Telenovelas evolved alongside technology

Telenovelas are Latin American takes on the soap opera

Telenovelas share much with American soap operas, with storylines about romantic affairs, deceitful family members, and vengeful villains. However, the key difference is that they are confined to 120 to 180 episodes, while a traditional soap opera is written as an open-ended narrative, allowing it to go on for decades.

The adoption of modern appliances led to the soap opera's rise

Soaps grew more popular as they transitioned to television in the 1950s. At the same time, the adoption of modern appliances like the automatic dishwasher and the clothes dryer offered housewives more free time, which soaps could now occupy. By 1970, CBS, NBC, and ABC were airing 18 daytime soaps.

'Sua Vida Me Pertence' was the first telenovela

The Brazilian show debuted in December 1951, kickstarting the genre in Latin America. Today, the form exists worldwide and is increasingly popular in Asia and the United States.

Soap operas are long-form, serialized melodramas

The genre was historically aimed at housewives, and its storylines often involve romantic entanglements and family dynamics that transpired over many years. Media scholar Robert J. Thompson called the soap opera “arguably the most unique contribution that broadcasting has made to the art of storytelling.”

How soap operas are being reimagined for the smartphone

Apps like ReelShort, FlickReels, and DramaBox purport to offer "micro dramas," but they strongly resemble soap operas, with serial melodramas about romance and murder. This NPR piece unpacks the trend, highlighting why this new format appeals to demographics that never connected with daytime soaps.

Some say soaps have been replaced by reality TV

Reality shows have much in common with soaps: massive melodrama, sweeping music cues, neverending plotlines, and a seemingly endless number of episodes. Some communications scholars suggest that’s why younger viewers are no longer interested in soap operas; reality programs provide the same content with the added appeal of being “real.”

Soap operas earned their name thanks to the sponsorships of soap brands

Many early 20th-century radio programs for women were sponsored by brands that introduced each new episode. Because these dramas were aimed at women, many of their sponsors were for household products, like soap. The association led some to refer to the shows as "soap operas," a title that stuck.

Soap operas are significantly less popular now than in past decades, though that might be due to a genre classification problem rather than declining viewership.

‘Yo Soy Betty, La Fea’ is history’s most successful telenovela

The show premiered in Colombia in the late ‘90s and inverted a classic telenovela trope: A beautiful woman meets a wealthy, attractive man, and (after many episodes) marries him. It has aired in 180 countries and in 2010 claimed the Guinness World Record for most successful telenovela in history.

Soaps often rely on cliffhangers, along with many other tropes

The shows are written to encourage viewers to tune in for the next episode, so they often withhold resolutions for as long as possible. This has become a recognizable trait, or a trope, for the genre. Much like other narrative genres, soap operas intentionally embrace tropes rather than avoid them.

Is streaming the new novel?

Ever since the rise of “prestige television” in the early 2000s, critics and viewers alike have argued that TV has replaced the novel by becoming the most significant storytelling medium, citing the cultural importance of shows like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” and “Succession.” This essay notes that streaming has strengthened that argument, turning episodes into chapters, and explains why this has been bad for storytelling in both forms.

Soaps launched the careers of countless Hollywood A-listers

Soap operas may not be considered high culture, but many actors who would go on to win television and film’s highest honors got their start with soaps. That includes Julianne Moore (“As the World Turns”), Morgan Freeman (“Another World”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“Santa Barbara”), and Michael B. Jordan (“All My Children”).

The first nationally broadcast soap opera was 'Clara, Lu, 'n Em'

The show first aired in Chicago in 1930, but was then picked up by NBC and broadcast across the country in 1931. The show followed three women who lived in the same duplex. Listen to a 1934 episode below, including the preshow's soap-centric advertising.

Soap operas were especially popular in the '70s and '80s

Shows like "As the World Turns" and "Love of Life" attracted tens of millions of viewers and had many high-profile fans, including Andy Warhol, Sammy Davis Jr. and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. This Time cover story from 1976 explores the pop culture phenomenon.

See a timeline of commercial radio history

Radio, as we know it, began in the 1910s. This FCC timeline traces the evolution of the medium over the century that followed, highlighting groundbreaking broadcasts, speeches, and technological breakthroughs.

Television transformed college football into a national spectacle

The rise of televised games in the mid-20th century expanded college football’s reach far beyond campus stadiums—turning regional rivalries into national events, boosting revenue, and cementing the sport as a Saturday tradition across the country.

See a timeline of the consolidation of the television and film industry, beginning with Vaudeville theatre traditions from the 1880s.

Soaps often air every day, leading to frantic production schedules

Unlike more typical primetime or streaming shows, soap operas often air every weekday. That means writers and actors often work every day to complete a new episode, making for a grueling schedule. It also explains why some of the dialogue and performances might seem a bit off-the-cuff.

The OJ Simpson case interrupted soaps’ daytime dominance, changing the genre

OJ Simpson's 1995 murder trial was broadcast for months, bumping soap operas from the airwaves. Fittingly, the trial provided the same salacious story lines, compelling characters, and open-ended narratives that soaps offered viewers. The key difference, of course, was that the Simpson trial was real life.

A 1980s soap opera helped popularize Napa Valley, broadcasting the idyllic wine country to millions of American viewers every week.

Opera melodies from centuries ago still appear in TV and movies today

Even if you haven't witnessed an 18th century opera, you've likely heard melodies from one in modern media like “Apocalypse Now” and “Sesame Street.” Today, sports events, movies, and television feature operatic melodies even over a century after they were written.

'These Are My Children' was TV's first soap

The Irna Phillips production featured many of the same themes as radio soaps. The key difference was that the low-paid actors now no longer had scripts in front of them, leading to some wooden performances and flubbed lines. Reviews at the time were rather negative, highlighting the melodramatic plots and overly expository dialogue. The show ran for less than two months.

How Netflix changed TV

In April 2017, Netflix reached 100 million subscribers worldwide—a figure that hit 300 million by 2025. With 50 million in the US alone, it has revolutionized the way people consume entertainment. Newsweek takes a look into the company's history and how it became the dominant force in entertainment.

Circulating libraries helped the novel's popularity surge

As literacy rates began to rise in the 19th century, so did the demand for reading materials. The only problem? Newspapers and books weren’t cheap, and newly literate middle-class families struggled to afford literature. That changed when booksellers began offering small fees for patrons who decided to borrow rather than purchase books. This was eventually called a circulating library, an innovation that would satisfy the burgeoning readership of novels and increase literacy rates further.

‘Twin Peaks’ was David Lynch’s ode to the soap opera

In the 1980s, David Lynch was primarily known as the director of art films like “Eraserhead” and “Blue Velvet.” But “Twin Peaks,” his primetime ABC show with writer Mark Frost, was a take on the soap opera, leaning into the genre’s tropes: stilted dialogue, affairs, missing person, and melodrama.

In recent years, Netflix has shifted away from scripted originals toward low-cost reality programming.

As technology evolved, so did Wall Street

Before the telephone was invented in the mid 1800s, people had to trade stocks in person. But once office telephones and computers became commonplace, banks and other financial institutions didn't necessarily need to have their headquarters near exchanges like Wall Street's New York Stock Exchange.

Operas first began at the end of the Italian Renaissance

Opera is a storytelling art form that has seen various eras including the Renaissance, Baroque period, Classical period, Romantic period, 20th Century, and Modern period. Each era has its own distinct style, reflecting the tastes of its people and prominent composers.

‘Guiding Light’ was the longest-running scripted drama in broadcast history

The show ran for 72 years, starting as a radio program in 1937, and eventually transitioning to television in 1952. Along the way, it launched several Hollywood stars, like Kevin Bacon, James Earl Jones, and Christopher Walken. CBS canceled the show in 2009.

The novel broke new ground by offering realistic stories

In this brief interview, Terry Castle, an English professor at Stanford, explains the origins of the early British novel. Castle details how the novel was produced for a newly literate middle class interested in recognizable characters and stories “about life as they knew it” rather than Greek and Roman myths or medieval romances. She also explains why a newly enfranchised female demographic was attracted to the fiction of writers like Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf.

Opera seria and opera buffa differ in their tones and themes

Opera began in the late 1590s with "Dafne" and evolved into two styles by the 18th century. Opera seria catered to elites with heroic, mythological themes, while opera buffa brought humor and relatable stories to wider audiences. Today, modern opera often tackles contemporary social issues.

The printing press spread novels widely

Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1440 changed how writing was reproduced. It allowed multiple manuscripts to be copied via movable type rather than by hand, making more literature more widely available. Over time, that change caused literacy rates to rise, creating a market for even more literature.

Broadway's songwriters began experimenting in the 1920s

Broadway’s early decades were heavily influenced by opera and vaudeville, but songwriters in the 1920s began exploring more narrative-based songwriting and psychologically complex characters. That trend would continue in the following decades, though it would evolve in even more nuanced ways.

A professor explains how podcasts built on radio's strengths

When podcasts were first produced in the early 2000s, they were often recordings of radio shows aimed at listeners who wanted to listen outside of the broadcast windows. Siobhan McHugh, an associate professor of journalism at Australia's University of Wollongong, argues that the form is built on radio's intimacy, amplifying the connection listeners feel with their favorite hosts.

Desi Arnaz devised the three-camera method for sitcoms

Early television shows were filmed with a single camera capturing multiple takes from numerous angles, making for an arduous filming process that sucked the energy from comedies filmed in front of live studio audiences. Arnaz proposed a three-camera setup that allowed the show to be filmed like a play, which soon become an industry standard.

HBO's success inspired Showtime, AMC, Netflix, and more

HBO’s success in the early 21st century bred plenty of imitators, who were now more willing to embrace darker, more challenging series like “Weeds,” “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad,” and “House of Cards.”

Nollywood is Nigeria's booming film industry

With storytelling roots in the Yoruba tradition of traveling theater troupes, Nollywood has slowly expanded its influence—and the world is taking notice. Over the last decade, Netflix invested more than $23M in the Nigerian film industry.

Country music's popularity skyrocketed in the 21st century, establishing itself as a dominant force on the Billboard charts in the 2010s.

Irna Phillips is the ‘the queen of the soaps’

She was responsible for “Painted Dreams,” the first radio soap, as well as “These Are My Children,” the first to appear on television. Later, she launched the shows “Guiding Light,” “As the World Turns,” and “Another World.”

Breaking down what makes HBO different

The network took an early gamble on longer episodes and more complicated narratives than a standard television drama. That paid off and, in the process, created what we now consider "prestige TV."

HBO is credited for the rise of ‘prestige television’

“Prestige television,” sometimes referred to as “the golden age of TV,” is a critical term for serious, darker, auteur-driven television from the late 1990s through the 2020s. HBO shows are often cited as examples of this style, with “The Sopranos” evolving the style and developing a model for the form.

The Latin Grammys first began in 2000

For many years, the Grammy Awards honored Spanish-language artists during the main ceremony. Over time, though, these artists became so popular that the decision was made to spin off a separate awards show: the Latin Grammys. The Latin Grammys honor music recorded in Spanish or Portuguese, but the voting process is much the same as it is for the traditional Grammys.

Before the invention of transistors, vacuum tubes made radio possible

Discovered by Thomas Edison, vacuum tubes allow electrical currents to travel through empty space. Later modified into a diode—keeping current flowing in only one direction—vacuum tubes allowed electronics to turn alternating current into direct current.

'Sex and the City' changed the way single women were portrayed on TV

After debuting in 1998, the comedy ran for six seasons on HBO, offering a frank take on the lives of well-to-do single women. Critics argue the show established a model for other shows to follow, including those that aired on HBO, like "Girls" and "Insecure." (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Coffee production took off in the 1800s

Coffee production in South America took off in the 1800s, with Brazil establishing itself as the largest global producer in the 1840s. Today, the country grows over one-third of the world's beans and consistently leads in global coffee production, with other Latin American countries like Colombia and Guatemala.

Radio quiz shows took off in the '40s

The concept took hold during the Great Depression, with 50 shows on the air by 1940, because they allowed families to imagine a financial windfall was just a few questions away. Although the genre had a slight downturn during World War II, it experienced a resurgence by the end of the decade, with 200 shows on the air.

The economics of romance novels

Romance is the publishing industry's most popular genre, with over 44 million units sold in 2025 alone. This episode of "The Economics of Everyday Things" podcast explores how the once-maligned form became the most reliable kind of book in the industry.

Tracing the evolution of mobile phones

The first cell phone was created in 1973, with a 2.4-pound handset and a battery life of about 30 minutes. Since then, pretty much everything about it has drastically changed, with more than 5 billion cellphone users across the globe (that's more than half of the world population). Learn about the evolution of the mobile phone and where the technology may go in the future with this four minute video.

Pop music is often influenced by opera, but rarely embraces the full form

An example is pop singer Rosalía's album "Lux," where she borrows from opera, particularly in her more theatrical approach to singing, without fully embracing the form's theatrics and storytelling.

How radio works

Antennae tune a radio to a particular frequency (determined by the listener on their radio's dial) while tuning out all the other stations being broadcast. AM, short for amplitude modulation, and FM, short for frequency modulation, decode audio signals differently, leading to differences in sound quality and the distance a station can travel.