Carlos Portugal’s high school soap opera is available for viewing now on Hulu.
Off-network–in fact, off television–original programming is truly taking off in 2013. Netflix has already brought us House of Cards and Hemlock Grove, with more to come. Hulu started last year with modest but promising new shows like Booth at the End. And now an all-Latino series–in front and behind the camera–has premiered exclusively on Hulu: all twenty-five episodes, finished and ready for viewing (and the first two are free).
East Los High tells the street-level stories of life at East Los Angeles High, and the subject matter doesn’t pull any punches. In the first episode alone, there’s the normal high school romance and cheerleader sniping…but there’s also hardcore sex, drug selling, runaways, and a couple of acts of serious violence. All in all, it shows promise, and a certain level of courage by Hulu itself.
Cast: Jorge Diaz, Janine Larina, Gabriel Chavarria, Alicia Marie Sixtos,
Noemí González, Hector David Jr., Tracy Perez and Danielle Vega
It’s an attractive show, alive with contemporary music, even some dancing, and plenty of heart-felt dialogue. The almost entirely Latino cast is filled with first-timers and up-and-comers, with a few slightly more familiar names, notably Filly Brown’s Jorge Diaz and Go For It’s Jossara Jinaro. You can read about all of them here, at the series’ high-quality web site.
Jossara Jinaro
The program is straight from the mind of writer-director Carlos Portugal, his first big break into series TV. This looks to be his year: he also has a full-length feature, Pop Star, in the can and scheduled for VOD release in June.
Meanwhile, Hulu’s new attention to the Latino market may continue. In April the online net announced that they would be producing a new sitcom created by and starring Eva Longoria–a show called Mother Up, about a former music business executive who is forced to “downshift to a suburban life is Middle America.” It’s scheduled for release in the fall.
You can see the first two episodes of East Los High right now, for free, on Hulu’s public page. Just click here. The other 23 half-hour episodes are available as well, but–for the moment, anyway–you need to join Hulu+, the web site’s paid subscription service, to see them.
