Thirty years later, there is still an unbeatable television format in Spain: desktop soap operas

The afternoons of Spanish television have always meant a fierce combat between big names, apparently infallible formats and yes, experiments that go wrong. However, there is an immutable constant in recent years, regardless of fashion and trends: the undisputed success of the Spanish romantic series in the afternoon, which drag immune fidelity to the swings of audiences. Are The most seen of the afternoonsnext to ‘Pasapalabra’.

The formula of success. The three queens of the afternoons are ‘Wild Valley’ and ‘The Promise’ in the 1 and ‘Dreams of Freedom’ in Antena 3. The first is broadcast around 17.10, the second about 18.00 and finally, dreams of freedom are broadcast at 15.45. All of them have elements in common: an era atmosphere, around the quitas of the rich and powerful, but with occasional eyes to conflicts between classes, in order to show contrasts between the different characters. And all with audiences that do not fall from 10-12% of Sharesometimes conquering 15%.

The Belén Esteban debacle cannot with the series. The phenomenon that is taking place with ‘is curious and significantTV family ‘ and its abysmal audiences in the afternoons of the1. Divided the program into two halves of differentiated content (after a few days experimenting with the Mix of presenters and styles), the audience falls into those blocks, but shoots with ‘wild valley’ and, above all, ‘the promise’, which with audiences around 15% of Shareis at your best. Then, when Esteban and his own arrive, he plummeted again, generating a curious parenthesis of low audiences to wrap the two stars of the afternoon of the1: the series.

The first queen of the afternoons. TVE was a pioneer, at the end of the eighties, of the success of the first snakes, the Venezuelan serials with ‘Crystal ‘as spearhead that in 1990 it came to give continuity to more moderate but very relevant successes, such as Brazilian ‘Dona Beija’, which broadcast the second chain. Its success is significant: it already pointed to the fetishism of the audiences with the afternoon strip (after the mornings had colonized them Soap Opeas North American as ‘Santa Barbara’ or Mexican serials like ‘The rich also cry’)

In fact, TVE was buried in protest letters when he dared to move momentarily to ‘crystal’ at noon. He won a wave and his last episode was followed by 8,630,000 viewers. An overwhelming 85% of Share.

Origins of the Spanish soap opera. Trying to ride the wave of unstoppable snake successtelevisions They began to replicate the phenomenon with series like ‘La Truth de Laura’ or ‘Black Moon’, which They began to introduce timidly Spanish cultural elements. The first success in that regard was ‘El Super’, in 1996, with costumbristas and realistic plots, which ended soon derived towards the introduction of historical elements, the authentic key to success (‘Valle Tavaje’ is set in 1763, ‘The promise’ at the beginning of the century and ‘dreams of freedom’, in Spain of 1958). Thus were born bombings such as ‘Loving in revolt times’, ‘bandit’ or ‘The Secret of Puente Viejo’.

Why that time. The tabletical strip is the most precious by soap operas, perpetuating those beginnings of the genre in Spain with ‘crystal’, which later strengthened phenomena like those of Turkish soap operas. In the target audience of these series, female and medium ageThey fit the typical Spanish customs for desktop, and that is what has impatible the long -term continuity of the series. It is an audience that appreciates the sumptuousness of natural decorations and historical places that prevails in these productions, as well as the budget investment that gives them a luxurious finish and that, in fact, is what has made TVE pass from three to two series during the time.

And now what. ‘Dreams of freedom’ in Antena 3, with audiences around 13%, certifies that the audiences want series, and that the1 lost an important asset when canceling the third of its afternoons, ‘the modern’, cut under a pattern very similar to the other two. Sergio Calderón, director of RTVE, counted in an interview that “the series of series audiences benefited from the expectation of the start of the chapter of ‘the promise”. However, “it was impossible to maintain, at emotional and also budgetary rhythm, three daily series in the afternoons.” Seen what has been seen, maybe they have to reconsider their strategy.

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