The groundbreaking Colombian telenovela that changed TV
Packed with meet-cutes, slaps, unexpected twists, and countless obstacles before a handsome man and the damsel in distress finally get their happily ever after, all sealed with a kiss as church bells ring, telenovelas have it all.
Born in the 1950s, telenovelas, as Latin American soap operas are known, are considered an integral part of Latino culture, a genre dedicated to telling stories based on emotions.
"It's almost in the DNA of Latin American cultures to show our emotions, so that you have a genre that tells a story based on the emotions makes complete sense," Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, a communications professor and telenovela scholar at the University of Georgia, told "Good Morning America."
For decades, telenovelas often followed a simple formula: a beautiful, young woman, often poor and naive, falls in love with an attractive and wealthy man. Despite many plot twists involving evil twins, accidents, and more, love conquers all, and they live happily ever after.
But in the late 1990s, Colombian writer Fernando Gaitán changed the traditional telenovela script, giving viewers a different kind of protagonist, the very antithesis of what telenovelas had expected of their leading ladies. With "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea," a name that left no room for guessing, primetime's television leading lady was a woman who was, by society's standards, ugly.
"It broke the mold of the traditional telenovela. How leading ladies were portrayed," Ana Maria Orozco, who originated the role of Beatriz Pinzon Solano in "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea," told "Good Morning America" of the telenovela she helped bring to life.
Betty, as she was affectionately called, was a middle-class, witty, and sweet-hearted economist who fell hopelessly in love with her casanova and hot-tempered boss, Armando Mendoza.
At the fashion company where she worked as an assistant to the president, Betty often felt out of place, surrounded by beautiful models, beauty queens and the rich and famous. But despite being the odd one out, Betty was brilliant, capable, bold and courageous, keeping true to herself in the face of ridicule and those who tried to tear her down.
"Beatriz Pinzon really opened up this idea of a protagonist that was nuanced, and so that opened up a whole new way of looking at the telenovela protagonist," said Acosta-Alzuru.
With "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea," creator Fernando Gaitán opened up not just a new way of looking at telenovela's leading ladies but also brought humanity back to how Latinos are often represented in media, particularly at a time when representation of Colombians was often marked by violence.
"Colombia, in the 2000s, was only seen through the lens of drug trafficking and the war on drugs," Jorge Enrique Abello, who originated the role of Armando Mendoza, said.
"If you traveled internationally, people would ask you if you lived in a jungle, if you had cocaine in your pockets to offer, if you were Pablo Escobar's cousin," Abello said. "People didn't know we were just like the rest of the world."
Despite the violence that plagued Colombia starting in the 1970s amidst a militarized crackdown on drugs in the South American nation, Gaitán portrayed a Colombia of mundanity, one in which people carried on with their lives in the midst of the conflict.
"Because in the midst of all the tragedies we are going through, we live these lives. We continue working, we love, we cry when a girlfriend dumps us," Gaitán told the Associated Press in 2001.
By showing the world the ways in which we are alike, "Betty, La Fea" reached unprecedented success, airing in over 180 countries, being dubbed in 15 languages and adapted in up to 28 territories, even earning a Guinness World Record in 2010 for becoming the most successful telenovela in television history.
"Ugly Betty," an American adaptation, aired on ABC for four seasons and starred America Ferrera who won an Emmy for her role as as Betty Suarez.
The impact of telenovelas has also insipred adaptations of other telenovelas like "Jane the Virgin," movies like "Casa de mi Padre," to giving Hollywood stars like Salma Hayek, Edgar Ramirez and Sofia Vergara their starts in the industry.
Twenty-five years after "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea" premiered and Betty found her happily ever after with Armando, the beloved telenovela is back on the global spotlight on Amazon Prime's "Betty La Fea, The Story Continues." After just one episode, the sequel gained the largest global viewership for a Latin American title in Amazon's streaming history.
"Latinos stories tend to be very successful," Acosta-Alzuru said. "Latino culture is attractive, it's colorful, melodramatic.
"I think the telenovela storytelling is extremely engaging and addictive," she said.
The series, which has been renewed for a second season, continues to bring Latino stories of connection and humanity to global audiences. It explores motherhood, friendships, Betty and Armando's relationship, and the future of their fashion company, Ecomoda, in a modern, post-COVID world.
"Betty's story is timeless, a story that continues to live on," Ana Maria Orozco said. "I'm excited to keep exploring this new season of Betty."
