I realised that this year it's been 20 years since MyNetworkTv tried to launch with a schedule of American versions of telenovelas, the popular Latin American format of limited serialized shows that would have complete stories in approx 60-65 episodes each. It launched with little fanfare with a line up of Desire (a version of Colombian telenovela Mara Para Tres) and Fashion House (a version of Cuban telenovela Salir De Noche), the latter having the "star" castings of Bo Derek and Morgan Fairchild. Little to say, they didn't do too well but MyNetworkTV - already having shot several telenovelas, continued on with Wicked Wicked Games (a version of Venezuelan telenovela Aunque me Cuesta la Vida; starring Tatum O'Neal as the "star" casting) and Watch Over Me (version of Argentine telenovela Resistré). With all four telenovelas being rating bombs, they cut the orders of American Heiress (adaptation of Mexican telenovela La Heredera) and Saints & Sinners (version of Mexican telenovela Calle de las Novias), airing them in two hour blocks once a week before quietly pulling them off the schedule.

All shows are now available on Tubi and with two decades (!!) gone since the experiment I thought it was time for a retrospective I guess. Was it before or its time and would've been more successful in the streaming era, or was it always destined to bomb as Americans can't successfully translate what makes telenovelas so alluring to their audience? What was your favourite if you watched them?

When the shows first aired, I followed them. The production looked decent compared to daytime, but I know a lot of people have knocked the look. I thought action novelas were a bit better than the campier ones though I do wish all of them were available for viewing as I would like to watch Wicked Wicked Games again even though I preferred Watch Over Me at the time.

The early novelas (Fashion House and Desire) featured too many flashbacks and character episodes to bring people in. I liked the wedding event they promoted for Fashion House, but overall I thought Fashion House fell flat. I enjoyed Desire a bit more, but there were so many stories featured that it probably wasn't the easiest thing to follow for a casual viewer.

I watched Saints and Sinners in its entirety this summer as I had never seen the ending episodes because the show was cut off. I enjoyed it in a cheesy, plot heavy way. I thought the main romance between Roman and Julie was silly, but I really liked the secondary romance between psuedo priest Father Marcus and the devout Catholic Pilar. I thought the hotel stuff was interesting enough with Sylvia and Diandra. I thought a lot of the scheming worked. A lot of overacting (Robin Givens, Maria Conchita Alonso) and a lot of underacting (Tyler Cain and Scott Bailey).

I tried to start rewatching Watch Over Me as I thought it was fun at the time, but I didn´t get past the first few episodes. I might revisit it later in the year if it remains up.

There were a lot of actors who popped up there that I thought were good and got some more work later on (Robert Buckley, Natalie Martinez, Jaime Alexander) and others who popped up later on daytime (Jon Prescott, Scott Elrod) and others who I thought deserved more recognition (Jessie Ward, Kelly Albanese).

I think this must be the best example of someone who is a soap pro and someone who is a bit slow on the uptake: