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All right, where's my sitcom?!I don't mean to sound like a whiny crybaby, but every other ethnic group seems to get represented except mine. So here's the question; where's my sitcom?
Where is the hardworking dad from Costa Rica who comes home to his family only to be annoyed by the brainiac child next door? Where is my Urkel?
Now I know that we use deodorant. I buy milk and occasionally will purchase a tube of toothpaste from time to time. My family isn't rich, but we do have money to spend on truly worthless things like self-cleaning coffee mugs. What's more, there are a lot of us. If you believe the census, we're gaining, fast. In other words, we're a demographic to be reckoned with. Certainly some T.V. executive can cater to me and mine.
I envision an insecure, but lovable, single girl moving to Minneapolis to work at a Spanish language television station. We'll call it "Mary Tyler Moreno". Other characters will include Lou Garcia, Ted Batista, and Murray Slaughter. (We need at least one token character in the mix).
The argument against it seems to be that we already have our own television. "Just look at the Spanish stations!" is the defense. Somehow, a pact was made in the backrooms of the communications industry. "Separate, but Equal" is the policy. You get "Saturday Night Live", we get "Sabado Gigante".
But while I'm proud of my heritage and do speak Spanish, I'm an American. If you put me in the rain forest, I'll get lost and die. If you gave me a machete, I'd hack my way to the mall. I speak English most of the time. What I want to see on television is, well, someone like me.
Give me an independent and high spirited woman with big goals and big dreams. Show me a woman who loves her family and wants to make something of herself. Don't make her a nurse in some doctor show. Don't make her some goofy sidekick. Don't give her a crackhead boyfriend who deals drugs and orders drive-by shootings. No, show me a woman who can stand on her own two feet, loves life, and loves her heritage.
Short of that, give me a Latin Urkel. Give me a cute kid with hitched up pants and suspenders who wears bottle thick glasses. I don't want him to sing. Don't give me Ricky Ricardo or Ricky Martin or anyone else named Ricky. We've had enough singers. Giving us a singer is akin to saying that "those people have rhythm". No more Ricky. Give me Urkel.
No? All right then, how about this… two Hispanic men, one clean and one sloppy…
Well, you get the idea.
Lisa Arroyo is a film student in California. Originally from New Mexico, she is an activist for Hispanic and Native American issues.
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