films. Then on March 1, 2007, MyNetworkTV announced that it quit developing scripted content altogether, putting an end to its slate of telenovelas. The network had at least three more serials in development, Friends with Benefits, Rules of Deception, and Crossed Loves. It tentatively planned to cut their schedule to one night a week by fall before announcing that all such projects were scrapped. Under the revised schedule, two hour installments of American Heiress and Saints & Sinners aired on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings through March and April. MyNetworkTV switched to one hour of each on Wednesdays for sweeps and never switched back. Meidel, the new network president, decided that the mixed martial arts IFC Battleground broadcasts on Monday would not deliver an audience to telenovelas the next night. In addition, the last set of telenovelas were preempted several times for reality specials and other programming before being dropped altogether. MyNetworkTV previously announced plans to run the shows until October. After that, the remaining episodes were to appear online. Meidel previously said the network would air the complete runs of both shows. However, the telenovelas vanished without fanfare after their July 18, 2007 broadcast; only 26 out of each show's 65 hours were broadcast. The six telenovelas eventually resurfaced on the Fox-owned streaming service Tubi TV in 2020 and 2021. MyNetworkTV's new fall 2007 lineup did not fare substantially better than the canceled telenovelas, however. The mix of reality shows and movies averaged a .7 household rating during September. In addition, Paul Buccieri, the executive who championed the all-telenovela format, left Fox and became president and chief executive of Granada America in December 2007. See also The Jay Leno Show, a later attempt to strip the same show in prime time five nights a week References Telenovelas Television series by 20th Century Fox Television 2006 telenovelas 2007 telenovelas American telenovelas 2006 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings