Cote de Pablo NCIS
We usually just put these notices in the “What’s Worth Watching” box off to the right, but sometimes it’s worth noting: Latino actors, as often as not playing strong and smart (if not always heroic) Latinos are an almost-everyday experience in television these days, and even now, in the waning weeks of the 2012-13 TV season, it’s hard not to run across a program where Latinos are playing key roles…
…and at the same time, there’s not a single show on network TV where a Latino playing a Latino is the star of the show, the character around which the show itself as built. And even, sadly, a couple of the most-watched Latinos on TV are playing emphatically non-Latino parts.
Nonetheless, Tuesday April 23 is an excellent case in point of just how far Latinos in Hollywood had come, and how much farther they have to go.
At 8P, Cote de Pablo shines on TV’s most watched program…as an Israeli
Cote de Pablo has been part of NCIS for years, a centerpiece of the most-watched TV program on the air. But unfortunately, this impressive Chilean-born singer and performer has been playing a mysterious ex-Israeli agent. (By the way, did you catch her in the exceedingly eccentric modern day western The Last Rites of Ransom Pride?) It came and went a couple of years ago. You can still catch it VOD on amazon.com; here’s a fight scene between de Pablo and the always amazing Lizzy Caplan, who starred in the movie…click here.
Shakira
Also at 8P: Shakira on The Voice
Replacing one Latina diva (Christina Aguilera, of course) with another on the ultra-popular singing competition seemed, at first glance, like pandering at its worst. It turned out to be the best casting decision the show has made. Shakira brings an entirely different ‘feel’ to the show; she’s warm and gentle and smart and amazingly unaffected; she and Usher have double-handedly revitalized a show that was beginning to show its first signs of wear. And whether her presence had anything to do with it or not, this season has more Latino and Spanish-speaking talent than ever before.
At 9P, NCIS: Los Angeles is rife with Latino actors…in stereotypical roles
Thankfully, they’re not all like that, and not all the time. And in fact, NCIS: Los Angeles has featured a great many Latino actors on both sides of the law; it’s even been an on-again/off-again home for Miguel Ferrer in the non-Latino role of his patented “gruff ol’ boss” character. This week, however, it’s all about drug cartels and crime bosses, and though it’s great to see Latino actors like Zach Villa, Gary Perez, Hector Luis Bustamante, Darius De La Cruz, Emiliano Torres, and Felipe Alejandro getting paid to work, we just wish it was for playing good guys, not drug runner. Yet another aspect of modern-day Latino Hollywood made obvious: we still haven’t entirely shed the old stereotypes.
Also at 9P, Ready for Love is already gone…maybe for good
Eva Longoria’s labor love–so to speak–has been publicly pulled from the schedule; this Tuesday a special on the Boston bombings will take its place; beginning April 30, Grimm will move to the after-Voice spot. The remaining episodes are already in the can, so it may yet reappear in the Saturday “burn-off” ward or online, but no decision has been made as yet. RFL’s sadly low ratings from its very first appearance, and its catastrophic loss of viewers from The Voice lead-in, doomed the show in a matter of weeks. The fact that the ultra-romantic Longoria’s behind it and the fact that two of the three bachelors are proudly American Latino seem to have nothing to do with the show’s lack of success. More simply, it–like so many other ‘dating’ shows–was simply unable to duplicate the one-off success of The Bachelor and its offspring. Still: positive, romantic Latinos trying to bring class and romance to this often crass subgenre were a welcome, if very fleeting, addition to the schedule.
Kevin Alejandro
At 10P, Kevin Alejandro is the bad guy in Golden Boy
Over the last few years, Kevin Alejandro has played good guys and villains, cops and criminals, on everything from True Blood to Southland. In Golden Boy, the cop-soap-drama on CBS, he’s a little bit of both: an evil cop (and a Latino, no less). The show’s ratings have been unimpressive, and it’s a definite candidate for cancellation, but it does indicate the difficulty in qualifying the Latino presence on TV: the stunningly handsome Alejandro is ‘only,’ a supporting character, playing a deeply flawed Latlino on top of that. Good? Bad? It’s…complicated. And even if Golden Boy disappears, Alejandro will stay busy: he’ll be in at least two movies releasing this year, a drama called Truck Stop and an action-thriller, Medeas, with Catalina Sandino Moreno.
Also at 10P: Marisa Ramirez’ arc on ABC’S Body of Proof continues
This is the other reason it’s so hard to ‘keep score’ of just how deep and wide the Latino presence is in TV these days. The very talented and relative newcomer Marisa Ramirez is in the middle of an arc on ABC’s Body of Proof, but because she’s not a full-season cast member, you’d never know it. She’s playing a smart young police officer here…and at the same time, she’s playing a difference but equally positive cop-character in an arc on a different show on a different network: CBS’ Blue Bloods.
The only atypical thing about this Tuesday is the visible lack of new content on cable. Almost any other night of the week, you’ll find as many Latinos in key roles up and down the dial as you will on broadcast TV. All in all, it’s a testament to Latinos in front of the camera, and something to build on. Next season, maybe we’ll see some programming that allows Latinos to take center stage.
