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The MyNetworkTV telenovelas were an attempt by Fox Television to create a successful low-cost programming franchise by adapting Spanish-language telenovelas for American users. While originally planned for syndication, the format became the original lineup of MyNetworkTV. Six limited-run serials were produced, each running about 65 episodes.

MyNetworkTV planned to run original telenovela programming in HD year-round. New episodes aired from Monday to Friday, with clip shows airing on weekends that recapped the shows' storylines. Producers planned continuous cycles of thirteen-week serials. When one series ended, another unrelated melodrama would begin the following week.

The telenovela format was unsuccessful. An average of about 781,000 people tuned in to watch the telenovelas, according to Nielsen Media Research.[1] Under new network president Greg Meidel, production and development were halted and the lineup was canceled. "Trying to get people to watch serialized dramas every night on MyNetwork TV was asking the impossible," he remarked.[1]

The last episode of serialized programming, probably the Saints & Sinners finale, is expected to air by the end of September.[2]

Contents

[edit] Development

Paul Buccieri, Twentieth Television's programming chief, began discussing the novela format emerged in late 2005, inspired by his Latina mother-in-law's devotion to such shows. Fox originally intended to release Desire as a stand-alone syndicated program prior to coming up with theMyNetworkTVconcept.It added a second hour and planned to use the umbrella titles Desire and Secret Obsessions [3] They were intended to air in a weekend or midday time period.

Fox Television Stations Chairman Roger Ailes greenlit the ideas as a contingency plan for Fox-owned UPN stations. After receiving lukewarm response from stations not owned and operated by Fox, Twentieth Television decided to pitch the show for June 2006 on the premise that teenagers are out of school and planted in front of their TV sets, and that reruns dominate network schedules.

The novelas had a few takers for a planned summer syndication run. Twentieth made those stations surrender the show, thanks to a clause in its contract that allows Fox to take away the show if it is carried by a network. They was also briefly considered for placement on The CW Television Network before Fox decided to use them on MyNetworkTV. While Desire became the title of the first series aired, the two umbrella titles reappeared during the second and third seasons.

Jack Abernethy, chief executive of Fox Television Stations, said before launch that MyNetworkTV's six-day-per-week format is the wave of the future because a traditional schedule costs too much.[4] Each episode was said to cost an average of $200,000,[5] about one-tenth the cost of traditional prime-time shows.[6] National advertising spots sold for between $20,000 and $35,000 for a 30-second spot as of September 2006.[7] In addition, the typical My Network TV viewer was 44 years old.[2]

[edit] Production

The telenovelas are broadcast in high definition by affiliates with HD simulcasts and in letterbox format on standard definition broadcasts. Early shows carried a SAP signal carrying a Spanish audio track, but an alternate closed captioning channel with Spanish translation was not used. The shows were shot at Stu Segall Studios in San Diego.[8]

As a cost-saving measure, producers tend to hire performers with limited acting experience.[4] The same sets were reused in multiple shows.[3] Also, scripts were finished before taping starts, so that scenes on the same set can be shot out of episode order.[4] Each complete series was filmed in about four months.[4]

[edit] Comparison with Spanish Telenovelas

MyNetworkTV’s telenovelas were much shorter than the originals: about 65 episodes, rather than 120 to 150 hours. Each show was scripted, filmed and completed as a whole. The network could not shorten or lengthen shows.

In familiar telenovela form, shows often began with the tag “MyNetworkTV Presents.” Yet the beginnings of shows featured long flashbacks intended to refresh viewers. The first two rotations also added titles to each episode.

The daily format also featured the “Story” episode. These were clip shows that outlined the development of a major character. They were used in lieu of reruns. In addition, MyNetworkTV's shows featured white, black and Hispanic actors in prominent roles and often showed interracial couples, along with gay subplots.

[edit] Reaction

MyNetwork promoted its telenovelas as trashy melodramas, resembling prime time soap operas like Dallas and Dynasty. While these shows attempted to adhere to the telenovela format and tone, the network's executives and producers developed their own campy interpretation of the genre. They added characters and situations that differed from the Latin American originals. As telenovelas are inherently implausible and cartoonish, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic audiences scorned the new adaptations.[9]

Reviewers were resoundingly negative. For example, Robert P. Laurence of the San Diego Union-Tribune complained of "amateurish acting, cheap sets and tedious scripts."[5] Robert Bianco of USA Today remarked, "Think of the most incompetent soap opera you've ever seen, imagine something even worse, and there you have MyNetworkTV."[6]

MyNetworkTV's debut was far from successful. Desire scored a 1.1 household rating/2 share; Fashion House went up to 1.3/2.[10] Fox had sold about half of its projections of $50 million in advance commercial sales.[11]

Paul Buccieri said that English-speaking audiences needed time to understand the genre. "We're sticking with it—we believe in this product," he said.[12] Roger Ailes brought up MyNetworkTV in a Financial Times interview. "When I read the WSJ article[13] talking about TV stations and MyNetworkTV not doing well and all this crap, you should have seen us at Fox News Channel one year into it," he said. "I've had this job for a year and it takes a little time to get these things off the runway."[14] Also, an executive of another television network told TV Week magazine that the existence of MNTV was "a miracle" because it went from concept to reality in only six months' time.[15]

[edit] Ratings

The network averaged a 0.5 rating and a 2 share in the key 18-49 demographic. It averaged just over one million total viewers. The numbers dropped each night, according to Nielsen Media Research.[16] These numbers were significantly lower than the programming that aired a year before, mostly UPN and WB programming.[17] The telenovelas showed more hopeful ratings in markets like Miami, with large Hispanic populations.[12] News Corp. reported that the network was losing two million dollars per week with the all-novela lineup.[18]

The second pair of telenovelas premiered to even lower numbers than the first pair. Wicked, Wicked Games premiered to a 0.8 rating/1 share overnight rating during its first 3 nights, while Watch Over Me pulled a 0.7 rating/1 share those same nights. Both shows dropped by a 0.1 rating during the Monday-Wednesday period of their second week. The network had hoped for better debuts for the shows since they premiered in December, a time when the major networks usually air reruns of their prime time series and the viewer, presumably, would choose to sample programming on other networks.

After these lower than expected debuts, reports[19][15] surfaced of a schedule revamp for MyNetworkTV, which were confirmed to begin in March 2007 (see "Revamping the Schedule"). Network president Greg Meidel believed the low ratings were a result of viewers' difficulty to commit to the same program every night, especially with much higher-rated seralized programming (such as Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Lost) airing only one night a week on other networks.

[edit] Cancellation

On March 1, 2007, MyNetworkTV announced that it quit developing scripted content, putting an end to its slate of telenovelas.[20] The network had three more telenovelas in development, Friends with Benefits, Rules of Deception, and Crossed Loves. It tentatively planned to cut their broadcast schedule to one night a week by fall before announcing that all such projects were halted.

Under the revised schedule, two hour installments of this show and Saints & Sinners aired on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings through April. MyNetworkTV switched to one hour of each on Wednesdays for sweeps and never switched back. MyNetworkTVplans to run the shows until October,[21][22] when the remaining episodes will appear online.[23] MyNetworkTVPresident Greg Meidel previously said the network would air the complete runs of both shows.[24]

[edit] Overseas

In Canada, CKXT "Sun TV," a station in Toronto, showed the first two telenovelas in the late afternoon. TheMyNetworkTVserial lineup was broadcast in Australia as FOXTELENOVELA on the W. Channel.

[edit] References

  1. ^ MyNetworkTV will try Plan B Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Mar 27, 2007 by Scott D. Pierce
  2. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117958532.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
  3. ^ http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6355180.html
  4. ^ a b c Brooke Barnes. With sexy story lines, low budgets, News Corp. will launch MyNetworkTV. The Wall Street Journal Online. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  5. ^ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-fi-mynetwork31aug31,1,3684209.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews&ctrack=1&cset=true
  6. ^ http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/entertainment/columnists/jonathan_storm/15121967.htm
  7. ^ http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06269/724946-237.stm
  8. ^ http://www.dailynews.com/tv/ci_4274070
  9. ^ hPlot Twists for Genre By Luis Clemens -- Multichannel News, 10/16/2006
  10. ^ http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=47801
  11. ^ http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0609030319sep03,1,390611.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
  12. ^ a b Glenn Garvin (September 28, 2006). 'Ugly Betty' producer grows into his role. MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved on 2006-12-13.
  13. ^ http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06276/727067-28.stm
  14. ^ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/5b77af92-548c-11db-901f-0000779e2340.html
  15. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named tvweek11240
  16. ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds37089.html
  17. ^ No Ratings Increase for MyNetworkTV Dramas, TV Week, September 12, 2006
  18. ^ Heat Index; weekly rating (0-10) of sizzle & fizzle Advertising Age February 12, 2007
  19. ^ MyNetworkTV Mulls Change to Programming Strategy Broadcasting & Cable December 15, 2006
  20. ^ TVWeek.com ~ "MyNetwork TV: No More Scripted", TV Week, March 1, 2007
  21. ^ No upfront presentation from MyNetworkTV, Hollywood Reporter, April 25, 2007
  22. ^ MyNetwork takes it on the chin, rebounds, USA Today, [[June 11], 2007
  23. ^ MyNet nixes glitzy makeover, Variety.com, April 24, 2007
  24. ^ MyNetTV execs, affils: Change is good, Hollywood Reporter, March 9, 2007

[edit] See also