So many episodes...

I open a book. I read the first page. I read the next. I get to the 5th page, maybe I'll even get to the 7th...
I turn to the last chapter of the book and read the ending so see how the story ends. This is what happens I about 70% of the time I read a book. Mind you, I love reading. There have been plenty of books in my lifetime where I've read every single word of every single sentence on every single page from the very first chapter to the epilogue. There are also many books that seem so intriguing when I read the plot summary, that I sometimes feel my hands shaking as I open the file on my Kindle app. But a lot of the times I find myself bored by the first couple pages and skip to the end to see what happens. Whether this is my fault, because I have no patience, or the authors' because they couldn't capture the reader, I do not know.

Like telenovelas, the books I read contain a female and male protagonist. They fall in love, and there are many obstacles getting in their way. Whether it be financial issues, personal issues, ex-lovers trying to separate them, or even the protagonists themselves getting in the way of their own love in some form or another. Occasionally, there are a couple pregnancies thrown in there, maybe a kidnapping or two, and maybe even amnesia caused by a terrible accident. Regardless of how repetitive the plots are, the angst felt through the characters' struggles is addicting, and that's what keeps me reading romance novels over and over again. That is what I bet keeps the audience coming back to the ever-popular telenovelas over and over again.

With that said, because the plots are very similar with their "rags-to riches" stories, character angst, and dramatic declarations of love, I don't see why I shouldn't love telenovelas with a burning passion and dedicate weekends upon weekends binge-watching on the 100+ episodes and spending a good amount on tissues to wipe up all my snot and tears. They have similar plots and everything I love about a good story, however, the problem is that they are very long. As I mentioned before, I do not have the patience for long drawn-out plots, and prefer episodic television for most of my shows. However, I do believe that if I started watching a show that aired recently and was on it's 5th or 7th episode and it was not yet completed for at the 10th episode mark, I do believe that I would get caught up in all the drama, fall in love with the series, and watch it consistently day-by-day as intended. In that aspect, I also admire the scriptwriters' skills of putting a cliff-hanger at the end of every episode to make the audience want more. However, if a show is completed and the last episode has already aired, it is terribly likely that I would just skip to the very last episode and enjoy that.

It's not a good thing. It's unfortunate. It's a terrible habit, and it undermines all the hard work put into the show. This is especially so if it is known to be a wonderful series, but regardless, I just cannot bring myself to sit through all 100+ episodes when all I want to see is the characters getting their HEA (happily ever after). Telenovelas are a wonderful genre of TV shows that have provided generations one after another with proper entertainment. I can only hope that a really good telenovela starts soon so that I can watch it episode by episode and emerge myself in that world as well.