TELENOVELA WATCH: The Latest on AMOR BRAVIO, UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR & ROSA DIAMANTE! Plus, CORAZON VALIENTE & EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

AMOR BRAVÍO
It was an eventful week on AMOR BRAVÍO (weeknights at 10 p.m. ET on Univision) as the protagonists, Camila (Silvia Navarro) and Daniel (Cristián de la Fuente), caught riding in a storm, shared their first passionate kiss.  As this is a fairly traditional Televisa production, the audience is sure to see flashbacks to that kissregularly, anytime either character is in a solitary moment of reflection, you can bet that kiss is what they will be reflecting upon.  After the smooch, Camila fled to church where she pleaded that she didn’t want to feel for Daniel what she felt for Luis, her first love and fiancé who died in the first episode in a car accident.

TELENOVELA WATCH: Gregorio Pernía In CORAZÓN VALIENTE And His Work In OJO POR OJO, LAS DETECTIVAS Y EL VICTOR

CORAZÓN VALIENTE
Colombian actor Gregorio Pernía joined the cast CORAZÓN VALIENTE (weeknights at 9 p.m. ET on Telemundo) this week as DEA special agent Javier Falcón, leading a guns ablazin’ rescue of Miguel (Gabriel Porras) after he was captured by men working for the mysterious Colombian drug lord known as “El Verdugo (The Executioner).”  Later, Javier showed Miguel a photograph of “El Verdugo,” giving the audience their first look at the big bad of the Miguel/Fabiola storyline and we saw that “El Verdugo” sports a black mask befitting his name, like the villain of a Santo movie.  It somehow seemed entirely appropriate to the silly universe this novela is set.  Unfortunately, when “El Verdugo” took Fernanda (Aylín Mújica) to his bedroom and began undressing her, the black mask began to suggest something out of a sex shop.  Thankfully, he removed the mask before doing to deed revealing Javier is “El Verdugo” to the surprise of no one.  So, a mysterious hidden identity set up in Thursday’s episode is revealed by Friday’s, another example of the haste at which the story beats are played on this show.

It remains to be seen how Javier/”El Verdugo” is going to fit into this already overly crowded cast, but Pernía has proven time and again to be one of the most captivating and entertaining actors in telenovelas.  His performance earlier this year on Telemundo’s FLOR SALVAJE was nothing short of amazing.  Mariano, the character Pernía portrayed on that telenovela was extraordinarily complex and layered, a man utterly depraved and peverted, an obnoxious blowhard, frightening, predatory, covetous and murderous, yet, through Pernía’s charisma and consistent ability to find quirky, humorous little touches, Mariano inexplicably remained funny and even, at times, roguishly charming.

Gregorio Pernia Joins CORAZÓN VALIENTE

Colombian actor Gregorio Pernia (FLOR SALVAJE, OJO POR OJO) joins the cast of Telemundo's telenovela CORAZÓN VALIENTE starting tonight. He will be playing Javier Falcón, a DEA special agent.

Javier is collaborating with "The Executioner", one of the most dangerous criminals in the drug trade but has an important secret that will be a crucial trigger for the story.

Pernia has a 17-year career in the world of acting earning 13 awards including "Premios Simón Bolívar", “TV y Novelas Colombia” and “El Gran Aguila de Venezuela”.

CORAZÓN VALIENTE is the story of Angela Valdez (Adriana Fonseca) and Samantha Sandoval Navarro (Ximena Duque), two childhood friends from different social classes who, due to an unforeseen tragic event, are forced to separate from each other. They reunite as adults, transformed into two beautiful and courageous women when they both start working as bodyguards.

RELATED:
- TELENOVELA WATCH: Dramatic Irony on AMOR BRAVÍO & UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR; Plus, CORAZÓN VALIENTE
- TELENOVELA WATCH: AMOR BRAVÍO Premieres; Plus, CORAZÓN VALIENTE, UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR

TELENOVELA WATCH: AMOR BRAVÍO's Intelligent Women. Plus: UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR, CORAZÓN VALIENTE, EL ROSTRO DE LA VENGANZA

AMOR BRAVIO
So far, one of the pleasures of AMOR BRAVÍO (weeknights at 10 p.m. ET on Univision) is it features a pair of strong, intelligent women at the forefront with Camila (Silvia Navarro) and her best friend Viviana (Fernanda Castillo).

There was a wonderful sequence early this week as Camila, at work tending to the cow in labor, stayed firm as her mother-in-law Isadora (Leticia Calderón) tried to guilt her into tending for her husband Alonso (Flavio Medina) instead, recuperating from his heart attack last week suffered in the company of a prostitute. Even better was when Alonso came out himself, clutching his chest, to try and pressure Camila and she again remained strong, eventually adding that she wants a divorce. It is hard to remember the last time the guilt-trip from a convalescent didn’t succeed in a telenovela, so needless to say, Camila’s resolve was a welcome surprise. Another nice scene for Camila came as she was expressing uncertainty about her future to Viviana regarding her possible divorce and the fact that the ranch, La Malquerida, really didn’t belong to her but to her missing cousin.  Viviana tried to reassure Camila that her cousin would probably still allow her a place at the ranch to which Camila firmly stated, “No, I can only depend on myself,” a resolve of self-reliance often missing from these stories.

TELENOVELA WATCH: Dramatic Irony on AMOR BRAVÍO & UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR; Plus, CORAZÓN VALIENTE

AMOR BRAVÍO
This week on AMOR BRAVÍO (weeknights at 10 p.m. ET on Univision), Daniel (Cristián de la Fuente), taking on a new identity, landed a job on the ranch central to the novela, La Malquerida, and is stalking around, gathering intel, plotting his vengeance on the owner of the ranch, Camila (Silvia Navarro), who he believes was behind the plot to kill him.

TELENOVELA WATCH: AMOR BRAVÍO Premieres; Plus, CORAZÓN VALIENTE, UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR

The premiere week of AMOR BRAVÍO (weeknights at 10 p.m. ET on Univision) seemed to follow the current trend in telenovelas of starting with a bang – piling on drama early in an attempt to hook the audience – a trend I’m not particularly keen on, viewing telenovelas more as a marathon than a sprint.  Three episodes into AMOR BRAVÍO, the novela’s heroine, Camila (Silvia Navarro), has already been married twice and suffered the tragic loss of two loved ones, but it is difficult to connect with the drama as the characters have barely been introduced before they are biting the dust – it’s impossible for the audience to join in the mourning for characters they don’t really know.

TELENOVELA WATCH: ROSA DIAMANTE, PABLO ESCOBAR Starting Next Week; Plus, CORAZON VALIENTE

TELEMUNDO PREMIERES ROSA DIAMANTE & PABLO ESCOBAR
Telemundo announced this week their new telenovela, ROSA DIAMANTE, will premiere on Tuesday, July 10th at 8:30 p.m. ET, sharing the hour with UNA MAID EN MANHATTAN, which is in its final chapters.  The move to rush ROSA DIAMANTE out this week in half-hour installments seems designed to get the jump on Univision who is premiering the Jaime Camil/Lucero telenovela POR ELLA…SOY EVA the following week.  This tinkering with schedules is fairly common during premiere weeks between the rival networks and I imagine will get even worse when the third Spanish-language broadcast network, MundoFox, hits the air in August.

TELENOVELA WATCH: RELACIONES PELIGROSAS Finale On Monday; Plus: Who Shot Bernardo On CORAZÓN VALIENTE?

RELACIONES PELIGROSAS finale on Monday
The finale of Telemundo’s RELACIONES PELIGROSAS  (10 p.m. ET) is this Monday, info the network inexplicably waited until Friday to make public, leaving minimal time for promotion.  Finales almost always see a rise in the ratings, but how will viewers be aware Monday is the finale with only the promo at the end of Friday’s episode to alert them of that fact?

TELENOVELA WATCH: Gabriel Porras Joins CORAZÓN VALIENTE; Wedding Fireworks On UN REFUGIO PARA EL AMOR; Plus, Schedule Changes

GABRIEL PORRAS JOINS CORAZÓN VALIENTE
This week, Gabriel Porras (LA CASA DE AL LADO; DÓNDE ESTÁ ELISA?) joined the cast of CORAZÓN VALIENTE (weeknights at 9 p.m. ET), Telemundo’s action-oriented telenovela about childhood best friends Angela and Samantha, two girls of different backgrounds – Angela is the daughter of Miguel (Jorge Luis Pila), a bodyguard who dies in the line of duty saving rich Samantha - who reunite years later and become bodyguards, following in Angela’s late father’s footsteps.

Thursday Night Ratings: SCANDAL,GREY'S ANATOMY Up, TOUCH, AWAKE Down

The Thursday night Nielsen ratings are in. Below is a roundup of May 17 ratings reports:

From EW.com:
ABC’s GREY'S ANATOMY delivered 11.1 million viewers and a 3.9 rating, up 11 percent from last week and marking its best rating in three months.

TELENOVELA WATCH: EMPERATRIZ Coming To Azteca America; Plus, Short Takes!

EMPERATRIZ (weekdays at 1 p.m. ET, no English friendly options), a 2011 telenovela starring Gabriela Spanic, makes its U.S. premiere this Monday, May 14th on Azteca America.

A remake of a 1990 Venezuelan telenovela of the same name, EMPERATRIZ tells the story of Emperatriz Jurado (Spanic), a poor woman who falls in love with a rich man, Armando Mendoza (Omar Fierro), only to be abandoned by him, taking with him their newborn daughter. Emperatriz swears vengeance on Armando and vows to get her daughter back. The cast includes Bernie Paz as the male lead, Sergio de Bustamante as the villain, and Adriana Louvier as Emperatriz’s daughter.

TELENOVELA WATCH: A Look At RELACIONES PELIGROSAS; Plus, Short Takes!

A few weeks ago, promotions for the Telemundo telenovela RELACIONES PELIGROSAS (weekdays at 10 p.m. ET) announced the telenovela was entering a “nueva etapa,” or “new stage.”  When a network makes such an announcement, it sometimes means the story is developing naturally into its second or third act; but far more often, new stages are a reaction to stagnant or poor ratings.  The network is telling its audience, “You haven’t been watching the telenovela so far; well here is something new you may like more.”  This is certainly the case with RELACIONES PELIGROSAS, which has languished far behind Telemundo’s other telenovelas in the ratings all year.

TELENOVELA WATCH: No Spanish? Our New, Weekly Column Makes Telenovelas Fun for Everyone!

As the American daytime soap opera is in decline, the telenovela, a similar Spanish language art form, is thriving in the US. The dominant Spanish language network in the US, Univision, regularly finishes third in the 18-34 demographic among broadcast networks in prime time, trailing only Fox and CBS. Telemundo, the second biggest Spanish language network, often beats the CW in the 18-49 demographic. With Latinos representing the majority of US population growth over the next five years, networks are sprouting up in cable to cater to that audience; and this fall, Fox, teaming with Colombian media giant RCN, is launching a third broadcast network to challenge Univision and Telemundo.

Tuesday Night Ratings: CORAZON VALIENTE, EL TALISMAN, 90210, RINGER

Following February sweeps the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, ABC, Telemundo and Univision) tend to air reruns in March but there were some new shows on Tuesday night including the telenovelas and the premiere of CORAZON VALIENTE. Below is a summary of the overnight Nielsen ratings.

Among adults 18-49, FOX averaged a 2.0 rating, nipping the 1.8 rating for CBS in the key demographic. NBC averaged a 1.6 rating for third, beating ABC's 1.3 rating and the 0.6 rating for The CW.

WHAT TO WATCH: Tuesday, March 6, 2012

What's new in the world of soaps? Serialized scripted content is everywhere in 2012, The Year of the Soap, and we have your guide to the new programs airing on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 (It's "Super Tuesday"). Daytime TV, primetime, broadcast, cable, web series, we've got it all.

NOTE: Daytime soap times may vary in some local markets.

12:30 p.m.		THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS (CBS)
1 p.m.		DAYS OF OUR LIVES (NBC)
1:30 p.m.		THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (CBS)

PREVIEW: Telemundo's CORAZON VALIENTE Premiere's Tuesday Night

A growing number of our readers are watching the telenovelas on Univision and Telemundo each weeknight. For those who would like to start with one of these soaps from the very beginning, Tuesday night (March 6) is an opportunity. At 9 p.m. ET on Telemundo CORAZON VALIENTE premieres, replacing FLOR SALVAGE weeknights on the network. As with most telenovelas these days, Telemundo broadcasts English subtitles as closed captions on CC3.

CORAZON VALIENTE, which will feature special effects and action scenes, is the story of Angela Valdez (Adriana Fonseca) and Samantha Sandoval Navarro (Ximena Duque), two childhood friends from different social classes who, due to an unforeseen tragic event, are forced to separate from each other. They reunite as adults, transformed into two beautiful and courageous women when they both start working as bodyguards.