Does anyone watch telenovelas?

[Croney]

I started with the original El Clon (which I've watched in its entirety twice), then its remake. I've binge-watched many on Netflix, like Lo Que la Vida me Robo, Teresa, Velvet, etc. I try to avoid the drugs-and-crime ones but they dominate the genre.

I don't watch because they're great literature brought to the screen, I watch for the wide variety of conversational Spanish. I just finished watching Lady, La Vendedora de Rosas (based on a real person) and I was very glad for sub-titles because the slang and dialects were hard to follow.

[GatoGordo]

1. Its the next best thing to immersion to learn Spanish

My wife (latina) recommended it to me

[Croney]

2. She's right! Have you started one yet?

Sometimes it takes a while to get "hooked" on the story.

[GatoGordo]

3. Been watching for over 25 years.

Always the same plots... everyone is gorgeous (as are all soap opera actors) and rich. But great resource for learning inflection and nuance.

The downside is lots of physical violence. Women slapping women/women, men shaking women.

[Croney]

6. Yes, some of them are extremely violent.

And disappointingly homophobic. The one I just finished (Lady) used slurs constantly in any situation where one male character wanted to insult another.

[lunamagica]

4. I do, with my mother. El Clon is a classic. Those Brazilian Telenovelas

dubbed in Spanish are superb. Another on was Xica. I did see lo que la vida me Robo. My favorite ones are the lighthearted comedic ones like Papá a toda madre and Mi corazón es tuyo.

I'm really disliking the current trend of drugs-and-cime themes, though I'm now watching La bella y las bestias and I like it. Another thing I dislike is how now they are renewing and making "seasons" like American tv shows. The telenovela genre is something else, It's always told a story from start to finish with no hiatus, and I like it that way

[Croney]

5. Thank you for the tips!

I'm going to check those out; I haven't heard of most of them. Right now I'm trying Duenos del paraiso but it's all drugs and crime all the time and I will bail if I find a better one.

I started it because it stars Kate del Castillo, whom I saw in La Reina del Sur.

[lunamagica]

7. A couple of links

Un Papá a toda madre

https://www.univision.com/novelas/papa-a-toda-madre/capitulos


Mi corazón es tuyo

ETA: I just noticed the one YouTube doesn't include CC. Sorry!