PBS Seeks an Outlet for Latino Series

The Public Broadcasting Service said Friday that it is looking for a Spanish-language outlet in the United States for the Latino drama “American Family,” which will begin airing in English on PBS in January.

In addition to broadening the audience for the show, such a deal is needed under the complicated funding package that PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have cobbled together in order to be able to present 13 episodes of the Gregory Nava-produced series, originally made as a pilot for CBS.

If no deal with a Spanish-language network can be reached for delayed airing of a Spanish-dubbed version of the show, PBS President Pat Mitchell told a gathering of TV reporters and critics in Pasadena, the network will consider running the Spanish-language version on its Secondary Audio Programming channel.

PBS said it has tentatively scheduled the series, whose episodes will run 45 minutes, for 8 p.m. Wednesdays, after an initial five-consecutive-night run in January to draw attention. The remainder of the broadcast hour will be filled by local programming, financed by PBS grants, tied to the show.

Whether PBS picks up a second 13-episode season of the series will depend not just on ratings, network executives said, but on community reaction as gauged by PBS stations and traffic to the show’s Web site, as well as success in finding corporate underwriting or other financing. “There’s no question we’re hoping there will be a second season, and a third and a fourth and a fifth,” Mitchell said. “We’d like to see this be a very long-running series.”

Separately, Mitchell said PBS is comfortable with the financing and editorial control of its eight-hour fall series “Evolution,” which explores the title subject from the perspective of science journalism, from its origins in Charles Darwin’s work through the influence his ideas have had up to the present.

“Evolution” is being co-produced by the science unit at Boston public station WGBH and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Clear Blue Sky Productions. PBS felt the topic was important to cover, and the participation of WGBH, Mitchell said, guaranteed the show’s editorial integrity, despite the fact that an outsider, Allen’s company, is financing the entire show and the related Web site and teacher materials.

“Does [the involvement of Allen’s company] mean our air is for sale? Absolutely not,” she said. “We partner with all kinds of production companies,” although she added that co-production guidelines “might be something we need to look at again.”

Given the topic, PBS has been gearing up for controversy over the show for months, anticipating public and congressional inquiries. The first shot was fired Thursday at a press breakfast for the program, when two writers for conservative magazines began asking the producers heated questions about the show’s financing and why it won’t include the viewpoint of scientists who don’t believe in evolution. The last hour of the series does look at the views of those who don’t believe in evolution for religious reasons.