TELENOVELA WATCH: DAMA Y OBRERO and COMANDO ELITE Premiere Tonight

A pair of telenovelas premiere tonight. On Telemundo, DAMA Y OBRERO takes over the 8 p.m. ET slot. A Miami-produced adaptation of a 2012 Chilean telenovela of the same name, it stars José Luis Reséndez, Ana Layevska and Fabián Ríos – a bit of sameness in the trio as all actors who have worked together before – Layevska and Reséndez in LA MADRASTRA, Layevska and Ríos in EL FANTASMA DE ELENA and MI CORAZÓN INSISTE, Reséndez and Ríos in last year’s CORAZÓN VALIENTE, but never all in the same project. In any event, it should be gratifying to finally see Ana Layevska, a delightfully inventive actress, once again in a leading role after watching her steal her previous three telenovelas at the network playing two antagonists and a supporting role.

The story from the press release: “DAMA Y OBRERO tells the story of Ignacia (Layevska), a young engineer from Beverly Hills who works at a construction company in Los Angeles with her boyfriend, Tomás (Ríos). After the two argue, Ignacia leaves the city and meets Pedro (Resendez), an apparently wealthy man who helps her forget her problems and with whom she begins a romance. Along the way, the two discover that despite the many obstacles conspiring to keep them apart, their love has the power to endure beyond all prejudices and social differences.”

The cast also features Felicia Mercado (EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA), Shalim Ortiz (UNA MAID EN MANHATTAN), Sofía Lama (ROSA DIAMANTE) and Tina Romero (UNA MAID EN MANHATTAN).

On MundoFox, COMANDO ELITE premieres at 9 p.m. ET. A Colombian series from RCN, COMANDO ELITE looks to be an action-packed tele-series following a team of highly skilled police and their undercover missions infiltrating guerrilla camps and the worst criminal gangs. I’ve read some Colombian press dubbing these series “tombonovelas” – cop novelas - to differentiate from the “narconovelas;” but the two genres in actuality seem to be two sides of the same coin – the productions focusing on drug traffickers usually feature the police trying to catch them, and it is not too hard to guess whom the cops on COMANDO ELITE will be after. The series stars Salvador del Solar (CORREO DE INOCENTES), Claudio Cataño (A MANO LIMPIA), Diana Hoyos (ESCOBAR), Carolina Acevedo (MARIANA Y SCARLET), Juan Sebastián Aragón and Julieth Restrepo (A MANO LIMPIA).

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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.