L-r: Vanessa Lachey, Giovanni Ribisi, Martin Mull, Seth Green,
Peter Riegert, Brenda Song and Tonita Castro
Fox announced a hefty handful of new shows for fall and midseason debut this year, but both casting and inclusion of those shows has been shifting almost since the day they announced the line-up…and Latinos are part of the dance.
When Fox released its initial PR about Dads, they leaned pretty heavily on the stars–especially geek-clique fave Seth Green–and creator Alec Sulkin (American Dad, Ted). Little did we know that Tonita Castro, fresh from NBC’s Go On, would be part of the cast as the housekeeper who’s clearly smarter and more stable than any of the sons or fathers on the show. And though the critics haven’t been kind, and the ratings only so-so, Fox must see some promise: they’ve just ordered an additional six episodes of the sit-com.
Jason Ritter and Alexis Bledel
One of Us
Meanwhile, some big noise was made about the return of much-loved (and Argentinian-American) Alexis Bledel to weekly TV–her first foray since Gilmore Girls. Even better, she was being teamed in a cute li’l New Girl-like romantic comedy with Jason Ritter, charming son of the late John Ritter.
Well, something didn’t connect. Fox execs didn’t much like the few episodes they’ve seen (and we haven’t), so the show–scheduled for a mid-season premiere–has already been put on “early hiatus,” meaning we’ll never see it at all.
One Latina up, one Latina down, and Fox’ luke-warm embrace of Latino actors and characters continues. Now…when is the premiere of Gang Related, again?
