TELENOVELA WATCH: TeleFutura Relaunches As UniMás

Univision’s sister channel TeleFutura will be relaunched as UniMás on Monday, January 7 with the premieres of two new Colombian telenovelas in prime time: MADE IN CARTAGENA at 9 p.m. ET and ¿QUIÉN ERES TÚ? at 10 p.m. ET.

MADE IN CARTAGENA is an action drama produced by CMO Producciones for Caracol. It is about a revenge plot hatched by Harvey Noriega, the leader of a gang of thieves, against a bank president named Vicente Domínguez de Alba after a heist goes wrong resulting in the death of Harvey’s son. Flora, a young dancer, is convinced by Harvey to infiltrate the life of Vicente to save her brother from a death threat.

Flora is played by Carmen Villalobos, an actress very familiar to US audiences from her lead roles in Telemundo telenovelas like SIN SENOS NO HAY PARAÍSO and MI CORAZÓN INSISTE. Miguel de Miguel, last seen in LA REINA DEL SUR, also on Telemundo, plays Vicente. Fernando Solórzano plays Harvey Noriega; the cast also features Tatiana de los Ríos, Khris Cifuentes and Matilde Lemaitre.

¿QUIÉN ERES TÚ? is a thriller produced by RTI and Televisa. The story is a takeoff of LA USURPADORA, a story most recently adapted in an excellent 1998 Televisa production starring Gabriela Spanic. The basic story: a woman agrees to take the place of her twin sister only to get ensnared in her sister’s life and fall in love with the sister’s husband.

¿QUIÉN ERES TÚ? stars Laura Carmine (AMOR BRAVÍO) as the twins, Julián Gil (LA QUE NO PODÍA AMAR) is the husband in the middle; the cast also features Isabel Cristina Estrada (VICTORINOS), Lincoln Palomeque (LA MARIPOSA), Marisol Del Olmo (SOY TU DUEÑA), José Narváez, Paula Barreto (OJO POR OJO), and Jorge Cao (EL ÚLTIMO MATRIMONIO FELIZ).

While more original telenovelas are always welcome, I must admit being a shade wary given TeleFutura’s problematic previous efforts at providing a prime time line-up of telenovelas: sudden schedule alterations, soccer preemptions and choppy re-edits shortening shows’ runs. Hopefully the change to UniMás will also bring more respect for their programming and consideration for their audience.

LA PATRONA premiere
Changes are also coming to Telemundo. Last month, Telemundo unveiled their new, redder logo, which has been accompanied by splashier promos for their programming. Three telenovelas on the network are nearing their end: ROSA DIAMANTE and PABLO ESCOBAR are in their final chapters; and CORAZÓN VALIENTE mercifully ceases this Monday.

LA PATRONA will take CORAZÓN VALIENTE’s place starting Tuesday, January 8 at 9 p.m. ET. Produced in Mexico by Argos Television, LA PATRONA is a remake of the 1985 Venezuelan telenovela LA DUEÑA. This adaptation is by Valentina Párraga.

LA PATRONA stars Aracely Arámbula (CORAZÓN SALVAJE (2009)) as Gabriela Suárez, the only woman miner in a Mexican town called San Pedro del Oro. She falls in love with Alejandro, played by Jorge Luis Pila (¿DÓNDE ESTÁ ELISA?), raising the ire of his mother Antonia, played by veteran actress Christian Bach, who sets out to make Gabriela’s life hell.

The cast also features Gonzalo García Vivanco (RELACIONES PELIGROSAS), Manuel Balbi (ROSA DIAMANTE), Christian de la Campa (RELACIONES PELIGROSAS), Erika de la Rosa, Alisa Vélez and Geraldine Zinat.

RELATED:
- TELENOVELA WATCH: UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR Finale Airing November 30; Plus, AMORES VERDADEROS, ROSA DIAMANTE & CORREO DE INOCENTES (November 24, 2012)
- TELENOVELA WATCH: UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR's Final Week; EL CAPO 2 Finale; AMOR BRAVÍO; ROSA DIAMANTE; Premieres: CORONA DE LÁGRIMAS, LA MARIPOSA (December 1, 2012)
- TELENOVELA WATCH: First Thoughts On CORONA DE LÁGRIMAS & LA MARIPOSA (December 8, 2012)
- TELENOVELA WATCH: Strong Start For LA MARIPOSA; LOS REY Loosely Inspired On DALLAS (December 15, 2012)
- TELENOVELA WATCH: Best & Worst Of The Year (January 1, 2013)

R.G. Morin writes a regular column for We Love Soaps, "Telenovela Watch: A weekly look at the world of telenovelas for non-Spanish speakers." For feedback or questions, you can email R.G. Morin at argeemorin@hotmail.com.