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Isn't Nestor Carbonall Cuban?

What I find most disturbing is the skinny women. I don't know about you but for every skinny woman in my family we have 5 fat ones ranging from gordita to land monster. A Cuban family with all skinny women? I don't buy it.

As for the dialect ... why don't these actors go to coaches? I remember seeing Clear and Present Danger and laughing at the "Cuban" spy with the thick Castilian accent. Oh well. I may check it out for giggles.

Smits, Moreno and Elizondo are Puerto Rican.
Tho point granetd on the accents.

Hot Nestor Carbonell? CHECK
Hot Jimmy Smits? CHECK
Reminding Americans that Cubans live among us? CHECK
Sounds good to me. :)

Yeah, the cast is mainly Puerto Rican but they're well known actors so maybe it will have a chance.

I know where you're coming from- I'm stil wondering why Arthur Fonzarelli (aka The Fonz) was played by a very non-Italian, very Jewish, Henry Winkler. Ayyyyy.

land monsters!That is too funny!

It would have been neat to have Cuban actors portray Cubans, but all these are well-known and good actors ... as to the Cuban accent ... what accent? Because I'm tired of being told I don't sound "Cuban" ... just because I don't have the heavy stereotypical "Havana" accent ... just like in this great USA ... there are many "regional accents" and coloquial expressions ... I will be happy if they just speak proper "standard" Spanish or Castellano.

Again, talking about stereotypes ... I just hope this program is true to reality . . . can't wait!

I wish you well :) Melek

"The quantity of consonants in the English language is constant. If omitted in one place, they turn up in another. When a Bostonian "pahks" his "cah," the lost r's migrate southwest, causing a Texan to "warsh" his car and invest in "erl wells." ~ Unknown

Val,

I hear you, man! With all of the underemployed Cuban actors out there, why is it that Hollywood hardly ever hires Cubans to play the part of Cubans? Could it be because most Cubans don't look like what Hollywood's stereotypical impression of Cubans is? I once saw Cuban actress and talk show hostess Maria Laria talking on TV and she said that many-a-times she was turned down for roles as a Cuban-American because she was told by the casting agents that she didn't look Cuban. Is that arrogant or what? They would then promptly hire what their pre-conceived notion of a Cuban was, i.e. a Mexican mestiza type.

By the way, don't forget that this program is created by CBS. Do you remember all of the CBS executives who went to Cuba on an all-expense paid trip and met with Castro a few years back? Castro doesn't invite anyone to Cuba out of the charity of his heart. CBS executives to Cuba? For what? To create propaganda? What's more, Hollywood has been circling the wagons around the Fanjul family for years. The fictional Duque family is based on the Fanjul family. I remember reading in the pages of Vanity Fair a few years back this scathing expose on the Fanjuls where they were depicted in the worst light possible. The magazine said that there was a movie in the making on the Fanjuls.

Look, I don't know what that nutjob told you, but I still don't know nuthin' 'bout no frequencies.

The attempt to mimick the Godfather is obvious. I didn't find it that bad. I was entertained.

I liked it. Thought it was entertaining, we can't always get what we want. If I were the casting director I'd get all ready and available Cuban actors but hey those were the people that were right for the job. Thought I'd work on the dialects.

though*

Defined once again when they could have just ask us what we're all about rather than assume.

Valentina:

Stop whining; this show is unprecendented. If you didn't have such a hard-on for rabble rousing (when's the next time you're going to announce your "reliable sources" have informed you Castro died again?) you would enjoy some half decent entertainment.

No great surprise; one more reason for not watching that network.

See? B.S.

Looks like crispy-fried pig brains trolling around.

Do you take issue with Russel Crowe acting as an American? Do you take issue with Hugh Laurie acting as an American? How about Clive Owen? Charlize Theron? Nicole Kidman? Colin Farrell?

The kind of idiocy and non-sequiturs commonly tossed around this blog could be remedied if people started thinking in logical terms and not brash, overly emotional reactions.

Val, on your update you stated that the show is "...Tremendous shit..." (translation mine,) I did not see the pilot, I plan to watch it when it's rerun on Saturday. Please elaborate on your cryptic opinion, why do you feel the way you do after having watched the Cane pilot? Thanks.

LechonAsao, then why are you here? Babalu is not required readingñ feel free to go somewhere else more to your liking where you don´t feel the need to make rude remarks about the hosts.

Didn't see it, don't plan on it - there's better things out there; most TV is full of pretentious if not useless "toromierda." At least Ken Burns' "The War" is being shown - ought to be required viewing for the kids, so they know what REALITY is, never mind "reality" TV - or a series about pseudo-Cuban Americans.

Sounds as if this show is as representative of Cuban-American experience as Hogan's Heroes was about the experience of WWII.

Ironic how LechonAsado accuses others of idiocy and not thinking, and then provides us with a lame analogy that proves exactly that of himself. Russel Crowe, Charlie Theron, etc..look like Americans. Jimmy Smits DOES NOT look Cuban. Rita Moreno does not cut the cake as the wife of a Cuban patrician, etc...

lechonAsao,

guess what? You have earned yourself a ban. Not for your opinions, mind you, however ridiculously inane they may be, but because you dont come to someone's house and call them names. I suspect you'd be hard pressed to call me "Valentina" in person.

I didn´t watch it, and don´t plan to. With all due respect, Jimmy Smits as a Cuban...no.

I watched it and found it annoying. Not because of the stereotypes or accents but just that is seemed like a lot of melodramatic claptrap. Maybe it's due to the fact that it's the pilot, which can be pretty bad. Generally speaking they just couldn't hold me attention. None of the characters really seemed that compelling to me.

And why doesn't the patriarch have an accent? To me he sounds like he grew up in the north Bronx. Was he supposed to have grown up in the US too?

Do you think they were trying to make this look like a novela? It seemed like they were trying to throw little dramatic moments a la novela but in a slicker way and without the cheesey soap opera music. Am I the only one who thought that?

It's not just the actors and the accents and the plot that bother me. It's a couple of things.

first, its billed as some super original series. But it aint., Its basically Dallas, mixed in with a little Godfather with a dab of Scarface. the onnly "original" aspect is the fact that the family is cuban, and they cant even do that right.

second, its the damned stereotypes. Like Ray sys in todays post, we're all abunch of dancing, aprtying, lechon eating mafiosos.

Third, its from fucking CBS for crying out loud.

I only watched about 20 minutes of it, as it is on past my bed time. There are some fine "Hispanic/Latino" (whatever that is) actors involved. But, I gotta go with Alisa. This is just another badly written overwrought "prime time" melodrama. Like, who the heck holds a business meeting in the middle of a cane field?!!? And, what doctor now-a-days actually makes house calls--I don't care how wealthy you are.

I predict it will be dropped from the CBS lineup within two months. I understand your sensitivity to being misrepresented in the national media. But, I really don't think this silly TV show is worth the worry.

My thoughts:

First, I enjoyed it- for pure entertainment value. But then again, I am not Cuban and I do not have a vested interest in it. So, I understand everyone's feelings, much like I felt when the Sopranos began and I (and many other Italian-Americans) was pissed off that it portrayed Italians as vulgar, spaghetti- eating, uneducated, violent, cheating, overweight thugs- no positive images of us were shown in that show.

Secondly, I do agree it was overwritten (next episode is someone turns a scorpion loose in the house and it stings the wife- huh???) On the other hand, I loved Dallas, for the same reasons I enjoyed Cane- because it shows an **aspect** of a culture that I have no direct contact with. I don't live near Dallas ranches, I don't live near Cubans. Cane took aspects of Cuban-American life and hyper-magnified it to make it look like that is all there is to it, which is an inaccurate portrayal, I totally agree. Not that I am naive enough to think that every Cuban is a cigar-smoking, lechón-eating, salsa-dancing, gringa-sex having, sugar cane field owner, but there were aspects of the culture that I recognize that I liked to watch.

Thirdly, I also acknowledge that there has to be some real drama in to keep viewers hooked. What does an ecstasy ring, the Israeli mob or a pitbull attack have to do with Cubans? Nothing, but they have to think of something to keep people from falling asleep.

And finally, regarding actors- to get the ratings they need big name actors. I can only think of one huge Cuban actor- Andy Garcia, who may have passed on it because it wasn't true to Cuban American life, for all we know. In the absence of someone of his stature, (Carlos Gomez, Maria Conchta and Steven Bauer could not bring in ratings, I'm sure), who could they have brought in to nab ratings?

I am hoping that the following episodes are better but I agree- I forsee it getting cancelled before sweeps week in November.

Claudia,

I'm not sure that anyone else here cares about this as much as I do, and I can't believe that my first post is "wasted" on this, but we don't call the people between the Mexican and Canadian borders "gringos/gringas". Only bad Hollywood script writers have their Americuban characters use those phrases. We call them "Americanos."

BTW, I've been told by Mexicans that the words "gringos/gringas" carry a racial overtone.

Hi Dan:

I've lived in Latin America- I am aware of the pejorative meaning of gringo- I used it on purpose- tongue in cheek. Or as on the show, tongue in someone else's cheek.

Claudia

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