Pajiba

Nerf,

No, it's much better when they're cooing incoherent nonsense in their own language. It's exotic, forbidden, confusing, and unbearably hot. Don't believe me? Watch any Selma Hayek movie and try to tell me she isn't 20 times hotter when speaking Spanish.

latest novela (which I understand is something similar to a mini-series)

Latin soap operas can get to 100 episodes or so but what sets them apart is that they are not running on for 35-40 years. They have a beginning, middle and end, even if all they are is retreads of the same story: Beautiful girl from poor background runs into handsome guy from rich background, they fall madly in love, their love goes against the wishes of rich guy's families and their intended marriage with beautiful, rich girl. Much conniving, sniping and scheming ensues to deny their true love. It fails.

And they're also famous for remaking popular series from years or decades past.

are there shows coming out of Latin America that would deserve a look, even if non-Spanish speakers needed to resort to subtitles?

Tough to say. Here in the US we are so wed to the Mexican TV giants. I know that my folks love watching the TV Espana news magazine.

I wouldn't recommend watching for the women, though. I mean, I guess some of them are very pretty. But they're often in soooo much makeup and giant hair that you can't get past it. But there's a lot of big-boobed evil women who wear slutty outfits, so you might like that.

The men, though? Rawr. So many hot Latin men. I highly recommend Teresa for Sebastian Rulli, and Triunfo del Amor (they're always about love!) for William Levy, even though he's Sofia's boyfriend.

Oh! I forgot (I could go on for HOURS about novelas, dudes), Eva Luna was so overhyped that they had this whole special PRE-show before the finale, all about how fabulous the novela had been. Even though it sucked.

Yup, Latin American soaps don't go on for decades. In most countries they have one or two a year per network. What Figgy said about the big hair and makeup in Mexican soaps is true. It's like Toddlers and Tiaras but with adults.

Also, I'd like to make a distinction: the hilarious soaps are usually from Mexico or Venezuela (even Joel McHale can't resist them http://youtu.be/8lxka9kfsvU), but Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and even Chile make some superb soaps, especially Brazil. They usually involve historic backgrounds and they're pretty addictive. Some are adapted in other Latin American countries; the plot is pretty much the same but the characters are revamped to represent each country better.

Ugly Betty was adapted from Yo soy Betty, la Fea, which was a hit everywhere from Colombia to Singapore. It's too bad that the U.S. version was more of a series instead of a traditional telenovela, but I guess the genre doesn't do well over there.

(Also, I'm guessing Eva Luna is based on Isabel Allende's book of the same name, although it was published in '87.)

As to which Latin American shows I would recommend, I have to say: I'm sorry. I don't watch TV.

Oooh yes, Brazil makes some really great stories. Well scripted and usual with some amazing production values. I love the historical pieces and some might even make some great movies. Mexico likes to do historical ones too, and some are even pretty good, with big costumes and good scripts. Generally they're pretty terrible, but there's a couple that are like really good romantic dramas, just drawn out for about 100 episodes. The original Corazon Salvaje was a massive hit in Latin America and Europe (and I think Asia) in the 80s. They tried to remake it but it was terrible.

Wednesday: Llena de Amor is hilaaaariously bad. That fat suit! How every part of her was fat but she still had the tiny skinny girl head because apparently they can't bother with prosthetics? Genius! Valentino Lanus, the guy who stars in that is pretty damn hot, too.

I first watched one of these with my SO and laughed about how all the plot points revolved around people not talking to one another (seriously, the whole thing would have lasted about 30 minutes if people simply communicated) and huge histronic emotional reactions.

Then I found out his family behaves exactly like this all the time.

I speak very little Spanish and I love telenovelas. They are so ridiculous and over the top. You don't really need to understand what they say, just watch the ridiculousness and you can figure out what's going on.

Figs, I have to find Teresa. Univision isn't listing it right now.

And Figgy is right, Valentino L'anus is quite a hottie.

Fixed that for you.

And yes, I'm immature. Suck the left one and move along.

Have watched a lot of telenovelas thanks to living in Greece. Most of them are horribly bad - the acting is so overdone that you don't need to know the language. Loved Mexico's "Corazon Salvaje" and Brazil's "Escrava Isaura" - watched them both by reading the Greek subtitles (instead of dubbing), and I actually learned some Spanish and Portuguese that way. Wish they would do English subtitles on all telenovelas broadcast in the states on the Spanish-language channels. I would watch them (and learn more Spanish), and it may help exclusively Spanish speakers learn more English.

I love how popular these things are in seemingly random countries. I have a good friend who's from Croatia and she says she watched all of Corazon Salvaje in her teens and loooooooved it. Who knew!

This is a well thought out article that I have bookmarked for future reference. Have a great day.