It’s worth mentioning (again) that Latino actors and even Latino themes are thriving on cable TV. Apart from the ongoing success of Dallas, Dexter, Psych, Separated at Birth, Army Wives and all those talented young Latinos on ABC Family and The Disney Channel, two new major shows are entering the mix as well.
Lifetime is very high on its controversial new soap Devious Maids–so much so they’re releasing the pilot of the series on multiple platforms weeks before its official premiere on Sunday, June 23. Beginning Sunday, June 9, you’ll be able to see the complete first episode on myLifetime.com and the Lifetime video watch app, as well as A&E Networks’ distribution partners’ VOD services, sites and apps. And it will be available in English and Spanish in all those iterations as well.
This is the first time that Lifetime–any network, in fact–has made a show available in both language across all these platforms. And the commitment is ongoing: Lifetime has announce that it will make each episode of Devious Maids available in both English and Spanish in all these forms the day after its Sunday 10P airing, every week.
Meanwhile, Raisa and The Secret Life of the American Teenager left the stage with its head held high, garnering more than 1.5 million viewers in its final new episode, many of them in the core 18-34 demographic (the No. 2 scripted cable TV show that night on all of cable). It was followed by the premiere of Jennifer Lopez’ The Fosters, with Jake T. Austin and Cierra Ramirez. The new drama retained almost the entire 1.5 million audience, and even did better than the premiere of Bunheads a year ago.
Original programming on cable has been making summer television far more interesting for years; now Latino entertainers and topics are part of the process.