Univisión ¿sin barreras?

For a second, I thought there was some kind of mistake. Tonight, while watching Univision’s newest telenovela, Destilando Amor, I found myself reading subtitles in Spanish while the actors (all Mexicans, of course) were engaged in long conversations in English.

I’m still not familiar with the plot (Destilando only debuted tonight), but there was a lot going on in London, so the actors had to pick up the phone and do all sorts of things in English. Actually, at some point, I cracked up: During what promised to be an R-rated love scene, Eduardo Yañez jumped out of the bed apologizing to his partner -in English!- for not been able to “perform.” The lady then stormed out slapping him with a cruel “You are a fraud!”

Maybe Univision, which for years and under the mandate of Jerry Perenchio insisted on a Spanish-only policy, is finally coming to terms with a simple reality: that at least some U.S. Hispanics can actually speak and understand other languages.

But let’s not get too carried away. Univision’s novelas are still bad and still Televisa-made. But at least while reading the subtitles you will be spared from some very poor acting.