ABC Looking to Adapt Mexican Telenovela “Teresa” for American TV

Hollywood’s obsession with Mexican telenovelas continues…

It appears ABC is developing an adaptation of the popular telenovela Teresa, according to the The Hollywood Reporter.

Teresa Telenovela

From Saving Grace writer/executive producer Nancy Miller, the drama centers on an ambitious law student living a double life — one as an ambitious and smart law student who pretends to be like all the other wealthy kids at UCLA and another as an illegal immigrant living on the wrong side of the tracks.

The project, which has received a script commitment, hails from Lionsgate and Televisa.

Teresa first aired in 2010 and starred Angelique Boyer, Aarón Díaz and Sebastián Rulli. The telenovela ended its run in February 2011, with Univision broadcasting it for from April through October of the same year. That series was a remake of a 1959 telenovela with Maricruz Olivier, with a third attempted in 1989 with Salma Hayek in the lead role.

It’s the latest telenovela adaptation attempt at ABC, the same network that originally tried to bring Devious Maids to the small screen before ultimately passing on the project and letting Lifetime give the Roselyn Sanchez-starrer a lifeline.

Miller, meanwhile, most recently executive produced Lifetime’s short-lived Against the Wall. Her credits include The Closer and CSI: Miami.

Teresa comes as the network has found success with the Emily Van Camp-starrer Revenge, a soapy thriller the network moved to the plumb Sundays at 9 p.m. slot for its second season.