It’s been a while since the last fresh episode of ¿Qué Pasa USA?
Now, some young Cuban Americans are working on bringing cubaneo back to the small screen in a sitcom project called Wassup en LA? The premise (as I understand it) is that one of the kids wants to become an actor, so the whole family moves out to Los Angeles with him as he follows his dreams.
Like true 21st-century aspiring sitcom stars, they’re trying to get their project off the ground using Kickstarter (think social media for raising capital).
Tomorrow evening, I’ll be interviewing creator Carlos de la Vega and cast member Jean Paul San Pedro via Google+ Hangout. We’ll talk about the show, Cubanness, their approach to portraying a Cuban family for a broader audience, and other things.
What would you ask? Leave your ideas for questions in the comments below. I just might use them in the interview.
In the meantime, check out some of their YouTube content here.
“Wassup en LA?” may sound “Latino,” but it doesn’t sound Cuban. This is already a bad sign. I’m not interested in something along the lines of “Chico and the Man,” if you get my drift.
asombra,
Care to elaborate? What do you mean when you say it sounds “Latino”? What would it mean for it to be a more “Cuban” sitcom than a “Latino” one? What about “Chico and the Man” leaves you uninterested?
I have a good idea of what you’re getting at and I don’t disagree… just asking you to elaborate so that I can use your own words if and when I bring it up in the interview later today. I’m curious about all the same things, frankly.
That discussion happens in less than three hours, by the way, so the sooner you can shed light, the better.
Thanks for the feedback.
I think that I know what Asombra is saying. I got uneasy vibes from seeing the links that you provided up there. Maybe its just me [although I think other Cubans may feel the same way] it’s an instant turn-off for me to see someone use the politically and racially charged word, “Latino.” For instance, the producers say, that they got an “all Latino cast to play the Diaz family.” NICE. How about saying that you got an all-Cuban cast? Then there’s all of this talk about mufti-cultural, etc… There’s already enough of that out there on TV land, isn’t there?
Is this really a “Cuban sitcom” or a “Latino sitcom? God knows that there are already enough Cuban sellouts out there playing the game. For instance, the director of the horrible program “CANE” [Thank God it was canceled!] was a Cuban who played the along with the prevailing stereotypes and used people like Jimmy Smit and Rita Moreno saying “Ay Bendito,” etc.. to play a Cuban characters.
Those Cuban guys may be genuinely nice Cuban guys with good intentions, and they may surprise everyone, but they do come across as so lateeno. I’m a bit uneasy.