Telenovelas generally vary from 180 to 200 episodes, but sometimes specific telenovelas might be extended for a longer period due to successful ratings. The first telenovelas produced in Latin America in the 1950s were shorter, lasting between 15 and 20 episodes, and were shown a few times a week. As they became more popular and more technically sophisticated, they were expanded, becoming the leading genre in the daily prime-time schedule.

     Unlike U.S. soap operas that tend to rely on the family as a central unit of the narrative, Latin American telenovelas focus on the relationship between a romantic couple as the main motivator for plot development. During the early phases of their evolution in Latin America, until the mid- 1960s, most telenovelas relied on conventional melodramatic narratives in which the romantic couple confronted opposition to their staying together. As the genre progressed in different nations at different rhythms, it became more attuned to local culture. The Peruvian Simplemente Maria, for example, a version of the Cinderella story, dealt with the problems of urban migration. The Brazilian Beto Rockfeller presented the story of an antihero who worked as a shoe­ shop employee and pretended to be a millionaire; he became simultaneously involved with two women, one rich and one poor. An immediate hit in 1968, this telenovela appears to have led to the most dramatic changes in that nation's version of the genre: it introduced the use of colloquial dialogue, presented social satire, and offered new stylistic elements, such as the use of historical events in the plot, more natural acting, and improvisation.

     The Globo network,  Brazil's  largest,  which  was only  beginning  to  produce   telenovelas   in  the  late 1960s, soon took the lead and imposed these new trends  upon  the  telenovela market. Indeed, Globo owes its international recognition and economic powerhouse status to the telenovela. In the 1970s Gloho invested heavily in the quality of its telenovelas. using external locations traditionally avoided because of production costs. Gloho's export success forced other producers in the region to implement changes in production values and modernize their narratives to remain competitive. Mexico, for example, after dominating the international market for several years, had to adapt its telenovelas according to the influences of its main competitors, especially Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela.

     There are important national distinctions within  the genre in the areas of topic selection, structure. and production values. and there are also clear distinctions between the telenovelas produced in the 1960s and  those made in the 1990s. in terms of both content and  production  values.  As  Patricia  Aufderheide  has   pointed out,  recent  telenovelas  in  Brazil  "dealt  with  bureaucratic corruption, single motherhood, and the environment; class differences are foregrounded in Mexican novelas and Cuba's novelas  are  bitingly  topical  as  well as ideologically correct." In Colombia recent telenovelas have dealt with the social violence of viewers' daily lives, but melodramatic plots that avoid topical issues are becoming more popular. In Brazil, the treatment of racism is surfacing in telenovelas after being considered a taboo subject for several years.

     The roots of the Latin American telenovelas go back to the radio soap operas produced in the United States, but they were also influenced by the serialized novels published in the local press. The origins of the melodramatic serialized romance date back to the sentimental   novel   in    18th-century England, as well as 19th-century French serialized novels, the feuilletons. In the late-19th and early-20th centuries. several Latin American countries also published local writers' novels in a serialized form. However, the proliferation of radionovelas that would later provide personnel as well as expertise to telenovela producers started in Cuba in the late 1930s. According to Katz and Wedell, the Colgate and Sydney Ross companies were responsible for the proliferation of radionovelas in pre­ Castro Cuba. In the beginning stages of telenovelas in Latin America. in the 1950s. Cuba was an important exporter of the genre to the region, providing actors, producers. and screenplays. U.S. multinational corporations and advertising agencies were also instrumental in disseminating the new genre in the region. Corporations such as Unilever were interested in expanding their market to housewives by promoting telenovelas that contained their own product tie-ins. Direct influence of the United States on the growth and development of telenovelas in the region subsided after the mid- 1960s. and the genre slowly evolved in different directions in different countries. In the 1950s and early 1960s, telenovelas were primarily adaptations of novels and other literary forms. and only a few Latin-American scriptwriters constructed original narratives. By the late 1960s, local markets started producing their own stories, bringing in local influences, and shaping the narratives to particular audiences.

     Today, the leading telenovela producers in the region are Televisa, Venevision, and Globo, the leading networks in Mexico. Venezuela. and Brazil, respectively. These networks not only produce telenovelas for the local market but also export to other Latin American nations and to the rest of the world. Televisa, for instance. is the leading supplier of telenovelas to the Spanish­ speaking  market  in the United States. Since the mid­ 1990s. However, the supremacy of Televisa and Globo has been challenged. In Mexico, the upstart TV Azteca produced more contemporary telenovelas dealing with social and political issues as a way of challenging Tele­visa's hold on the audience. In Brazil, SBT, the second­ largest network in the country. attempted to increase its own production as well as coproductions with an Argentinean network, but high costs and low ratings for those productions pushed the network to rely on Mexican melodramas. which proved a challenge to Globo's supremacy. Marimar, produced by Televisa and broadcast in Brazil in late 1996. helped to solidify SBT as a serious player during prime time.

     However, the decade's success story was Betty La Fea, a Colombian telenovelas. A success in Latin America, it became a hit in the United States. boosting Tele­mundo's ratings. Betty La Fea was the story of the antiheroine. and the actress in the title role had to undergo hours of makeup to become La Fea, the ugly one. In this telenovelas the "ugly woman" becomes a successful businesswoman and gains the love of the hero without compromising her integrity. The story seemed to strike a chord among viewers in the region. and Betty La Fea became, like Simplemente Maria and Escrava Isaura. a landmark in the history of the genre.