Reality Fever Catches on Hispanic-Targeted New Programming
By Laura Martinez -- Multichannel News, 12/19/2007 3:50:00 AM
Telemundo’s next telenovela star might not come out of its growing roster of Latin American talent, nor from its recently launched acting workshop, but from Viva Hollywood, a new reality show set to premiere in the spring on Viacom-owned VH1.
Viva Hollywood, an eight-episode weekly reality features 12 bilingual contestants battling for $100,000 in cash, a role in a Telemundo telenovela and artistic representation by Latin World Entertainment.
The bilingual show, which was produced by U.S.- and UK-based independent World of Wonder, will be hosted by María Conchita Alonso and Carlos Ponce, but will also feature longtime celebrity astrologer Walter Mercado, a fixture in Spanish-language television, who will move to a Casa de los Locos (House of Madness) to offer “counsel and guidance” to the contestants.
A VH1 executive says there is still no set date for the show’s debut but that it will be out during the first quarter.
Viva Hollywood joins a growing list of reality television targeting U.S. Hispanics in 2008. Univision this fall kicked off auditions for the second installment of Nuestra Belleza Latina, a weekly show in which sixty Latinas will vie for the title of Nuestra Belleza Latina 2008, a contract as Univision personality and $200,000 in cash and prices.
For its part, Los Angeles-based Morusa Records last month aired the first of six episodes of Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen?, a dating game show that has already raised some controversy in the local media.
“Just as they say, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover,’ don’t judge this show by its name,” said Adrián Martínez, executive producer of the half-hour show. “Nobody is promising a green card or the guarantee of a legal status; it’s just a dating game.” Martínez company also produces Entre Familia TV, a bilingual travel show geared towards the family.
