Gringo Telenovelas?

When UPN and the WB merged, the decision was made to make WPIX-TV, Channel 11, the New York affiliate for the new CW network. I thought that the former UPN affiliate in the Tristate area, WWOR-TV (Channel 9), would happily return to showing local programming and eight o'clock movies in prime time and thus resume its role as an independent local commercial station. Not so fast - I forgot that the News Corporation, the parent company of the Fox network, owns WWOR-TV. That's right, media companies can own two television stations in one market. Hats off to Republican deregulation. >:-(

So what will Channel 9 be showing instead? It's going to be part of a daily nighttime serial service called MyNetwork. These serials will be like telenovelas, only they'll be for English-language viewers. One, "Fashion House," will be about a fashion design house (of course) starring noted eighties bombshell hasbeens Patricia McClenny (Morgan Fairchild) and Mary Cathleen Collins (Bo Derek). They haven't reverted to their original names; I just called them that for a cheap laugh. The inevitable cat fights between their characters, though, promise cheap laughs of the unintentional kind.

Resolved: We need BBC-style public television! Now!