"I think it's brought the world a lot closer together ..."

"I think it's brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I've ever seen is called television - but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent."
Steve Jobs


I get asked a lot about what Americans do in their free time. They'll say "If you were there right now (8pm) what would you be doing." My answer almost always is, exactly what we are doing right now watching TV.

A majority of Paraguayans do have TVs. Most only have the basic 3 or 4 channels. Those that are more well off will have satellite dishes. However Paraguayan television is not the same as American TV.  From what I've gathered there are only a few types of TV shows in Paraguay:

First is the Talent show. The two most popular ones (at least with my neighbors) are Rojo and Baile Conmigo Paraguay (BCPY). Rojo is like an American Idol for singers and dancers and usually has some pretty talented participants. From what I can tell BCPY is kind of like Dancing with the Stars. The dancing tends to either be really good, or really bad. The costumes are also always 10x more inappropriate, just saying I've seen more bare butts than I'd care to admit.

Second is the News.  Just like in America every day there is the Nightly News. (I've never watched TV in the morning so I don't know if they have Morning News as well.) The news here is for the most part similar to American news programs, however every once in awhile there is a story thrown in there that is completely ridiculous. One of my favorites was headlined "Dangerous game terrorizing countryside youth" ... it ended up being a story about the Ouiji Board.

Third is Talk Show/Panel Discussion show. I'm not sure the best way to describe these shows. Some of them are straight forward talk shows like Christina (which I'm pretty sure is filmed in Miami) to me is most similar to Jerry Springer or Maury.  Others are more unique. They are talk shows in the sense that they have "celebrity guests" but they aren't the typical talk show format, they are usually standing on an open stage with scantily clad dancers behind the. talking about completely random topics. Then there is one show I like called "No Somos Angeles" (We aren't angels) which I would call Paraguayans version of E! News, basically just random celebrity news. 

Fourth is badly dubbed American movies. No explanation needed 

Fifth is the Simpsons. Also no explanation needed. Paraguayans love this show. 

Sixth (and the reason for making this post) is novelas. Telenovelas are usually referred to as Spanish soap operas because they typically follow the dramatic style of American soaps. One thing that is different from American soaps is that Telenovelas have a beginning and end. They usually last less than a year. I am currently hooked on a Telenovela called "Los Herederos del Monte" (The Heirs of Monte) which is about 5 adopted brothers whose father dies and leaves a portion of their land to Paula his only biological daughter who comes to claim what is rightfully hers.

Who wouldn't want to watch these 5 every night?

Before I came to Paraguay, my Aunt Carolyn recommended that I watch Novelas to help me with my Spanish. I didn't follow that advice, but I should have. When I first started watching this novela with my neighbors at every commercial I was asking questions. (Wait, why was Juan so mad at Paula? Do people know that Julietta has a brain tumor? Why were Jose and Beatriz kissing I thought they hated each other?) but, today when I was watching and we got to through the whole episode I realized I hadn't asked one question and had actually understood everything that was going on.