''Cane'' is an American
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
television series created by
Cynthia Cidre, who also served as executive producer alongside
Jonathan Prince,
Jimmy Iovine
James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...
, and Polly Anthony. The pilot was directed by
Christian Duguay. The show chronicled the lives and internal power struggles of a powerful and wealthy
Cuban-American
Cuban Americans ( or ) are Americans who immigrated from or are descended from immigrants from Cuba. As of 2023, Cuban Americans were the fourth largest Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic and Latino American group in the United States aft ...
family running an immensely successful
rum
Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced i ...
and
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
business in
South Florida
South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...
.
Produced by
ABC Studios
ABC Signature was a production arm of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment and division of The Walt Disney Company. The studio's ...
,
CBS Paramount Network Television
CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount (Network) Television, as a re ...
, El Sendero Productions,
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...
, and Once A Frog Productions, the series premiered on September 25, 2007, airing on Tuesday nights at 10:00/9:00c on CBS, following ''
The Unit''. The series premiere of the show brought in 11 million viewers, the best in its time slot since 1999's ''
Judging Amy
''Judging Amy'' is an American legal drama television series that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS. This television series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Its main character (Brenneman) is a judge who serves ...
''.
Plot
Starring
Jimmy Smits, this epic drama chronicles the external rivalries and internal power struggles of a large Cuban-American family running an immensely successful rum and sugarcane business in South Florida. When the family patriarch, Pancho Duque, is offered a lucrative but questionable deal by his bitter adversaries, the Samuels, he is faced with a difficult choice: Should he cash out of the sugar business and focus solely on rum, which would please his biological son, Frank Duque? Or should he protect the family legacy that he built from the ground up by refusing to sell? This would involve siding with his son-in-law, Alex Vega, who despises the Samuels and foresees multibillion-dollar profits from future
ethanol
Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
contracts.
Alex and Frank's approaches to business are as different as their approaches to life. While Frank focuses on chasing women, Alex is devoted to his beautiful wife, Isabel Vega. Married to him when she was just 17 years old, Isabel chooses not to involve herself in the family business, focusing instead on raising their three children, who are determined to forge their own paths outside the family. Will family allegiance come first or will their secrets and acrimonious conflicts over love, lust, and money lead to their downfall?
Cast
Jimmy Smits portrays Alex Vega in the lead role as the Duques' adopted son and chosen heir to the family's sugar and rum business. Smits is also a co-executive producer of the show.
Héctor Elizondo
Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American character actor. He is known for playing Phillip Watters in the television series '' Chicago Hope'' (1994–2000) and Ed Alzate in the television series '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021 ...
and
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. With a career spanning eight decades she is known for her roles on stage and screen, and is one of the last remaining stars from t ...
star as Pancho and Amalia Duque, the family patriarch and matriarch.
Nestor Carbonell was cast as Frank Duque, the impulsive firstborn son. Other Duque children are portrayed by
Paola Turbay and
Eddie Matos as Isabel Duque Vega, Alex's wife and mother of three children, and Henry Duque, the youngest son of Pancho and Amalia, respectively. Alex and Isabel's children are played respectively by
Michael Trevino,
Lina Esco, and Samuel Carman as Jaime, Katie, and Artie Vega.
Oscar Torre played Santo, a Cuban refugee who was Mr. Vega's bodyguard.
Polly Walker and
Ken Howard
Kenneth Joseph Howard Jr. (March 28, 1944 – March 23, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as Thomas Jefferson in ''1776'' (1972) and as high school basketball coach and former Chicago Bulls player Ken Reeves in the televisi ...
appear as Ellis and Joe Samuels, members of the Duques' rival family, and
Alona Tal rounds out the cast portraying Rebecca (King) Vega, Jaime's wife.
Casting
Casting for all of the principal roles on the show took place from February to March 2007. Smits was the first actor to be cast in February 2007, while also serving as producer under his production company, El Sendero Productions. In order of casting, Nestor Carbonell, Eddie Matos, Rita Moreno, and Michael Trevino were chosen to play their respective parts in February, while Hector Elizondo, Samuel Carman, Alona Tal, Lina Esco, and Paola Turbay joined the cast in early March. Polly Walker was the last to join the cast a few weeks before
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
aired the last episode of ''
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
''.
Cancellation
Due to the
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, ''Cane'' completed its first season on December 18, 2007. On February 8, 2008, the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' reported that the effects of the writers strike "could spell sudden death for such programs as NBC's ''
Bionic Woman'' and CBS' ''Cane'', industry executives predicted." It was also reported by ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' that ''Cane'' would be "gone for good." On February 14, 2008, CBS released a statement declaring that ''Cane'' is still on "hiatus to accommodate the midseason launches of ''
Big Brother'', ''
Jericho
Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017.
F ...
'', and ''
Dexter''." In an April 2008 interview, CBS Entertainment President
Nina Tassler called the drama's chances for renewal "a real long shot." On May 14, 2008, CBS officially cancelled the series.
Production
Conception
The series began development when Polly Anthony, an
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...
executive, and
Jonathan Prince pitched the idea of a "Latino ''
Godfather''" series to CBS entertainment chief,
Nina Tassler. Tassler then suggested Cynthia Cidre, an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
-nominated screenwriter, pen the script for the pilot. Although initially reluctant since she had already written about her Cuban-American heritage several times in her career, Cidre warmed up to the idea, believing that her previous Latin-themed projects were ahead of their time and that she should return to her roots.
The project was initially titled, ''Los Duques'' (''The Dukes'') or ''Untitled Cynthia Cidre Project'', when commissioned in January 2007 but was later renamed ''Cane'' in May 2007.
Christian Duguay agreed to direct the pilot in March 2007. The series was picked up and given a 13-episode order on May 14, 2007.
Broadcasting history
The series premiered on CBS on September 25, 2007, as announced on July 18, 2007, by the network. The pilot episode was leaked to
BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a Protocol (computing), communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a Decentralised system, decentralized manner. The protocol is d ...
websites in the same month to the chagrin of studio executives. ''Cane'' was unaffected by the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, as all the episodes had been written before the strike started.
WGA Writers' Strike Roundup – Zap2it
International distribution
Episodes
U.S. Nielsen ratings
In the following table, "Rating" is the estimated percentage of all televisions tuned to the show, and "Share" is the percentage of all televisions in use that are tuned in.
season1: #58 2007 8.9
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, id=0955250, title=Cane
2000s American drama television series
2007 American television series debuts
2007 American television series endings
American English-language television shows
Television series by ABC Studios
Television series by CBS Studios
Television shows set in Miami
CBS television dramas
Sugar industry of Florida