Television

TV: Reality series promises 'fierce competition'

12:28 PM CDT on Monday, May 22, 2006

By RICHARD HUFF / New York Daily News

Look out, Miss America!

Next season, Univision, which airs locally on KUVN-TV (Channel 23), will launch a reality show, Belleza Latina, which will blend a reality show with a beauty pageant.

"Beauty pageants are a staple of Latin culture," Belleza Latina host Giselle Blondett says. "But viewers want to get to know the women behind the sash."

And will they.

The contest will gather "the most gorgeous Latin women in the U.S. in a fierce competition," according to the network's description of the show, which will air on weekends.

Ironically, for years, the folks who run the Miss America pageant have tried to boost the audience for the fading concept by adding reality twists.

Belleza Latina is one of two new entertainment programs being added to Univision's weekend lineup in the fall.

The other, Cantando por un Sueno, is a spinoff of last season's Bailando por un Sueno, which itself was similar to Dancing With the Stars. This season, rather than dancing, contestants will sing. They'll be paired with real celebrity singers, who will coach them to perform on television. The twist, however, is that the people are competing not for the spotlight but to reach their goals, which are usually to help a family member.

Aside from the reality fare, the network will add four new prime-time novelas, according to Alina Falcon, Univision's executive vice president.

They are Heridas de Amor, the story of a love-hate relationship set against bitter rivalries, family disarray and financial ruin; Duelo de Pasiones, a series filmed on a coffee plantation in Mexico; La Verdad Oculta, a tale of a wrongfully imprisoned ex-con and a beautiful woman who may or may not aid him, and La Fea Mas Bella, which is billed as a nontraditional novela about a girl who goes from being the "ugly duckling to a lovely swan."