The term "telenovela" wasn't uttered once during My Network TV's slick and sexy upfront presentation last week at a Times Square theater.

But it's clear that the nascent mini-network -- debuting in Pittsburgh this fall on WPMY, Channel 22 -- has wholeheartedly embraced the short-run soap opera genre that has proved so popular in Latin America and Asia, not to mention with Spanish-speaking viewers in the United States.

My Network TV -- News Corp.'s new six-day-a-week prime-time broadcasting service aimed at young adults -- will launch Sept. 5 with two telenovela-style dramas, "Desire" and "Secret Obsessions," as its only offerings for the season. Both will run every weeknight in the kind of "strip" scheduling usually used by syndicated shows, with a recap program on Saturday.

Each drama will feature a rotating series of 13-week shows, each with its own story line. The first show under the "Desire" banner, airing at 8 p.m., will be "Table for Three," the tale of two brothers whose partnership is driven apart by their love of the same woman. At 9 p.m., Bo Derek stars in "Fashion House," the first installment of "Secret Obsessions," the story of a ruthless clothing designer who seeks to destroy the woman her son loves.

Future story lines include "A Dangerous Love," the tale of two lovers from rival families, and "Watch Over Me," the story of a bodyguard who falls in love with the woman he's hired to protect.

Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox Television Stations, dubbed the network's programs "short dramatic series." He said they offered "a different approach to network prime time," noting that the concept has "created outstanding success for broadcast networks on every continent in over 100 countries around the world."

Last week, the comely stars trotted across the stage of the Hilton Theatre to promote the new network, as multiple screens showed a montage of passionate love scenes, bikini-clad women and various explosions -- all scenes from the shows described as "timeless stories of passion, power, love, betrayal."

The programs were greeted with enthusiastic applause by the ad buyers in the audience -- and with some amusement at the hackneyed dialogue.

"Do you love me?" one young beautiful blonde earnestly asked her dark-haired lover in a scene from "Art of Betrayal," the tale of a scorned woman who takes revenge on her ex-husband by having her sons seduce his daughters.

"Does it matter?" he responded gruffly.

They then began kissing passionately, prompting hearty laughter from the audience.