History Main / Telenovela

* ''[[Series/LaEsclavaBlanca]]'': A series set in 1820s-1840s Columbia; the main character is the daughter of a wealth landowner who was raised by his slaves after the Hacienda was burned down. When her adopted family is recaptured, she embarks on a quest to help free them.

* ''[[Series/NewlyRichNewlyPoor Nuevo Rico, Nuevo Pobre]]'' ("Newly Rich, Newly Poor": A modern style telenovela about two men who were accidentally switched at birth and are now forced by their families to exchange roles in life after they discover the secret thirty years later. The story has a strong romance plotline throughout that moves the drama, but is also filled with humor and commentary that focuses on class consciousness.

Curiously, a variant of telenovelas is also predominant in the Philippines that's partly influenced by Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean dramas.[[note]]Telenovelas are very notorious for their [[LatinLover passionate declarations of love and steamy sex scenes]], which are reduced or removed in the Asian dramas.[[/note]] These historically tend to be similar to the pink style, though the current batch of series has experimented more towards the modern style, with emphasis towards class conflict, topics normally taboo to Philippine society, and an emphasis of teaching Christian values to the audience. Philippine telenovelas also include a subgenre called '''telefantasyas''', where it combines soap and fantasy elements together.

* ''El Extraño Retorno de Diana Salazar'' ("Diana Salazar's Strange Return") is the story of two witches and a warlock who lived in the times of the conquest and have been reborn in the 1980s as common people until a series of mysterious events awaken them to their memories and powers, triggering a life or death magical confrontation.

** ''El Extraño Retorno de Diana Salazar'' ("Diana Salazar's Strange Return") is the story of two witches and a warlock who lived in the times of the conquest and have been reborn in the 1980s as common people until a series of mysterious events awaken them to their memories and powers, triggering a life or death magical confrontation.

The telenovela has two main styles: the classical, or "pink", and the "modern". The first style centers on classic and melodramatic pure love stories with poor, NaiveEverygirl heroines that are often TooDumbToLive, while the second tries to [[GenreBusting use resources from other genres]] and explore modern social issues without neglecting the love story side. Stereotypically, the pink telenovela is a Mexican and Venezuelan staple, the modern style is predominant in Colombia and Brazil (though Mexicans and Venezuelans occasionally try their hand at it), and Chilean telenovelas are a mix of both. In the United States, the telenovelas brought over to cater to the large (and growing) Spanish-speaking population tend to be almost entirely of the "pink" variety.

* ''Series/EntreElAmorYElOdio'' ("Between Love and Hatred"): A dying factory owner reconnects with his estranged nephew Octavio on his deathbed. He had always treated Octavio like a son and names him as the inheritor of his fortune in his will, but only if he agrees to marry his protégée, a young woman named Ana Cristina. Marcial, a factory foreman and FalseFriend to Octavio, poisons his ear by telling him Ana Cristina was actually his uncle's secret lover. He plots with Octavio's ex-lover Frida to take the fortune and factory for themselves. (In)famous for its pair of villains: Marcial has an obsession with French emperor Napoleon and Frida develops leprosy over the course of the series.

* ''Decisiones'' (Choices): A Colombian-Puerto Rican anthology series about people suffering the consequences of their choices. It even got a DarkerAndEdgier spinoff named ''Series/DecisionesExtremas''.

* ''Series/EntreElAmorYElOdio''

* ''Decisiones'' (Choices): A Colombian-Puerto Rican anthology series about people suffering the consequences of their choices. It even got a DarkerAndEdgier spinoff named ''Decisiones extremas''

* ''Cristal'': Two women who raised themselves out of their CinderellaCircumstances, mother and daughter, cross paths; tragedy ensues as the former ruins the life of the latter while unaware of their real relationship. Remade several times, said remakes include the Mexican telenovelas ''Series/ElPrivilegioDeAmar'' and ''Triunfo del amor''.

-->-- Intro to '''Music/CamilaCabello''' [[Music/Havana2017 "Havana"]] video[[note]]Honestly, he could be proposing to her, her friend, the maid, his brother, someone's grandma behind the curtain, a secret agent behind the other curtain, he could be about to kill any of the above, or just about any other trope imaginable. Damn abuela turning the TV off.[[/note]]

* ''Los títeres'' ("The Marionettes"). Classic Chilean ''telenovela'' from TheEighties in which a Greek girl named Artemisa Mykonos gets [[BreakTheCutie thoroughly broken and humiliated]] by her evil cousin Adriana and her friends in TheSixties, and returns twenty years later as a BrokenBird -- both to have revenge on Adriana and to face her own ghosts. Famous due to the incredibly well-done script (written by Chilean playwright Sergio Vodanovic), the ShockingSwerve of an end that the BigBad [[spoiler: [[GoMadFromTheRevelation lost her mind]] when her plans failed, and then [[ManChild mentally reverted to a childish mindset]]]], and the enormously creepy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF6wKNJQGwI OP sequence]].

The word "telenovela" literally translates as [[ElNinoIsSpanishForTheNino "TV novel"]], but in some Spanish-speaking countries "novela" is rarely used for actual novels (instead often used as slang for [[RomanceNovel Harlequin/Mills and Boon-type novellas]], which telenovelas share a lot of tropes with), which is why the 'tele-' can be dropped and not confuse anyone. In some countries, like Chile, they may be called "teleseries" (spelled "teleser'''y'''es" in the Philippines), which obviously shows how prevalent they can be.

* ''Series/{{BIA}}''

* ''Series/{{Violetta}}'' is the Creator/{{Disney}} version of telenovelas, focused on teenage girls and made completely in Argentina. The story is about this girl, Violetta, who came back to her hometown Buenos Aires and discovered a talent for music. It was so successful that Disney later made another telenovela after this one: ''Series/SoyLuna''.

* ''Series/AlmaGemea'': An audience phenomenon at the time of the exhibition. It tells the story of Rafael, a man who suspects that his new and beautiful maid is the reincarnation of his late wife Luna. His second chance at love is at stake when jealous Cristina, responsible for the murder of her cousin Luna, decides to separate the new couple.
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* ''Anjo mau / Angel malo'': Another telenovela which has a GoldDigger {{Anti Hero}}ine, but now set in Brazil (or Chile, if we see its remake).
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* ''Series/ChocolatecomPimenta'' ("Chocolate with Pepper"), famous Brazilian soap taking place in the 1920's.
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* ''O Clone'' ("The Clone"), Brazilian soap about [[ActingForTwo a guy, his twin brother]] and [[UpToEleven his clone]], along with some stereotypes of Arab culture and very narmy soundtrack.
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* ''Series/Lalola'', a GenderBender romantic comedy about a HandsomeLech magically transformed into a beautiful woman in revenge by a jilted lover. It has been remade in several other countries including Chile, Peru and Spain and under different titles in Belgium, Russia and India.

* ''O Clone'' ("The Clone"), Brazilian soap about [[ActingForTwo a guy, his twin brother]] and [[UpToEleven his clone]], along with some stereotypes of Arab culture and very narmy soundtrack.[[index]]

* ''Series/TrailOfLies''[[/index]]
* ''Series/UmAnjoCaiuDoCeu''

* ''Series/ChocolateComPimenta'' ("Chocolate with Pepper"), famous Brazilian soap taking place in the 1920's.
* ''Series/OClone'' ("The Clone"), Brazilian soap about [[ActingForTwo a guy, his twin brother]] and [[UpToEleven his clone]], along with some stereotypes of Arab culture and very narmy soundtrack.[[index]]
* ''Series/DaCorDoPecado'' ("Shades of Sin"), one of Rede Globo's most successful productions, just coming after ''Series/AvenidaBrasil'' (from the same creator), in terms of viewership and worldwide exhibition, as it been sold to close to 100 countries. It tells the story of a love triangle between a botanist son of a millionaire, a poor black woman, and a rich and racist white woman.[[/index]]

* ''Series/DaCorDoPecado'' ("Shades of Sin"), one of Rede Globo's most successful productions, just coming after ''Series/Avenida Brasil'' (from the same creator), in terms of viewership and worldwide exhibition, as it been sold to close to 100 countries. It tells the story of a love triangle between a botanist son of a millionaire, a poor black woman, and a rich and racist white woman.[[/index]]

* ''Vale Tudo'' ("Anything Goes"), famous '80s Brazilian soap. Raquel, an incredibly honest woman, is the mother of Maria Fatima, an unrepentant GoldDigger who runs out of home after selling the family house behind her mother's back. The plot runs the parallel stories of Fatima trying to get her MealTicket thorough betrayal and backstabbing, and Raquel's reinvention and success thorough hard work.

* ''Series/{{Gabriela|2012}}'': A 2012 soap, the second of Rede Globo and Third's um geral adaptation of Jorge Amado's classic book in telenovela format, this time written by Walcyr Carrasco and starring Creator/JulianaPaes.