Recently, a second story has emerged that even the news stories neglect Hispanic events or people. Unfortunately, any increase of coverage this year is is attributable solely to the Elián story. The negligible increase in Latino presence in newsrooms over the past 22 years is another detriment to journalism. Latinos make up approximately 11.6% of the U.S. population, but only 3.7% of the newsroom population.
In the meantime, Showtime has shown great integrity by pushing a show dominated by Latino talent, Resurrection Boulevard. HBO is launching HBO Latino, which will have dubbed shows, as well as original Spanish programming and sports events. Sundance Channel is said to have a similar venture in the works.
Nickelodeon leads all other networks by having Latino faces and culture present for a new generation of entertainment. Dora the Explorer features a Latina heroine who finds ways to troubleshoot her adventure every week with the help of her pre-school audience. The show also features Tico, who only speaks Spanish. The Brothers Garcia focuses on Mexican-American brothers and their family in a Wonder Years style (age group 6 to 12). Early next year, they will air Taina, a story about a teenage Puerto Rican girl who attends a performance art school. Also in the works is Invader Zim, an animated show by comic books artist and author, Jhonen Vasquez. A child's network shall lead the way.
Below is a list of other networks and a summary of the Hispanic presence this year. The last column tells whether or not the character portrayed is Hispanic. The presence of Hispanics are low, the presence of Hispanic character is even less.
ABC
This past year ABC lost Jimmy Smits from the cast of NYPD Blue. Charlie
Sheen replaces Michael J. Fox in Spin City as Deputy Mayor. His show will
compete with his father's show - West Wing. Gideon's Crossing is
new this year, and stars Panamanian music and film star - Ruben Blades.
| Show | Actor | Role/Character | Latin |
| Spin City | Charlie Sheen | Deputy Mayor Charlie Owen | No |
| Gideon's Crossing | Ruben Blades | Dr. Max Cabranes | Yes |
| Norm | Ian Gómez | Danny Sanchez | Yes |
CBS
CBS gained
much attention this year by dropping the all-star cast of Gregory
Nava's American
Family. They are currently trying to find someone else to pick it up,
but no one seems to be biting. They also canceled Chicago Hope,
which starred Hector
Elizondo. They tried to make it up by hosting the 1st annual Latin
Grammy Awards, but still have a lot of ground to make up for permanent
prime-time positions.
| Show | Actor | Role/Character | Latin |
| Family Law | Cristián de la Fuente | Andrés Díaz; legal assistant | Yes |
| Nash Bridges | Cheech Marin | Detective Joe Domínguez; Co-Star | Yes |
FOX
FOX introduced most of their Latin Characters last season. Frankie Muniz
is seldom mentioned in the terms of a Hispanic actor (his father is Puerto
Rican), and perhaps he is best served by staying out of the fray. Of
course, his career could receive a boost if the community embraces him and
others don't back off. Wilmer Valderama plays the foreigner in That 70s
Show, but also is starting to become a three-dimensional
character. After several sci-fi failures, FOX finally decided to go
outside of Chris Carter for a show to replace the soon-to-depart X-Files.
Jessica Alba stars in the title role for what could prove to be a large sci-fi
success. While her character is not Hispanic (she was genetically
engineered), FOX promises to break the norms of sci-fi by including various
ethnicities in their vision of the future. Carlos Coto takes a seat behind
the scene to produce a quasi-sci-fi Freaky Links.
| Show | Actor | Role/Character | Latin |
| Dark Angel | Jessica Alba | Title Role: Max | No |
| Malcolm in the Middle | Frankie Muniz | Title Role: Malcolm | No |
| That 70s Show | Wilmer Valderama | Fez; Major Character | Yes |
| Time of Your Life | Diego Serrano | J.B.; Shampoo Guy | ? |
| Freaky Links | Carlos Coto | Co-Executive Producer | NA |
| Freaky Links | Lizette Carrion | Lan Williams; Webmaster | ? |
| Mad TV | Nelson Ascencio | Cast member; variety | Y |
HBO
Although you'll hear very little about it, HBO will launch HBO Latino to
complement their HBO En Español.
HBO Latino will include dubbed shows, as well well as original
programming. Their English language show OZ has the unfortunate premise of
being a prison show, but all of the Latino actors do play Latino characters, and
their presence extends beyond the criminals to include a psychologist and a
doctor.
| Show | Actor | Role/Character | Latin |
| Oz | Lauren Velez | Dr. Gloria Nathan | Yes |
| Oz | Rita Moreno | Sister Peter Maria | Yes |
| Oz | Kirk Acevedo | Miguel Alvarez | Yes |
| Oz | Luis Guzman | Raoul Hernandez (El Cid) | Yes |
Lifetime
Lifetime is started to extend its image this year by including a Latina in their
new show. Strong Medicine is a medical drama with a highly interactive
and informative website.
| Show | Actor | Role/Character | Latin |
| Strong Medicine | Rosa Blasi | Dr. Luisa Delgado; Among the Lead roles | Yes |
NBC
NBC lost Benjamin
Bratt from Law & Order this year. Homicide finally lost the war to
stay on the air, taking Jon
Seda with it. Also cancelled was Jesse, which starred Bruno Campos
and Suddenly Susan with Nestor Carbonell.
Nestor can currently be seen on Showtime's Resurrection Boulevard.
He went from using an exaggerated accent in Suddenly Susan to playing a Latino who
doesn't speak Spanish in Resurrection Boulevard.
Martin Sheen missed the radars of many people who monitored the Hispanic presence on TV, but after the Emmy sweep this year, I'm sure everyone will be paying attention to this Hispanic playing the President of the United States. Edward James Olmos has also made an appearance on West Wing as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.
Laura Cerón is one of the original cast members on ER and continues to shine from the background. ER does a great job addressing Black-White issues in tasteful and original ways, but still neglects other groups. While NBC historically has a promising show of Latino faces, the network was mired in conflict when Will & Grace used the term "tamale", a common racial slur in some parts of the country, to refer to Shelley Morrison's character. Shelley Morrison, a veteran actress, has become a permanent part of the cast since that episode.
| Show | Actor | Role/Character | Latin |
| West Wing | Martin Sheen | President Josiah Bartlet | No |
| Third Watch | Eddie Cibrian | Jimmy Doherty; Firefighter | No |
| Third Watch | Bobby Cannavale | Bobby Caffey; Paramedic | Yes |
| Third Watch | Anthony Ruivivar | Carlos Nieto; paramedic | Yes |
| Will & Grace | Shelley Morrison | Rosario Salazar-McFarland ; Maid | Yes |
| ER | Laura Cerón | Chuny Marquez; Nurse | Yes |
The WB tends to swing in extremes from Black Comedy to all-white Anglo. Somewhere in between you might notice a Hispanic. Ian Gómez flexes his work ethic by appearing in yet another show. Roswell is a science fiction show about a bunch of teens, half of them alien. Unfortunately the show creates even more fantasy by forcibly removing the natural diversity that exists in New Mexico. New Mexico is one of the states where non-Hispanic Whites are not a majority (and never have been as far as I can tell). With the exception of an occasional Indian Medicine Man, the show is usually devoid of the actual diversity that exists in New Mexico. To compound the fallacy, the character played by Majandra (who is Venezuelan) was changed from Hispanic because Majandra didn't "look Hispanic." The starring female role was renamed from Liz Ortecho to Liz Evans to accommodate Shiri Appleby, also apparently not believable as a Latina.
| Show | Actor | Role/Character | Latin |
| Felicity | Ian Gómez | Javier | Yes |
| Roswell | Majandra Delfino | Maria DeLuca | No |
Discuss in the Forum:
Which shows will you be watching?