AVENIDA BRASIL, which concluded its US run this week on Telemundo, is a telenovela I admire more than love. A genuine international hit from Brazil that, even dubbed into Spanish, was usually the highest rated telenovela on the channel it aired throughout Latin America, it is a bit disappointing we were not allowed to see how it would do in prime time in the US, Telemundo opting instead to air it in the day.Probably the best looking telenovela ever produced, my enthusiasm is diminished some by the fact it is also probably the most expensive telenovela ever produced, so what actually was achieved that others wouldn’t also achieve if given the same budget with which to work? My strongest aversion to the AVENIDA BRASIL is admittedly a personal one, but I absolutely loathe THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO of which this is at least the sixth or seventh unofficial adaptation I’ve seen in the last three years. My antipathy for revenge plots in general, always a crude, lazy story device, is exacerbated by their exceedingly overabundant presence in our culture. Is there a cop show on US TV where the tortured protagonist doesn’t have a murdered wife/father/fiancé/etc. to avenge?