Telenovela Watch - Pasión Prohibida

This week's Telenovela Watch looks at the first weeks of PASION PROHIBIDA, the most intriguing Miami-produced novela in years.  An intricate chess match starring Mónica Spear, Rebecca Jones, Jencarlos Canela, Roberto Vander, Carmen Aub and Mercedes Molto – all excellent - it's the closest thing to a chamber play Telemundo has ever done.

My only concern is will Telemundo’s viewers respond to a story focused on ambiguity, where the violence is emotional rather than literal, PP is so unlike the rest of the network’s programming - lurid tosh rife with grisly torture and murders, sensationalistic bloodletting moving ever closer to the so-called torture pornography of the cinema, where a woman can be murdered with an electric drill, brain matter can splatter on a wall and a pregnant woman can have her baby kicked out of her.  If PASIÓN PROHIBIDA, doesn’t find an audience, will it degenerate into the network’s standard bunk; if we see narcos suddenly intrude on the proceedings around episode 50, we’ll have our answer, though it would be a shame to see something with potential of quality go to pot.