SPANISH-LANGUAGE REALITY SHOWS STARTING TO STEAL SOME SUDS FROM THE SOAP OPERAS.

Byline: Rachel Uranga Staff Writer

Telenovelas, serial soap operas featuring polished cliffhangers and stunningly beautiful women, have been the staple of Spanish-language television for decades.

But the wildly popular reality shows that have taken over English-language networks are now beginning to crack - with a Latin twist, of course - the telenovelas' once impenetrable stronghold.

Copies of ``The Bachelorette'' and ``American Idol,'' shows that turned American television upside down and ousted sitcoms as TV land's standard bearer, are emerging as a dominant force on Spanish-language networks.

While telenovelas still enjoy a comfortable 70 percent market share of Spanish-language television in the Los Angeles market, the new reality genre has cornered a 10 percent share of viewers in just a few years and industry analysts say there is plenty of room for growth.

Drawing on the success of the telenovela, Spanish-language reality show producers thread together the high-drama of soap operas from a series of unscripted scenes.

``In English, it's more voyeuristic; in Spanish, it is more drama. There has to be a beginning, middle and end,'' said Leticia Juarez, media supervisor at Los Angeles-based Castells & Asociados. Many reality shows air every weekday, like soap operas, rather than the once-a-week schedule favored in English-languagge reality shows.

With titles like ``Nuevas Voces de America,'' or ``New American Voices,'' and ``Objectivo F.A.M.A.,'' or ``Objective: Fame,'' America's major Spanish-language networks have produced an unprecedented number of reality shows in the United States in recent years, with many more planned for the coming year.

For 2004 and 2005, Hialeah, Fla.-based Telemundo Communications Group Inc. and Los Angeles-based Univision Communications and its sister network Telefutura each announced they would release three new reality shows.

Mexico City-based Azteca America and Burbank-Based Lieberman Broadcasting are also producing several reality shows.

The Spanish-language media giants are betting that simply producing shows in Spanish will lure millions of bilingual viewers away from the English-language shows that rarely reflect the hues of the Latino community.

Nearly all the reality shows are variations of their English-language counterparts. But the sensibilities are far from middle America. Race is more frankly discussed, as are cultural issues. Absent is the blond bombshell, who often appears in telenovelas. And for many, conversations appear more intimate and resonate with people's everyday lives in Spanish.

Take, for instance, Telemundo's spinoff of ``The Bachelorette,'' ``Cenicienta,'' which bumped up the network's ratings among those 18 to 49 when it premiered last fall. Suitors vied for the heart of a twice-divorced mother, while her astrologer, a priest and parents advised her. Her divorces, a taboo in many Latin cultures, are concealed until the men have fallen for her.

The locally produced ``Gana la Verde,'' or ``Win the Green,'' is a ``Fear Factor'' of sorts, but with a cultural twist. Rather than a wad of cash, contestants compete for a year's worth of legal counsel from Beverly Hills immigration lawyers who work to get winners green cards.

At a recent ``Gana'' shoot, Roberto, a 24-year-old electrician living in the United States illegally for about four years, attempted to cross a narrow beam over grimy water at the Port of Los Angeles in hopes of getting legal help for a green card.

``I was here to get my papers,'' he said, still soaking from a fall into the filthy water. ``But I lost.''

Six immigrant lawyers and rights groups, including the Mexican American Bar Association, demanded last week that the show be pulled from the air, saying it exploits immigrants and encourages illegal immigration.

But the audience loves it. When ``Gana la Verde'' premiered last July, it beat out the English-language ``Fear Factor'' on the Hispanic Nielsen ratings, Juarez said. Just a few months before, ``Fear Factor'' appeared to have a strong grasp on the Hispanic market, she said.

Both ``Gana la Verde'' and ``Cenicienta'' illustrate how producers have twisted current reality shows to reach the Hispanic market.

Nely Galan, executive producer of Fox's ``The Swan'' and ``Cenicienta,'' or ``Cinderella,'' said she intentionally introduced taboos about race, class and religion, often avoided in English-language shows.

The show's star bachelorette, Minerva Ruvalcaba, had to pick a mate from Jewish, African-American and Latino men.

Galan said tinges of racism seeped into the conversation, and at one point, Ruvalcaba's family questioned whether she should go out with somebody who did not worship Jesus, another taboo in many Latino cultures.

``I can't imagine I could have told the story as honestly as I have in English,'' Galan said.

``This is an opportunity to talk about the issues in the United States that never get addressed on telenovelas.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Ruben Amarillo tapes Destiny Jean, left, and Alex Sanchez before a Hollywood Erotic Museum date for ``Buscando Amor.''

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer

(2) Ana Laura Nunez heads toward the water in San Pedro after falling while trying to cross a spinning plank to win a green card on ``Gana la Verde,'' or ``Win the Green.''

(3) Producer Eddie Brito sits in the production studio for the dating show ``Buscando Amor.''

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer