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International Television Programs  Maria Caridad shares her thoughts about one of the most popular kinds of television programs in her country, Colombia. Ana María Orozco plays "Betty la Fea" Colombian Soap Operas (Telenovelas) Maria Caridad from Colombia The objective of this small written work is to describe one of the most popular kinds of television programs in my country. One important part of the life of Colombian people is soap operas, not all of the soap operas, only the new style of television programs. Colombian soap operas can be divided into two groups, the funny soap operas and the realistic soap operas. One example of the funny kind is "Betty la fea" (Betty the Ugly). Betty is the main character of the program. She is an intelligent, but really nerdy girl, who, despite having the best scores at the university and really good recommendations from her professors in the MBA program, is unable to get a good job. So, she takes a job as a secretary at a fashion design company (a place only for beautiful people). After many funny scenes, she wins the heart of all the country, who still are wishing that Betty finally obtains a promotion and the heart of her boss. I think this is a really successful story because it makes people forget their own problems and definds some important values of the Colombian people. An excellent example of realistic soap opera is "El fiscal" ( I don't know how to translate the name of this show.) This is the story of an honest lawyer, who works for the Colombian government hunting drug dealers. In the first chapter, his wife is accidently killed by a sicario (a kind of paid assassin) who was trying to kill him. After that, he is very lonely and falls in love with a young lawyer who happens to be the firlfriend of the assassin, whom she doesn't know is an assassin. This makes the story really complicated. I think these kinds of soap operas, which reflect the political and economic situation in our country and its problems of corruption and violence are really sccessful because they reflect the fears of the people in my country. Return to: Movies, Books, and TV Programs | Home Page TOPICS Online Magazine- ©1997-2008 - topics.mag@gmail.com - Published by Sandy and Thomas Peters