So the stations left out in the CW merge start the MyNetwork Telanovela style shows this week.

The show runs like 6 nights a week for several weeks then they start a new one. Like a romance novel more than a soap opera.

I know this format is widely popular in other countries. Does anyone think it will fly in prime time here in the US against prime-time TV?

Now admittedly here the station was the old UPN station, so I'm not sure if the ratings can be lower than they were before all this happened?

As Daytime TV I would think it would work OK to have that format, I'm not sure it will survive against primetime. Although people might DVR it, I have too many shows I would want to watch in that time frame to keep up with something like that at night.

• RE: The new Network--MyNetwork Telenovelas.,Estee, 04:06 PM, 09-05-06
• RE: The new Network--MyNetwork Telenovelas.,SurvivorBlows, 04:29 PM, 09-11-06

We knew they were doing this on the cheap, but... Via Gregg Easterbook:

'Television Outsourcing Begins: The Wall Street Journal reported that MyNetworkTV, the new channel devoted to cheesy soap operas, is buying scripts from telenovela producers in Mexico and simply translating the scripts into English.'

Call that a good sign? 'cause I don't.

I actually happened to check some weird half-hour "preview" shows that MyNetwork aired last Mondaty night before the actual shows started on Tuesday -- I wasn't impressed.

The storylines looked pretty crazy and the actoring appeared totally subpar, while the outlandish storylines might be comparable to typical daytime TV soaps, the acting seems significantly worse. From what I read, MyNetwork is casting the shows with wannabe aspiring actors -- their website even lists open casting call information. MTV's Undressed had been acting.

Btw, the first week ratings weren't that great -- and my guess is they'll only get worse as folks lose interest (one of the big reasons the networks have always tended to stay away from serialzied dramas -- at least prior to the past few years -- is that not only do they repeat poorly, but the ongoing storyline tends to make it hard to attract new viewers as the season goes on.)