Desire (TV series)

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Desire title card

Desire was an American telenovela which debuted at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on September 5, 2006, on the new American television network MyNetworkTV, and ended on December 5. It was produced by Twentieth Television. The title, originally intended to refer to a set of telenovelas in the same timeslot, actually only referred to its first installment, previously subtitled "Table for Three".

The program starred Sofia Milos, Michelle Belegrin, Nate Haden, Kelly Albanese, Zack Silva, Jessie Ward, Tanisha Harper. Haden and Silva played two brothers on the run from the Gamarra crime family. The show chronicled the two on their journey from Bayonne, New Jersey to Los Angeles. Along the way, they found themselves in a heated battle of passion, betrayal, deceit and murder over the woman they both loved (played by Belegrin).

The program aired for a 65 episode run. The series finale aired on December 5, 2006. The show had 25 principal actors, 250 supporting actors and about 2,000 extras.[1]

Silva, Belegrin, and Haden (from left to right)

The program has also been sold to several international markets. In Asia, Star World started broadcasting the show on November 7, 2006 and in the United Kingdom Trouble have picked up the rights to show the series.

Whether or not Desire will be available on DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment remains to be seen.

1 Cast
2 Series Finale
3 Reruns
4 Performance
5 Origins
6 Theme Song
7 Profanity
8 International Sales
9 References
10 See also
11 External links

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Nate Haden	Louis Thomas
Zack Silva	Alex Thomas
Michelle Belegrin	Andrea Zavatti
Tomy Dunster	George
Eliana Alexander	Rita Thomas
Al Bandiero	Peter Evans
Kelly Albanese	Cara Gamarra
Gregg Strouse	Cully
Vivian Gray	Suzy Edwards
Sofia Milos	Victoria Marston
Chuti Tiu	Detective Rachel Lin
Jessie Ward	Penelope
Joe Tabbanella	Marco Manetti
Kamal Marayati	Dr. Bhatia
Daniel Bernhardt	Vincent
Xavier Tournaud	Christoph
Fiona Hunter	Erika
Ron Gilbert	Harold Zavatti
Ben Belack	Maurice Hutz
Chris DeRose	Joey Gamarra
Alexandria Schlereth	Jessica
Derika Abraham	Kate
Paul J. Alessi	Police Officer Jackson
Leyla Milani	Allegra
Ashley Greene	Renata
Queenie Alice	Queenie

[edit] Series Finale

It was a 2-part episode (Brothers & At The Waters Edge) that led to the big finale of Desire. Peter and Rita made a descison about their relationship by getting married again in front of their loved ones, which included the couples Alex & Andrea, Louis & Jessica and Cully & Erika. Alex & Louis rescued Andrea, but Louis ended up getting shot. They made it look like he didn't make it but he did anyways. George showed Victoria how much she meant to him by shooting & killing her. George died after being shot several times. The series finale gave us a big scare and a big relief that everything finally became better. Cara and Marco went under Witness Protection. In their last scene, they were shown living in a happy suburban neighborhood. The series rested with the main characters dancing at Peter & Rita's reception party.

[edit] Reruns

Although the MyNetworkTV hype promised "no repeats," more than half of the episodes featured flashbacks using previously seen footage. This was done as a courtesy for those who have missed previous episodes.

It has been reported that the numerous flashbacks seen on both "Desire" and "Fashion House" were the result of too aggressive editing. When first airing, it was then discovered they were "short", so flashbacks were used to fill in the time. If all these flashbacks were cut out, the result would be a 2-hour TV movie.

The execs at the network have promised that this will not be happening with the succeeding shows, premiering on December 6, 2006: "Wicked Wicked Games" and "Watch Over Me".

[edit] Performance

Initial ratings for Desire were modest. The debut scored a 2.0 rating and the first week averaged an 0.8 rating and 1 share. It averaged a 0.4 rating in the adult 18-49 demographic.[2], falling to a 0.3 in its second week.[3]

[edit] Origins

The show first emerged late 2005 as a September syndicated program for the stations on the FOX network to air in a weekend or midday time period. The idea was greenlit by Fox Television Stations Chairman Roger Ailes as a contingency plan for Fox-owned UPN stations. After receiving lukewarm response from stations not owned and operated by Fox, Twentieth Television decided to pitch the show for June 2006 on the premise that teenagers are out of school and planted in front of their TV sets, and that reruns dominate the schedules of both broadcast and cable networks. Desire had a few takers for a planned summer sydication run. For those stations who will not be part of MyNetworkTV, Twentieth will get these stations to surrender the show, allowing Twentieth to place it on a MyNetworkTV station in the market, thanks to a boilerplate clause in the contract that allows Fox to take away the show if it is carried by a network. It was also briefly considered for placement on The CW Television Network, but was taken off the table by Fox for use on MyNetworkTV.

The original format of the Desire syndicated program was for three telenovelas to run with different titles, with the Desire name as a sort of "container" for all the separate telenovelas within. This particular version of Desire is based of the Colombian television program Mesa Para Tres, or Table for Three. Changes have been made in location and in the plot to make them more palatable to Americans. It is unclear if, after the 13 week run of this edition of Desire, whether the name of the show would change. The second telenovela planned to run under the Desire banner, Salir de Noche (Out in the Night or anglicized as Fashion House), will now run concurrently on MyNetworkTV. Romance author Nicholas Sparks and movie producer Denise DiNovi will help adapt the telenovelas for MyNetworkTV.

[edit] Theme Song

The theme song is sung by Sheryl Crow and is called "Always on Your Side". It was released on the Wildflower CD. We 3 Kings also performed music in other various episodes.

[edit] Profanity

The Parents Television Council filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, saying that the word "shit" was used in scripted dialogue during the September 21st broadcast. The group also said the show was rated "TV-14," without the "L" descriptor that notes strong language. It argued that MyNetworkTV was "deliberately breaking the indecency law" and deserves "stiff fines."[4]

[edit] International Sales

Country	Alternate title/Translation	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule
United States	Desire	MyNetworkTV (first run)	September 5, 2006	Weeknights 8:00pm ET
Israel	Desire: Table for Three	Star World	November 6, 2006	Weeknights 8:00pm
Vietnam Thailand	Desire: Table for Three	Star World	November 6, 2006	Weeknights 9:00pm
Hong Kong Mongolia Malaysia Philippines Singapore	Desire: Table for Three	Star World	November 6, 2006	Weeknights 10:00pm
India Brunei Sri Lanka Pakistan	Desire: Table for Three	Star World	November 6, 2006	Weeknights 11:00pm
United Kingdom	Desire	Trouble	13th November 2006	Weekdays at 2pm, Repeated at 10pm.