Telenovela Watch - summer novelas

A couple of my recent columns covering most of the telenovelas that have debuted in the United States this summer are available here and here.

The one gem is SECRETOS DEL PARAÍSO on MundoFox, a Colombian telenovela based on an early 1990s telenovela that seems utterly modern – a serious, complex look at devastatingly sad, lonely people. It’s the best telenovela of the year so far.

Telemundo’s DAMA Y OBRERO started well, but deteriorated into a mess. While the novela does not work, its lead actress Ana Layevska is doing some fantastic work. It is depressing seeing an actress with this much to offer slumming at Telemundo in parts frankly beneath her talent; one hopes she’ll one day get a juicy role where she can really stretch and show what she’s got.

Telemundo’s MARIDO EN ALQUILER is the best of their current lineup. Its lead actress, Sonya Smith, is badly miscast, but she’s so good, the telenovela mostly works anyway. It seems to exist on two realities – one side has solid, grounded performances. On the other side, there is some appalling cartoon acting from Martiza Rodríguez, Daniela Navarro, and Alba Roversi that keep this novela from ever becoming more than just decent. It’s hard to believe the same directors can be responsible for such a contrast in the quality of performances.

Televisa’s LA TEMPESTAD on Univision, while not the horror show we were rumored to be getting based on the press in Mexico, isn’t very good either. The central problem is the green leading lady, Ximena Navarrete – a spectacular blunder to cast a complete newcomer, especially as leading man William Levy is best as a reactor - he needs to be able to bounce off of somebody else’s energy. But Navarrete gives nothing, her inadequacies especially show up opposite a fine actress like Nora Salinas. Laura Carmine, an actress who proved capable of giving subtle, sensitive performances in QUIÉN ERES TU?, overacts fiercely here, but is enormously entertaining and strangely moving in what is ostensibly a spoiled villainess role. LA TEMPESTAD at least has enormous camp value which puts it a step above the rest of the duds making up the network’s current prime time lineup.

Finally, there is the thriller SANTA DIABLA on Telemundo. Telemundo execs were boasting in recent Variety articles about how their telenovelas, being produced in Miami, better reflected American life – and then they unleash this telenovela which shows not even the slightest understanding of the American legal system. The surprises and revelations in this novela come quick, but they aren’t grounded in anything substantive, so they seem like cheats. It is better looking and better produced than Telemundo's other two current novelas, and Carlos Ponce is an amusing villain - his unappealing screen presence finally put to good use; but its protagonists, Gaby Espino and Aarón Díaz, are ultimately weaker and less interesting than Layevska and José Luis Reséndez on DAMA or Sonya Smith and Juan Soler on MARIDO.