Hispanics in television

Television has a huge impact on how society portrays different races and classes. The problem is that tv rarely portray's characters in the right manners. Television is full of stereotypes and misconceptions.
Hispanics make up 12.5% of our nation's population, but they are only represented as 2% of characters on television. Those few times when there happens to be a Latino character, they usually appear as small role characters such as janitors, drug dealers, criminals or simply comic relief.

Venezuelan actor, Wilmer Valderrama, plays Fez on a hit television show called That 70's Show. His character is portrayed as a funny exchange student with poor English who is always saying or doing something stupid.


This commercial is for PSP, although its contents have little to do with the product for sale. It mainly features two talking dust balls that happen to have strong Mexican accents. Why did the director choose to give the dust Mexican accents? This pushes the common stereotype of Mexicans being dirty and unintelligent.



Santiago Cabrera is an actor starring in NBC's new series Heroes. In this show he plays a character named Isaac Mendez. Mendez fits the negative stereotype in being a heroin-addicted artist who experiences premonitions through his dark and violent art work.

On a brighter note, this year's new television show called Ugly Betty actually has a Hispanic actress as the lead role! A young Latino named America Ferrera plays Betty Suarez, a young and slightly over-sized woman working in the fashion industry. This show is getting all kinds of attention from audiences across the nation and has actually been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

This show is definitely a step up for the Hispanic race in terms of representation in the media. Betty is an intelligent and hard working girl, and not to mention, the main character of the show! The only set-back is that the show is called "Ugly" Betty, and Ferrera is portrayed as being a less attractive and slightly overweight woman. But its a start...

There are also 3 other Hispanic-centered shows planning to air this year. The Ortegas is a sitcom about a Mexican Family that will be shown on Fox. This show is based on a British comedy which features a son's dream to become a television show host and how his family helps him. Fox is also planning to air Luis, another comedy about a Hispanic man who owns a Spanish Harlem donut shop. Lastly, the stand-up comedian Geroge Lopez is starring in a new hit family comedy called, George Lopez, which will air on ABC this fall.

There is alot of excitement on the airing of these new shows. People are thinking maybe Hispanics are becoming stronger in television and getting their big break, just as blacks did with the Cosby Show. However, some are afraid Hispanics won't watch English-speaking shows, regardless of who is casted in it and what their races are. "... Nielsen Media Research's list of the most popular shows in Hispanic households is packed with Spanish-language soap operas (telenovellas), with no English-language shows to be seen, regardless of the stars." (Deggans) It is well known that the spanish community is attracted to their 'telenovellas' but if they hope to see their race represented in television more they will have to check some of these shows out and see what they think.