The Latino Wave : More Show-Biz Doors Are Opening Since ‘La Bamba’

The news looked like one more disappointment for Latinos in Hollywood: On Wednesday, CBS canceled “Trial and Error,” a Latino buddies sitcom that had premiered just 15 days earlier.

The program was one of four comedies that CBS yanked from the Tuesday-night schedule in the wake of disastrous ratings that dashed any hopes the network had of avoiding winding up the prime-time season in third place for the first time in its history.

As dramatic as the CBS action was, however, it was not without irony. “Trial and Error” may be gone from prime-time TV, but, CBS’ experience notwithstanding, Latino stories are considered hot properties in show business this year.

Unlocked by the success last year of “La Bamba,” producers’ doors all over Hollywood appear to be opening to Latinos.

“ ‘La Bamba’ helped the studios give the green light to projects that had been in development for a long time,” said Ivy Horta, a Columbia Pictures executive and chairwoman of the Hispanic Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, a national performing arts organization. “In other words, where the door was shut before, it is now open about an inch. But at least it’s an inch.”

Since “La Bamba,” more than a dozen major Latino and Latino-oriented TV and film projects have started in Hollywood. (See related story. Page 11.) And the wave of interest in all things Latino, some industry officials say, is likely to be fueled by the critical and early box-office successes of “Stand and Deliver” and “The Milagro Beanfield War.”

“Basically, because of ‘La Bamba’ and the early success of ‘Stand and Deliver,’ the major studios will continue to take a hard look at this market,” said Barry Reardon, president of distribution at Warner Bros. “It’s too early to predict ultimate effects, but at this stage of the game it looks very promising.”

Warner Bros. bought the distribution rights for the independently produced “Stand and Deliver,” an academic “Rocky” story featuring Edward James Olmos as Garfield High’s math teacher Jaime Escalante.

Still, Reardon reminded, Warner Bros. is only interested in Latino stories that can translate into movies with broad commercial appeal.

His optimistic outlook for “Stand and Deliver” stems from its strong story, its solid reviews and its fast start at the box office. It averaged a healthy $13,730 per screen in 30 theaters its first weekend in mid-March. After its third weekend, the film was still averaging a respectable $8,000 per screen in 60 theaters.

Meanwhile, “Milagro’s” fortunes appear to have brightened after opening to mixed reviews two weeks ago. The Robert Redford-directed fable of a rural Latino community’s struggle for survival jumped 30% in two weeks--from average revenues of $15,757 per screen in three theaters two weeks ago to $20,287 per screen last weekend.

The next test for both films begins this weekend. Warner Bros. expects to deploy 250 prints, including 30 Spanish-dubbed versions, of “Stand and Deliver,” while Universal will field more than 100 additional English-language prints and 13 Spanish-dubbed prints of “Milagro” nationwide.

Given the appeal of the Latino movies, it is difficult to assess the fate of Latinos on television, Hollywood insiders say. “Trial and Error,” which starred Eddie Velez and Paul Rodriguez, was only attracting 8% of the available audience.

“If the show had been a hit, it would have positively affected other projects. But conversely, (its failure) might have a negative effect on the industry’s interest in Hispanic TV programs,” said a dejected Eduardo Cervantes, vice president of current programs for Columbia Pictures Television and the show’s producer. “It’s depressing, any way you look at it. Clearly no one was watching the show--at least no one the Nielsens measure.”

He said he was especially disappointed because the show’s novelty as the first English-language series to be simulcast in Spanish on Spanish-language radio stations had stirred great curiosity in the news media.

Three Latino organizations have launched a letter-writing campaign to revive “Trial and Error,” charging that CBS was not seriously committed to the show because it had placed it in its weakest time slot.

This isn’t the first setback for Latinos on TV. In 1984, ABC’s “a.k.a. Pablo,” which also starred Paul Rodriguez, survived only a few episodes. Earlier this season, ABC killed “I Married Dora,” which featured “La Bamba’s” Elizabeth Pena as a Salvadoran housekeeper, and shelved “Juarez,” a dramatic series about a Latino sheriff’s detective in a Texas border town.

But CBS claims “Trial and Error” won’t sour the network to similar projects.

“It has nothing to do with whether a Hispanic comedy can succeed,” a network spokesman said. “Unfortunately, the established competition (ABC’s “Who’s the Boss?” and NBC’s “Matlock”) was just too difficult. Our other shows (“My Sister Sam,” “Frank’s Place,” “Coming of Age”) were having the same problems.”

CBS plans to continue testing Latino themes and talent. “Gangs,” a one-hour drama about Latino street gangs, will air April 19 at 3 p.m. The network also will consider next month whether to order a series from “Fort Figueroa,” a comedy pilot directed by Luis Valdez about a Midwestern Anglo family sandwiched between Latino and Asian neighbors.

Columbia’s Cervantes contends that “Trial and Error’s” fate ignores a deeper problem--the lack of Latino creative control over programs that depict them.

“There are no Hispanics in charge of the programming divisions of ABC, CBS, NBC,” he said. “It reminds me of the Spanish Haciendas. In this case, the land surrounding the industry is the Hispanic community of L.A., and they are not part of this industry. And if you’re not part of it, where are the programs which include you going to come from?”

“Stand and Deliver” co-producer Ramon Menendez believes that Hollywood won’t judge Latinos on one success or failure. Menendez said the industry’s attempt to reach the nation’s estimated 20 million Latinos has evolved slowly since 1981, when Universal released Luis Valdez’s film version of “Zoot Suit” and Olmos starred in “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.”

“I think the Latino wave is not really a wave, just a new market that is becoming a permanent fixture” of the industry, Menendez said. “Because the United States is becoming Latinized, it’s only obvious that this . . . should be represented in the popular media.”

“Milagro” co-producer Moctesuma Esparza, while optimistic, tried to put recent Latino gains in perspective: “Last year, 500 feature films were made, but only four were (Latino-oriented). That’s very far from any sort of proportional representation.”

The new Latino-themed productions have nevertheless set an important precedent, Esparza concluded: “All these theatrical features have a humanistic quality. They present us as human beings. They speak to the mainstream; they say we are a worthy people regardless of our status.”