Living in Santiago

Like in the States, those of us living here in the Dominican Republic also have a soap opera channel on our cable system.  It is 24 / 7 soap operas.  The channel is called TeleNovelas.  When they talk about the shows you hear them talk about the novela.  Most, if not all of the shows are foreign either from Spain, Mexico, and even the US.  So why post a blog entry on novelas?  Well for one they are popular and have a wide following.  There is a big difference between the soaps in the States and the novelas here in Santiago and that is what we will look at here.

First let’s take a look at the States, you have shows like “General Hospital” (running for 40+ years) and “As the World Turns” (50+ years).  These are the 2 longest running soaps in the US usually viewed in the afternoon right after lunch and before the news and talk shows.  They have web sites dedicated to them.  Many might think that is great.  Others might think that things move to slowly.  If you miss a week of shows you are still in the picture, sort of speaking.

Now for the Spanish Novelas, well like the name suggest, they are more along the lines of novels.   They even call their episodes – chapters.  Aside from the telenovela channel where they are 24 / 7, they tend to be more prime time in the 9-11 timeframe. Several years ago I was sitting in a café in Santo Domingo one morning eating breakfast when I heard 2 gentlemen at the next table talking about the novela that was on the night before.  So does this put them in the company with shows like “Dallas”? I would say yes and no.  They get more of a mixed audience at night, but shows like “Dallas” will make up script as the seasons go on to try and keep it on the air as long as possible.  I would place these shows in the company of the old miniseries like Hermon Wouk’s “The Winds of War” or maybe James A. Michener’s “Centennial”.  The shows are fast moving.  One night I sat down with my wife for a couple minutes and a lady had a baby towards the end of the chapter.   The next day the kid was 3 years old.  Like a novel they have an end.  Many of the novelas will run anywhere from 3 months to 1 year.  There is no set time.  They tell a story and wrap it up.  Once a novela is complete, it is replaced with another.  On the telenovela channel there are commercials that will show snapshots of the actors throughout their careers and the different novelas they have worked on.  You do not have time to setup a website or forum for these soaps.  No need to have polls asking if junior should get back together with the mistress.  By time the poll is complete they are way past that.

The themes have a wide range from pirates, to westerns, to modern day and everything in between.  Even though I do not watch them often or even for very long, I find them a lot faster, there is action from sword fights, to duals, to shoot outs. Some of them are more like an action movie than soap opera.  To me, the fast moving action, a story to be told, and an end would make the Spanish Soaps a much more enjoyable watching experience.  One of the downsides to novelas, when one ends and you do not care for the replacement, it might be a bit of a challenge to find one already in progress and learn all the players.