The Nigerian craze for Mexican soap operas

Nigerian soap operas/dramatic productions rocked our television screens back in the days (especially in the 80’s), transcending the 90’s from Cock Crow at Dawn, Village Headmaster, Mirror in the Sun, Behind the Clouds, Ripples, Mind Bending, to Supple Blues, Checkmate, Fortunes, among others. Foreign sitcoms, mainly from the US and Britain, gave Nigerians a fun and worthwhile viewing experience, such as The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford and Sons, Different Strokes, Mixed Blessings, Mind your language, Doctor in the House, Rising Dam, Some Mothers do have them, Rent A Ghost, among others. Unfortunately, they stopped broadcasting these shows and Nigerians had to content themselves with the stream of local productions thrown in our faces.

However, “Los Ricos Tambien Lloran” back in the late 80’s paved the way for a plethora of Latin American telenovelas (mainly from Mexico) and in some cases from Venezuela, to flood our screens. It was the first soap opera to rule the Nigerian airwaves in those days. After the recorded audience success, “Secretos de la arena”, “Nadie más que tú”, “La dama de la rosa”, “María de los Ángeles”, they successively took turns entertaining Nigerians with stories with a Latin American flavor. Unfortunately, sometime in the 1990s, Telenovelas broadcast came to an abrupt halt, closing the Latin American time book of exciting, exciting, suspenseful moments and intricate plots. Nigerians, especially those living in Lagos State (the center of the entertainment industry), had to make do with foreign genres other than drama, broadcast directly into our living rooms, especially from God’s own country.

However, the renaissance of soap operas on our screens returned strongly in 2005 with “When you are mine” with 238 episodes starring Paloma/Elena Olivares (Silvia Navarro), Diego Sánchez Serrano (Sergio Basanez), broadcast on African Independent television ( AIT) at 9:00 p.m. and MITV at 7:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. To say the least, at these times, especially at 9:00 pm, women, teenagers, children and, surprisingly, a good number of men were tuning in to the AIT frequency to see new episodes of the show. Great was the response to the soap opera that even with the epileptic electrical supply in the country at the time (which has not changed) families were eagerly seen turning on generators to watch, while those without one could be seen in open bars , nightclubs, local restaurants, shops, apartments of neighbors / friends with pleasure seeing the same.

The cliffhangers were always heart-stopping and at the end of each episode dissident groups emerged, giving their views on what happened in various scenes of the episode, what could and could not have been done by a particular character, whom they suspected. was the culprit, and a prediction of what would happen in the next episode. Missing an episode was missing a great moment! and those who missed it were seen the next day eagerly asking their friends in schools, offices, etc. They will tell you about the details. All the actors and actresses played their roles well and none fell short. The cries of Paloma, Diego, the three witches (Bárbara, Berenice, Ángela), Mariano, Fabián and other characters did not stop coming up in the discussions. It was a great story that kept Nigerians glued to their televisions at set times. Kudos to the writer, casting director, director and the entire team who made our viewing pleasure memorable.

“Catalina n Sebastian”, “The Gardener’s Daughter”, “Second Chance” also recorded good ratings. After the second chance concluded an American soap opera took over instead, unfortunately the Nigerians weren’t as receptive and I think the sponsors realized they shouldn’t have changed the winning brand, and they came up with another soap opera “Until my last breath” shown only in AIT and Fish Port Princess. Other television stations such as Galaxy, MBI (now defunct), NTA 10, STV, TVC have also taken advantage of the popularity of Latin American telenovelas and have/still air them such as “La mujer de Lorenzo”, “la Usurpadora”, “Esmeralda ”, “Camila”, “Rebeca”, “Rubi”, “La Revancha”, “Storm over paradise”.

Perhaps the beauty of these televovelas lies not only in their foreign origin but also in their content that reveals the realities of life encapsulated in betrayals, deceit, love, hatred, thirst for power and fortune, heartbreak, class distinction as an obstacle . to marriage, weakness of man, seemingly insurmountable mountainous challenges that man, regardless of race, nationality, tribe, gender, religion, faces on a daily basis. Suspense / suspense moments, intrigues, make you want to see the next episode. Love, the search for true love and happiness has a great projection in soap operas and tends to revolve around the plot of the story. Serenade (who is a stranger to this part of the world) is respectively seen in scenes where love is professed and reaffirmed. They certainly have a great culture of love.

The English voice-overs of the characters achieved with certainty through a high level of professionalism help non-Spanish speakers easily follow the drama that unfolds in the story. Imagine if it had been subtitled, not everyone would have been able to follow the ongoing dialogue. Another thing that they have in their favor is the musical themes. The main theme of “When you are mine” became a “soap opera anthem” on the lips of Nigerians (although we could not understand the lyrics of the song), but the rhythms, the chorus and the voice of the main vocalist made the difference. song a memorable one. La Usurpadora, Rebeca, Until my last breath also have good musical themes. Nigerians can clearly unravel certain phrases reflected in the dialogue process of the actors and actresses such as “My love, Love of my life, I swear, forgive me, on the contrary, Salu.”

However, certain negative recurring decimals such as unforgiveness, paving the way for revenge, the proposition of the theory of love as a justifiable reason for adultery and the pursuit of happiness, divorce, separation, single parenthood , lustful desires, top-revealing separation relegates Christians. doctrines to the background in a country where the Christian faith is presumed to be practiced. This has a tendency to send the wrong signals to people in other nations.

Despite shortcomings, soap operas have proven over time to be worth sponsoring and watching by the Nigerian population. I firmly believe that more of these exciting telenovelas will continue to hit our screens. Nigerians, however, are patiently awaiting the Latin American telenovela that will overcome the overwhelming effect that “The rich also cry” and “When you are mine” had on them.

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