Cane - Season 1
Premieres: Tuesday, September 25th at 10:00 p.m. EST
Network: CBS
Creator(s): Cynthia Cidre
Starring: Jimmy Smits, Hector Elizondo
Website: CBS.com
In case you thought “Say hello to my little friend!” was all there was to say about Cuban-American moguls (and if you thought that, seriously, why?), here comes Cane on CBS to shine some light. A Latino family drama that seems to owe more to mob stories than anything else, Cane is the story of Alex Vega (Jimmy Smits), a man tapped to run his family’s sugar cane and rum empire that has brought their fortune. Dealing with his jealous brother (Nestor Carbonell, also of Lost) and also rivalries from outside the family, though, Alex has much more to deal with than average business concerns.
Plenty of well-known names round out the cast, including veteran character actor Hector Elizondo as the family patriarch and Oscar-Emmy-Tony-Grammy winner Rita Moreno as his wife. Though the actors come from a wide range of Hispanic backgrounds, special effort has been made to perfect their Cuban accents, according to a story by NPR.
With The Sopranos off the air, it may be time for another intergenerational family drama about the intertwining nature of business and personal life. The Duque family is not the mob, but watching the trailer available on YouTube, it’s easy to see Alex Vega as a young Michael Corleone. Even if Cane leans toward the soapier side, as it may given that it’s on a major network, it may still be compelling in the way that Dallas kept peoples’ interests for all those years. Plus, Jimmy Smits is one the most automatically empathetic actors out there, and it’s hard to imagine not rooting for his character from the get go. While I’m tempted to wish early cancellation for this show for the sake of Carbonell, who is one of the most fascinating and unknown characters on Lost, I’ll be the bigger person and throw my support behind Cane. There’s always room for another intelligent drama out there.
