Much has been said about Cane's disappointing debut last month that prompted viewers to steer clear of the epic drama that chronicles the external rivalry and internal power struggles of a large Cuban-American family running a massively flourishing rum and sugar business in South Florida. Although some remain faithful to the series, the numbers prove that Cane continues to decline in terms of ratings, given that it already lost 2 million viewers by the time it aired its second episode.

While many consider Cane as a night-time soap opera throwback to the 1980s with a high possibility of getting cancelled, there are also others who regard the CBS television series as an appealing plot-driven, multi-generational melodrama that taps on jealousy, love, fortune, deception and murder.  Among those supporters are Hispanic households, comprised of both English and non-English speaking viewers.

Cane came behind NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit last Tuesday night in total viewers with 707,000 in New York versus 782,000 for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. But according to the Nielsen Hispanic Station Index, Cane averaged 112,000 viewers to only 37,000 for SVU in its 10pm to 11pm time period.

Despite its high-profile Hispanic cast, including Jimmy Smits (Alex Vega), Hector Elizondo (Pancho Duque) and Rita Moreno (Amalia Duque), many TV critics are surprised with the show's allure to the Hispanic crowd

"Our experience with programs like George Lopez and other English-language programs starring Hispanic personalities has been that they don't skew ethnically more Hispanic that other English-language primetime shows," a veteran local-station ratings cruncher in the Big Apple said. "This appears to be an exception."

Those who have missed an episode of Cane can check out episode recaps on BuddyTV. Meanwhile, viewers can catch a new episode of Cane every Tuesday at 10pm ET/PT on CBS.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: broadcastingcable.com
(Image courtesy of CBS)