2010 Upfronts: Univision Services To Add 20 New Shows

Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications Inc. has 20 new series slated across its networks for the 2010-11 television season, highlighted by the first entry from Univision Studios and a quartet of news shows on cable service Galavision.
Making its upfront presentation to advertisers here Thursday afternoon, Univision brings continued growth both on the screen and presumably from the 2010 U.S. Census, as well as serving as the Spanish-language home to the globe's most popular sporting event, the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off from June 11-July 11.
Topping the list on the main Univision service is Eva Luna. Appropriately enough, the initial Univision Studios production, made in concert with Venevision, focuses on ad exec Eva Gonzalez. The novella, slated for weeknight primetime run in first quarter 2011, sees the protagonist find love in Southern California only to discover that her man may have murdered her father.
Other Univision Studios co-productions: with Endemol, dance competition series Mira Quien Baila (Look Who's Dancing) and the Survivor-like Desafio: La Gran Batalla (The Challenge -- The Big Battle) from Univision Studios and BETV.
For its part, Galavision will add an eclectic group via El Peso del Matrimonio (Back in Wedding Shape), a reality show where long-married couples get a counselor and a fitness expert to rekindle their relationship and Detras del Saber (In Search of Knowledge), which demonstrates s how things work are manufactured.
Allá Afuera (Out There) spans the realms of adventure, science and exploration, told from the first-person perspective of filmmakers, visionary researchers and explorers, writers and photographers.
"Una Hora en Alerta" ("One Hour On Alert") is a programming block, including Zero Hour, which takes viewers through the countdown leading up to some of the most historic events as they unfold minute by minute; The Ultimates, the exploration of extreme speed and power, focusing on the scientific research behind notorious war-time explosions, and Trapped, detailing great rescues of our time.
Broadcaster TeleFutura has four novellas on tap: India, the 2009 International Emmy Award winner comes from Globo TV and explores the clash between different cultures and traditions; Dona Bela (Beautiful Lady), created for the network by RCN, follows a beauty who falls in love with the member of a prominent conservative family, before she is kidnapped by a businessman who uses and then abandons her; Rosario Tijeras, based on the international best-selling novel and film; and Regreso a la Guaca (Return to the Guaca), a miniseries that follows soldiers who suffer consequences after discovering a hidden fortune and elect to keep it for themselves.
TeleFutura also bolstered its theatrical roster Angels and Demons, The Bourne Supremacy, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Exit Wounds, Shall We Dance and Paul Bart: Mall Cop, among other titles.