Telenovelas Coming to a TV Near You

May 26, 2006 — -- The telenovela is the backbone of Latino TV.

The genre, characterized by drama and romance, has more than 2 billion viewers in 100 countries, and the United States is expected to jump on the bandwagon soon.

"I TiVo novelas just to see the make-outs," said Nely Galan, a top Hispanic TV producer. "You have never seen people kiss like this in your life. I'm sorry Americans don't kiss that way. And they're gonna learn."

Galan is betting on the popularity of the telenovelas, and so are all the American networks. She is developing telenovelas for NBC. CBS and ABC also have projects in development. The big three networks are taking the most popular programs from Latin America and translating them into English.

"Something that has worked in 85 other countries around the world -- I have a feeling it's gonna work here," Galan said.

Glamour and heartbreak are key ingredients of the telenovela. It's a combination that has dominated Spanish-language TV. In some cities like New York and Los Angeles, these highly stylized series actually draw more viewers than shows in English that air in primetime.

One week last summer, the telenovela "La Madrastra" was the most-watched primetime TV show in Los Angeles. Because it ran five days a week, it was also the second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-most popular show.

A new Fox network, which debuts this summer, will be completely in the hands of telenovelas. The network will produce two separate series, and each will run six nights a week with 65 episodes a piece.

Telenovelas are not exactly soap operas because they don't last for years and years. They last just one season, and have a beginning, middle and end. They always depend upon a romantic story line.

Mexican telenovela star Vivian Gray will be one of the stars in the new English language "Desire."

"There's always the poor girl, like the 'Cinderella' story. … At the end of every hour, there's a cliffhanger ending. We like to think of it as a guilty pleasure," Gray said. "It's just one of those things -- you can't take your eyes off of it because it's so juicy."