While CBS' Cane revolves around a Cuban-American family, executive producer Jonathan Prince admits that the series is not necessarily representative of the Latino community, nor does it always feature characters that can be considered as role models.

"This is television," Prince told the Deseret Morning News.  "It's a diversion. This is intended to entertain [and] provoke.  I think if we have a discussion that says, 'What's the responsibility of doing a show about a Latino cast and letting them be murderers and letting them be people who are angry at each other and letting them betray their families,' I don't know."

For those who are unfamiliar with the show, Cane is a drama that follows the lives of the Duque family as they try to deal with the external rivalries and internal power struggles brought about by their successful sugar and rum business in South Florida.  The show is unlike some past and present feel-good family dramas, and being different is what Prince believes accounts for the show's success.

"Nice families don't get their pilots picked up," Prince said.

Heading the stellar cast of Cane is Emmy Award-winning actor Jimmy Smits.  He plays Alex Vega, Pancho Duque's (Hector Elizondo) adopted son.  Alex's devotion to his family and the business has led him to become involved with gangsters and order the killing of the man who murdered his adopted sister and threatened his children.

"He's a very complicated character," Smits told the Deseret Morning News.  "That's the great thing about him."

Cane also features the acting prowess of such actors as Rita Moreno (Ugly Betty, Oz), Nestor Carbonell (Suddenly Susan, Lost), Eddie Matos (General Hospital), Paola Turbay, Michael Trevino (The Riches, Bones, Without A Trace), Lina Esco (CSI: NY), Alona Tal (Supernatural, Veronica Mars), Polly Walker (Rome, Waking the Dead) and Sam Carman.

Catch Cane every Tuesday night at 10pm on CBS.


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Deseret Morning News
(Image Courtesy of CBS)