Night after night, in households from Puebla to Pico Rivera, tens of millions of loyal viewers tune in to their Spanish-language telenovelas, gasping at the seductions and betrayals on tear-jerkers like “Abismo de Pasion” (“Abyss Of Passion”).
Now network executives, desperate to capitalize on the addictive powers of prime-time soap operas, are copying the formula with English-language versions, starring marquee names. In some cases, they’re even borrowing the five-nights-a-week format.
Recently, Nickelodeon premiered its new nighttime soap, “Hollywood Heights,” a remake of an overly dramatic Mexican telenovela about a songwriter who falls in love with a rock star. Soap veteran James Franco, star of the film “127 Hours,” has a featured role.
Lifetime may pick up “Devious Maids,” a sudsy series about four Latina housekeepers in Beverly Hills, produced by “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry and co-starring daytime soap star Susan Lucci.
Both projects originated from Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa, which this spring opened a small studio in Santa Monica to dip into its vast library of telenovelas to adapt for English-language networks.
They’re chasing a big prize. More than 50 million Latinos live in the U.S. — the fastest-growing demographic group in the country — and they have more than $1 trillion in buying power. Latinos make up more than 25 percent of the under-35 set that is so appealing to TV advertisers.
More than half are comfortable speaking English and already are watching the major networks. And TV viewers of all cultures already are binge-viewing multiple episodes at once. The soap-like series “Desperate Housewives,” “Gossip Girls” and the “Dallas” reboot all were audience hits. These and other factors suggest the timing is good for a soapy five-nights-a-week serial.
Telenovelas are only one network initiative to reach Latino viewers. This summer, News Corp. plans to roll out MundoFox, a new Spanish-language broadcast network, in collaboration with RCN Television Group, a Colombian media company. The venture will draw from RCN’s ample chest of popular telenovelas.
Even “Modern Family,” America’s top-rated comedy, has winked at telenovela themes. Its final episode in May depicted two characters trying to adopt a baby in the border town of Calexico, where they were thwarted by a telenovela trifecta: a meddling priest, a mysterious cowboy and a controlling grandmother.
“The (characters) were going to a border town, and we said why don’t we play it like a telenovela?” said the show’s co-creator Steven Levitan. “We needed a way to make a serious and downer scene funny. What else has ridiculous plot turns and overwrought actors that are far too good-looking? It turned out rather good.”
On a spring afternoon near Glendale, camera operators maneuvered around the old “All My Children” sound stages. Several wore vests emblazoned with logos from another canceled ABC soap, “One Life to Live,” but now they were working on “Hollywood Heights.”
“Heights” is based on the hugely successful “Alcanzar Una Estrella” (“Reach for a Star”), which made its debut in Mexico in 1990 and spawned sequels, including one the following year that featured singer Ricky Martin. Co-produced by Sony Pictures Television, the show contains classic telenovela elements: betrayal, shock, longing gazes, steely-eyed glares and slamming doors — lots of slamming doors.
Nickelodeon will run the show in true telenovela fashion, with a new episode scheduled every weeknight from now through September.
“It will be like reading a summer book at the beach,” said Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon’s president of original programming and development. “Every day it’s a continuation of the story. It will end up feeling like a prime-time soap.”
The pursuit of telenovelas comes as traditional soaps are being scrubbed out. From a high of nearly 20 daily series, only four remain: NBC’s “Days of Our Lives,” CBS’ “The Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” and ABC’s “General Hospital.”
Now, a former “General Hospital” executive producer is running “Hollywood Heights,” and the show’s head writer also came up through the daytime-drama ranks.
How hot are telenovelas? Franco, a “General Hospital” graduate, will appear as part of a “Hollywood Heights” subplot.
The difference between the daytime soaps and their nighttime telenovela counterparts, the producers say, is that the canceled English-language serials appealed largely to older female viewers. The Spanish-language versions, however, draw multiple generations.
“These shows have been very successful in attracting families, particularly in the Latino community,” Nickelodeon’s Cohn said. “They have juicy stories and larger-than-life characters.”
