Acapulco Bay marked the introduction of telenovelas into Ghanaian homes in 1998. Heck, people's homes even burnt to the ground, since they would leave the candles lit during dumsor, whilst they trekked to watch through the windows of homes that could afford generators at the time. Some people were ingenious to use their car batteries to power their television sets.
I would say that after Acapulco Bay and Cuando Seas Mia, I was done with telenovelas. The only one that captured my interest afterwards was La Usurppadora on TV3. Unfortunately, I was in Secondary School at the time and had to rely on the recaps given by my stepmom and elder sister whenever they came to visit. Sigh... those were good times.
In University, I was the one who would tease friends who were always in a hurry to get home to watch the latest telenovela on TV. "The stories are always similar," I would moan. Let's face it, some of the story lines are so cheesy as heck, but you still find thousands of people glued to their television set when it's time to view these programmes.
I've always felt this way about telenovelas till one fateful Sunday afternoon,when out of boredom I decided to watch "Behind Closed Doors" on the Telemundo Channel on DSTV. To this day I still can't decide on whether that was a good or bad decision. I was hooked! Still am by the way. Not only are the stories so modern, once you put aside the "romance" aspect of the stories, you would notice that there is some good content in there.
Since I started watching Telemundo, I have noticed a pattern in almost all the telenovelas that I have viewed. Who knows, maybe you have noticed them too. So behold, the noticeable characteristics of telenovelas.
- Secrets: There is always a secret at the beginning of the story that becomes unearthed toward the end of the telenovela.
- Inter-social Relationship: A rich guy always falls for a poor girl and vice versa.
- Infidelity: Someone is always in an extramarital affair.
- Deception: The murderer in a mystery themed telenovela is always the nicest person you'd least suspect.
- Death: Someone always dies.
- Shady Business: There is always some fraudulent activity or drug dealing going on.
To be honest, as much as these themes recur in telenovelas, I still must commend Telemundo for trying to ensure currency in their storylines. There are always twists and turns, even though we know that ultimately, the protagonists are able to overcome obstacles and end up together.
At the moment I'm in love with A Passion for Revenge. Thank God for the DSTV Explora, since I get to record episodes when I'm busy so I can watch at a later time.
What are your favorites? Kunkum Bhagya? Would like to read your thoughts as well.
