Fernanda Villeli

"On several fronts, Senda prohibida set the standard for subsequent soap operas. The drama revolved around a love triangle, melodramatic twists prevailed, and each episode ended with a “cliffhanger” scene and an even more climactic scene on Fridays; it also featured a reiteration of the main plot points through discussions and gossip, so that if viewers missed an episode they could quickly catch up, and it concluded with a happy ending. As it was a complete success, this soap opera established Fernanda Villeli as one of the top writers in the industry, who in the following 30 years wrote about 60 soap operas. But Villeli’s story also represented a notable contrast to the plot that has become the prevailing model from the early sixties to today. Senda prohibida was a novel that lacked a heroine, not to mention a Cinderella. Nora, the country girl, was manipulative and did not get the man she wanted. The story also had a clear didactic message: it was a criticism of the custom men had of keeping a mistress and the damage this caused to the family nucleus. Villeli was very fond of depicting the negative effects a man’s affairs had on his children: the son, refusing to depend economically on the father he no longer respects, sacrifices his studies and goes to work to support his mother and sister; the daughter cancels her wedding at the last minute out of fear that all men are like her father and that she, like her mother, will be deceived. Villeli also drew an ironic contrast between Nora and her closest friend, who relies on her education and not her sexuality to get ahead and ends up marrying a rich man."

"Colgate’s head of production, Jesús Gómez Obregón, hired Fernanda Villeli to write the first telenovela, which was intended to reach housewives in the 6:30 p.m. time slot. Villeli was an experienced writer of radio soap operas. She chose one of them to adapt for television and condensed its 100 chapters into 50 half-hour episodes. Gómez Obregón also hired Rafael Banquells, a Spanish actor and director, to direct the series. The telenovela was broadcast live, as was the case with all of them until 1960."