.   Throughout the season, viewers will be able to watch in suspense as Teresa pursues the man who threatened her life, and works to avenge the death of her love.

Eva LunaPhoto by: Gaston de Cárdenas/Univision.com
Premiering in 2010, “Eva Luna” became a telenovela overnight sensation.  The novella centers around protagonist, Eva Gonzalez, a successful advertising executive determined to overcome life’s pains after the love of her life is murdered.  As Eva begins to rebuild her life, she unknowingly becomes involved with her former love’s murderer providing viewers with a unique story of romance and suspense.

Triunfo del Amor
“Triunfo del Amor” will be ending in May leaving viewers with only a few months to finish the exciting stories of Victoria, Maria, Max and Juan Pablo.  Late last year, viewers were introduced to this novella as they watched numerous unfortunate events fall upon the beautiful Victoria after becoming involved with priest-to-be Juan Pablo.  Although Victoria was able to overcome negative aspects of her life by establishing her own successful career and family, her past still haunts her.  This year will reveal whether Victoria is finally able to reconcile with her daughter, Maria, and if Maria and Max will finally be able to be together.

While telenovelas don’t have the popularity of other shows in the United States, they are starting to gain attention, as the country becomes more diverse.

I have never seen a telenovela before.  The ones that I listed above kind of sound like a cross between a soap opera and a prime time police/CSI type show.   I used to watch soap operas when I was in high school.  My sister and I would tape Days of Our Lives, and then watch that and Young and the Restless when we came home from school.  My husband laughs at me that I used to watch them, but really I find a lot of the shows we watch based in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre, are little more than soap operas set in another galaxy!  That’s really all that Star Trek: Deep Space 9 was .

Do watch soap operas? Have you ever seen a telenovela?  If they were available on a channel that you had access to, would you watch them?

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