Jimmy Smits drama "Cane" shows promise on CBS

Cane , 10-11 p.m., CBS)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Quick: What was the last Latino-themed drama series to have a decent run on network television?

That was a trick question -- because there haven't been any. Showtime had "Resurrection Blvd." and PBS the superb "American Family" earlier this decade, but that has essentially been it. The broadcast guys haven't been able to mount an hour featuring a predominantly Latino cast, but they finally scored a comedy hit with "George Lopez."

This season, CBS is giving drama another shot with "Cane," a slick and earnest soap about rival families in southern Florida. One makes sugar and rum; the other makes trouble. And presiding over it all is the ever-capable Jimmy Smits, who has been around long enough to play a world-weary heavyweight rather than the affable hunk of roles past. The show will sink or swim on his broad shoulders, and early indications are reasonably promising.

Despite the title, there is actually nobody named Cane here. The primary clan here is the Duques, a Cuban-American family headed by patriarch Pancho (Hector Elizondo) and matriarch Amalia (Rita Moreno, still breathing fire). They have an ambitious son, Frank (Nestor Carbonell), who sees as his birthright the assumption of their mega-successful rum and sugar empire. Frank is locked in a power struggle with Alex Vega (Smits), Pancho's son-in-law who married into the business via his daughter Isabel (Paola Turbay), while youngest son Henry (Eddie Matos) is content to stay on the sidelines and away from the battle.

On the other side are members of the Samuels family, the Duques' bitter adversaries who run their own sugar biz and resort to dirty tricks like killing family members when things don't go their way.

In the opener, penned by executive producer Cynthia Cidre, things heat up after the Samuels family makes a business proposition to buy out the Duques' sugar interest and leave them concentrating solely on rum. Pancho agrees to hear them out despite his abiding mistrust. Frank wants to sell, but he has his own conflicted agenda (as well as a romantic relationship with a Samuels lass).

Alex, trying to sort things out and keep his family from doing any business with the dreaded enemy, is the purported good guy here, struggling to keep his own family (including three kids, one of whom wants to bag a scholarship to M.I.T. to join the service!) in line while at the same time showing that he's not above dirty trickery himself.

The dialogue in Cidre's teleplay has a propensity for stiff pronouncements that too often finds the characters talking at, rather than to, each other. Direction from Christian Duguay, who helmed the 2003 CBS miniseries "Hitler: The Rise of Evil," is stylish and savvy, evoking quiet intensity despite the script's shortcomings. Smits is convincingly passionate, his charismatic countenance very much in evidence.

There's enough juice in the "Cane" premise to build a following. It may help that the characters' ethnicity is mostly incidental to the story line rather than central. Even so, the deck is a bit stacked in its having to compete head-to-head with ABC's "Boston Legal" and "Law & Order: SVU" on NBC. While this is not an impossible time slot in which to make headway, a breakthrough could be iffy.

Cast:

Alex Vega: Jimmy Smits

Pancho Duque: Hector Elizondo

Frank Duque: Nestor Carbonell

Amalia Duque: Rita Moreno

Ellis Samuels: Polly Walker

Isabel Vega: Paola Turbay

Henry Duque: Eddie Matos

Jaime Vega: Michael Trevino

Katie Vega: Lina Esco

Rebecca King: Alona Tal

Artie Vega: Samuel Carman

Joe Samuels: Ken Howard

Santo: Oscar Torres

Grasso: Jason Beghe

Executive producers: Cynthia Cidre, Jonathan Prince, Jimmy Lovine, Polly Anthony; Co-executive producer: Jimmy Smits; Producer: Dennis Bishop; Co-producer: John A. Smith. Teleplay: Cynthia Cidre; Director: Christian Duguay; Director of photography: David Connell; Production designer: Eve Cauley; Costume designer: Perri Kimono; Editor: David Post; Sound mixer: Mark Steinbeck; Casting: Bonnie Finnegan, Steven Jacobs.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter