Telenovelas set to steam up KCOP's prime time lineup.

LOCALLY produced and Americanized versions of steamy telenovelas, the pan y mantequilla of Hispanic broadcasting in Latin America and the United States for decades, are coming to KCOP Channel 13 this fall.

L.A.'s UPN has scheduled the programs in the slots currently occupied by shows such as "Veronica Mars" and "My Name is Chris." The move comes in the wake of UPN's merger with The WB, which will result in new television network that will air on KCOP's cross-town rival, KVTA Channel 5.

KCOP is among l0 stations owned by News Corp.'s Fox Television Stations, Inc. that will air two hours of prime time soap operas filled with greed, lust and blind ambition Monday through Saturday supplied by the My Network TV.

Nine of the stations are UPN affiliates that were left in the cold when the new CW network gave first dibs on its programming to stations operated by UPN and WB financial backers CBS Corp. and The Tribune Co.

My Network TV is a hastily created partnership between two other News Corp. subsidiaries, Los Angeles-based Twentieth Television and New York-based Fox Entertainment Group.

Its first offerings, starting Sept. 5, will be two evening soap operas based on characters and story lines from popular telenovelas. The shows are a cross between a daytime soap and a mini-series in that new episodes will air five times a week but be replaced by a new story after several weeks. Saturday evenings will be devoted to recaps of that week's episodes.

The format of one show, "Desire," which is licensed from Columbian media company Caracol S.A., will have its scripts translated into English using American actors. The show chronicles the adventures of two brothers on the run from the mafia who discover they love the same woman. The second show, "Secrets," a drama about the violent corporate takeover of a fictional fashion firm, was licensed from Miami-based Xystus LLC. Both will be shot in Southern California.

Both shows, which will start production this month, were originally planned for first-run syndication, according to Twentieth spokesman Les Eisner. "The creation of CW gave us the opportunity to launch My Network TV with these shows, but all along we had always viewed "Secrets" and "Desire" as strong prime time programs."

Other potential shows under development for later in the season include "Catwalk," a supermodel search reality show similar to UPN's "America's Next Top Model"; another reality show called "Celebrity Love Island"; and a crime investigative series called "On Scene."

A Channel 13 spokesman said the station plans to air My Network TV programming in its current UPN slot between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The station now airs syndicated programming at 10 p.m. that leads into its late evening local newscast, but won't be announcing its full fall schedule until late summer.