PHOENIX (Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic) September 24, 2007 — A lot of eyes are waiting to see how the new CBS series Cane fares.

If the show is a hit, it will be the first successful hour long drama focusing almost entirely on Hispanic characters on an English-language broadcast network.

"It calls a lot of attention to itself," series creator Cynthia Cidre says. "This is an all-Hispanic, all-Spanish-speaking cast in a big show. It's not a small show."

She's not boasting. Cane is a sprawling drama focusing on the Duque family, a Cuban-American clan that runs a successful rum and sugar business in Florida. The show features bursts of salsa music, bits of Spanish dialogue and a plot that is heavy on the Dallas suds and light on the telenovela melodramatics.

The series isn't just large in scope. The cast is big, with 11 regularly featured characters. A trio of heavyweights headline the show: Emmy-winners Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo, plus Rita Moreno, an Oscar winner for West Side Story.

Certainly the show has the potential to be a hit, regardless of the ethnicity of the cast members.

But why has it taken so long to see such a program? It's not as if the numbers aren't there.

Census figures last year put the number of Hispanics in the United States at 44.3 million, making them the nation's largest minority and 15 percent of the U.S. population. A show like Cane seems long overdue.

"For so long, the goal of the major networks was to appeal to the greatest common denominator," says John Echeveste, a partner in Valencia Perez Echeveste Public Relations. "For a long time, Hispanics weren't necessarily seen as a part of that."

Hispanic-themed shows haven't been absent from the dramatic genre, though you generally have to look past the major networks to find them. Showtime had the boxing-themed Resurrection Blvd. (2000-2002) with Elizabeth Peña. PBS aired the Edward James Olmos effort American Family (2002-2004). Neither show became a breakout hit.

Both of those shows focused on Mexican-American families in lower-income settings - a long way from the high-living Duques of Cane. Echeveste likes that aspect of the show.

"Cane, in a sense, is a story about success and achievement," he says. "Those other shows showed the other side of the spectrum, living in the barrio. I'm glad to see it balanced. If there were 15 Hispanic-themed shows on TV, it wouldn't be an issue, but there aren't."

Ugly Betty, ABC's sophomore comedy, is one of the few. In fact, it probably helped Cane get on the air.

America Ferrera stars as Betty Suarez, the Betty of the title. The show alternates between the workplace and Betty's family life. It was a hit for the network and Ferrera won an Emmy for best actress in a comedy.

"Ugly Betty becomes the breakaway show at ABC, and now everybody's trying to do things with us," says Alex Nogales, president and chief executive officer of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, a civil-rights and watchdog group. "The thing is, they don't know where to go or what to do."

The reason: Nogales says there is a lack of Hispanic writers and executives working in Hollywood.

"If a show about people of color is written by people of color, it will be more credible and have a more original voice," he says. "Unless you were raised with us, you wouldn't suddenly pick up a piece of paper and all of a sudden you're talking like a Chicano."

He points to the sitcom George Lopez. The show never achieved Raymond-like ratings, but it just finished a healthy six-season run and has entered syndication.

"There were Hispanics on the writing staff of that show," Nogales says. "It wasn't all these White guys in the room trying to voice Hispanic."

That could make all the difference in the world for Cane. Cidre is a Cuban-American whose best-known credit is The Mambo Kings screenplay. Oddly enough, it's one of the few times she's written about Hispanics.

"The fact that I'm there does bring an authenticity to it," Cidre says. "I don't want this to be 'the pat Hispanic show.' "

Granted, at times the show overstates its intentions: A character played by Nestor Carbonell announces, "This is the best part of being Cuban: You've got the rum, you've got the cigars."

More subtle and organic is the way characters switch between Spanish and English, although there are subtitles so English-only viewers aren't left behind.

Having Hispanic performers such as Smits and Elizondo adds to the show's feeling of authenticity, though neither actor is of Cuban descent. They also are proven hit makers, which never hurts.

"They have tremendous appeal, which is so helpful," Cidre says. "People who love Jimmy and Hector will tune in whether they're playing Hispanics or Jews. People just like them."

The star power signifies another thing about Cane. Cidre isn't looking to make a niche show. She wants an across-the-board hit that will play to audiences in Orlando, Fla., and Orlando, Ky.

"We're hoping to reach a broadcast audience, not a narrow-cast audience," she says. "It should appeal to everybody. It's a CBS show. It's not on Univision."

That's the goal. The flip side is that if the show doesn't succeed, some worry that it could be a long time before we see Hispanic characters being such a heavy presence on TV.

"If Cane isn't a success, the networks will say, 'Aha! Hispanics aren't watching, and the non-Hispanic community doesn't want to watch them,'" Echeveste says. "Then it will be another five to 10 years till we see this kind of thing again."

"Cane has the possibility of breaking down doors," Nogales says. "There is a lot riding on this simply because there's not a lot of Hispanic presence on TV right now."

Cidre is aware of that pressure but believes the show will find an audience.

"I hope people think we're doing an OK job," she says. "And I hope we wind up being slightly groundbreaking."