run on networktelevision?
That was a trick question -- because there haven't beenany. Showtime had "Resurrection Blvd." and PBS the superb"American Family" earlier this decade, but that has essentiallybeen it. The broadcast guys haven't been able to mount an hourfeaturing a predominantly Latino cast, but they finally scoreda comedy hit with "George Lopez."
This season, CBS is giving drama another shot with "Cane,"a slick and earnest soap about rival families in southernFlorida. One makes sugar and rum; the other makes trouble. Andpresiding over it all is the ever-capable Jimmy Smits, who hasbeen around long enough to play a world-weary heavyweightrather than the affable hunk of roles past. The show will sinkor swim on his broad shoulders, and early indications arereasonably promising.
Despite the title, there is actually nobody named Canehere. The primary clan here is the Duques, a Cuban-Americanfamily headed by patriarch Pancho (Hector Elizondo) andmatriarch Amalia (Rita Moreno, still breathing fire). They havean ambitious son, Frank (Nestor Carbonell), who sees as hisbirthright the assumption of their mega-successful rum andsugar empire. Frank is locked in a power struggle with AlexVega (Smits), Pancho's son-in-law who married into the businessvia his daughter Isabel (Paola Turbay), while youngest sonHenry (Eddie Matos) is content to stay on the sidelines andaway from the battle.
On the other side are members of the Samuels family, theDuques' bitter adversaries who run their own sugar biz andresort to dirty tricks like killing family members when thingsdon't go their way.
In the opener, penned by executive producer Cynthia Cidre,things heat up after the Samuels family makes a businessproposition to buy out the Duques' sugar interest and leavethem concentrating solely on rum. Pancho agrees to hear themout despite his abiding mistrust. Frank wants to sell, but hehas his own conflicted agenda (as well as a romanticrelationship with a Samuels lass).
Alex, trying to sort things out and keep his family fromdoing any business with the dreaded enemy, is the purportedgood guy here, struggling to keep his own family (includingthree kids, one of whom wants to bag a scholarship to M.I.T. tojoin the service!) in line while at the same time showing thathe's not above dirty trickery himself.
The dialogue in Cidre's teleplay has a propensity for stiffpronouncements that too often finds the characters talking at,rather than to, each other. Direction from Christian Duguay,who helmed the 2003 CBS miniseries "Hitler: The Rise of Evil,"is stylish and savvy, evoking quiet intensity despite thescript's shortcomings. Smits is convincingly passionate, hischarismatic countenance very much in evidence.
There's enough juice in the "Cane" premise to build afollowing. It may help that the characters' ethnicity is mostlyincidental to the story line rather than central. Even so, thedeck is a bit stacked in its having to compete head-to-headwith ABC's "Boston Legal" and "Law & Order: SVU" on NBC. Whilethis is not an impossible time slot in which to make headway, abreakthrough could be iffy.
Cast:
Alex Vega: Jimmy Smits
Pancho Duque: Hector Elizondo
Frank Duque: Nestor Carbonell
Amalia Duque: Rita Moreno
Ellis Samuels: Polly Walker
Isabel Vega: Paola Turbay
Henry Duque: Eddie Matos
Jaime Vega: Michael Trevino
Katie Vega: Lina Esco
Rebecca King: Alona Tal
Artie Vega: Samuel Carman
Joe Samuels: Ken Howard
Santo: Oscar Torres
Grasso: Jason Beghe
Executive producers: Cynthia Cidre, Jonathan Prince, JimmyLovine, Polly Anthony; Co-executive producer: Jimmy Smits;Producer: Dennis Bishop; Co-producer: John A. Smith. Teleplay:Cynthia Cidre; Director: Christian Duguay; Director ofphotography: David Connell; Production designer: Eve Cauley;Costume designer: Perri Kimono; Editor: David Post; Soundmixer: Mark Steinbeck; Casting: Bonnie Finnegan, Steven Jacobs.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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