Desire is a telenovela set to debut at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on September 5, 2006, on the new American television network My Network TV. It is produced by Fox Television Studios.

The program stars Michelle Belegrin, Nate Haden, and Zack Silva. Haden and Silva play two brothers on the run from the Mafia. The show chronicles the two on their journey from New Jersey to Los Angeles. Along the way, they find themselves in a heated battle of passion, betrayal, deceit and murder over the woman they both love (played by Belegrin).

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 My Network TV, Twentieth will get these stations to surrender the show, allowing Twentieth to place it on a My Network 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 My Network TV.

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 off 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), has been turned into the other My Network TV weekday program Secret Obsessions. Romance author Nicholas Sparks and movie producer Denise DiNovi will help adapt the telenovelas for My Network TV.

The program will air for a 65 episode run. A show will run Monday through Friday for 13 weeks, with a "recap" show on Saturdays also airing at 8 p.m. Eastern.

References

• Telenovela ready to heat up U. S. TV (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Ailes was prepared for UPN's demise (Hollywood Reporter)

My Network TV shows | 2000s TV shows in the United States | Fox Television Studios shows