'Guerra De Idolos' Flops On Telemundo, 'La Querida Del Centauro 2' To Air 2-Hour Episodes

Telemundo is scrambling with their primetime telenovela block and their latest flop at night was "Guerra De Ídolos." The drama touted as the first musical telenovela for the Spanish-language network failed to receive traction from viewers and has been shipped to Saturday nights at 9pm/8c after only 2 weeks of broadcasting. Programming guides on cable stilled showed the series scheduled to air at 9pm/8c tonight, which seems to have been a last minute that executives change.

"La Querida Del Centauro 2", which just premiered on May 2 and has not faired that great opposite "La Piloto" on Univision, is taking over the time slot and airing 2-hour episodes. Previews on Telemundo still announced the next new episode for its usual time slot at 10pm/9c, but an on-air bug announced the new time slot for 9pm/8c.

"El Capo", which originally premiered at 10pm/9c after "El Chema," was not able to retain the latter's audience and moved to 8pm/7c last week taking over for "La Doña." Previously, "La Fan" starring Angélica Vale flopped hard on the network and was cut short. The last episode ended on a cliffhanger and teased a "second season," but no word on when or where that would air.

Telemundo is expected to announce their new programming next week at the annual Upfront event in New York City. The network was to brag about their amazing success last year under the theme of "shift happens" as for the first time in years they had a solid block that gave rival Univision major headaches. This year the picture is quite different and nothing on the network has been able to stick and catch on with viewers. Telemundo still has it's "holy grail" with Season 5 of "El Señor De Los Cielos" already in production and teasers rotating on tv.

Aurelio Casillas -the main character on "El Señor De Los Cielos"- cannot come soon enough to give Telemundo some relief. What many are speculating is that the Spanish-language net is going to burn off "El Capo" and "La Querida Del Centauro 2" and have them end on the same day, so they can premiere a whole new primetime telenovela block as they did last year. "MarTres" resulted in major success for the network when they premiered "Silvana Sin Lana," "Sin Senos Sí Hay Paraíso," and "Señora Acero 3: La Coyote" all on the same day. The marketing strategy proved to work and Telemundo dominated primetime like never before. A sequel to "MarTres" could be the salvation Telemundo so desperately needs right now.