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NBC's KINGPIN!!

latino interest groups will be pissed.... by The Tao of Joe	Feb 2nd, 2003 10:53:59 AM
THey have been begging and begging to be represented in television shows on television, and NBC, a channel that has yet to really give our nation's latino community or any other non white community for that matter, decides to finally portray latino americans on tv with a show about a homocidal latin american drug dealer. Something tells me that the fury directed towards the Sopranos from the italian american community will not match this because, this is on national tv, which depends on comercial spots and ratings more than HBO, and 2) the latino community is definately much more vocal than the italian community. I mean for a channel that tried used their own news programs to try and make event television when a Black female boldly went where no black person has gone before and appeard on Friends (which I think should have been renamed after that discusting show of token-ism, and called "Crackers"), really kind of causes flags to go off inside my mind when I see comercials for this show with glamourized latino violence. Why not make a happy upbeat comedy show about exploited mexican house servants in LA, and call it "Spick and SPANish". Spike Lee wasn't too far off when he made his movie Bamboozled. I see more and more of what he was talking about each day.
The timing of ethnic stereotyping. by Tesarta	Feb 2nd, 2003 11:19:58 AM
One of the things that intrigues me is how we react to things like Sopranos and Kingpin differently. Now, being myself an Hispanic fellow (second generation half-and-half - father grew up in Peru, mother grew up in Rhode Island), I have a bias against Kingpin just on principle. But something else occurred to me aside from my own distaste for the show. Sopranos is socially acceptable insofar as the Italian-American community is socially acceptable to the larger U.S. society. That is, Italians have been here for a long time as an identified "immigrant" group, and are part of the culture (as far as the culture is concerned). Latino Americans, on the other hand, are a "recent" immigrant population (as it were), and are still looked upon with suspicion. The community is not yet integrated into society as an innocuous, acceptable piece. That's what makes Kingpin so dangerous to the Latino/a community: it reinforces stereotypes that still persist as the dominant framework by which it is viewed. The Sopranos doesn't have that effect. (And I also don't imagine that Kingpin is going to be going for humor; the ads seem to suggest just a lot of violence and Sheryl Lee speaking dialogue in her creepy mouse voice a lot.)
my 2cents by thevision	Feb 2nd, 2003 03:50:37 PM
Looks like an over-hyped episode of Miami Vice to me. Can't stand the fact the only way Latinos can get a hour-long drama on Network TV is to portray drug dealers but a "good familiy man drug dealer with an MBA from STANFORD"- PUHLEEZE!!; NBC doesn't have a clue, "Kingpin" is supposed to be its version of the "Sopranos" but the NETWORK doesn't get the fact that Tony and Co. are basically small-time, nickel and dime types and they don't have a Helicopter and the DEA chasing him in Jersey-what makes "The Sopranos" so compelling is its rooted in reality, "Kingpin" is glamorized bullsh!t!! Don't believe the hype, this show will be gone by EASTER!
Al Pacino did this stuff already in Scarface by Regis Travolta	Feb 2nd, 2003 04:56:32 PM
This is Scarface the TV series.
Inspiration by DyslexicHeart	Feb 2nd, 2003 06:53:04 PM
I think NBC was inspired as much by the academy award winning film "Traffic" as it was by "The Sopranos", which explains the scope of the show's story including helicopters and such. Having said that, a television series dealing with the drug and border war in the Southwest would be very interesting. I just don't understand why it must be turned into an ethnically demographic aimed family melodrama as this show seems to be. As far shows that feature latinos prominantly and positively, there was the decent "Ressurection Blvd." on Showtime and the incredible "American Family" on PBS but neither program crossed over into middle america.
This show is repulsive. by Evil McSatan	Feb 2nd, 2003 08:29:34 PM
And yes, I HAVE seen it already. It's made entirely to pander to critics, who of course are (unfortunately) lapping it up. I love "The Sopranos," because it's an intelligent show, and the violence is actually justifiable in the show's context. "Kingpin" is gratuitous, sadistic, and just plain unpleasant to watch. Watch it if you enjoy ugly experiences.
Positive Ethnicity And Broadcasting... by The Stutter_Man	Feb 2nd, 2003 09:44:35 PM
The problem is series with positive role models is hard enough to succeed for the cracker shows(check the pitiful Life With Bonnie), let alone hispanics(check the pitiful Brothers Garcia and Greetings From Tuscon). Also, Telemundo would seem to be fertile ground to springboard to American networks, but all I see when I channel surf on there are bad soap operas and Jerry Springer wannabees in espanol. Which tells me one thing: making crap popular is a universal phenomenon.
Oh please by NavinRJohnson	Feb 2nd, 2003 11:30:30 PM
Take one film student who's seen "Godfather" too many times, add sophomoric screenwriter who found Traffic "profound", and throw in some short-fingered suits who crave a network Sopranos... Ugh. Will be off the air in a few weeks.
Lame show...... by Jarek	Feb 3rd, 2003 12:13:22 AM
.......I hate to say this, but I wasn't that impressed with Kingpin. I don't think I really need to start watching it regularily. I've got enough shows to watch, with 24, The Shield, Buffy, Angel, Sopranos, Oz, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Simpsons and the like.
Depressing... by Jervis Tetch	Feb 3rd, 2003 02:28:48 PM

Depressing... by Jervis Tetch	Feb 3rd, 2003 02:37:10 PM
...because if "The Sopranos" is about a small time crew at the end of the Mafia era, "Kingpin" is about the very real future: powerful drug cartels against which the DEA, police, and government are effectively powerless. The producer, aping the producer of "The Sopranos," says "things will end badly for these characters" but not before weeks of showing the bad guys winning,the good guys losing,and DEA body parts being fed to hungry tigers. What point have we reached that we crave TV shows about the power of evil, and the powerlessness of everybody else? Here's to hoping that the show's Godfather, Sopranos, Miami Vice and Scarface rip-offs lead to its early demise. PS. Notice how much thinner and cuter the mob boss and his wife are than Tony and Carmela? That's NBC for you.
Enough about stereotypes by Hotel Detective	Feb 3rd, 2003 04:59:00 PM
Just b/c they have made a show involving Mexican/Columbian drug cartels is not cause to fume. The whole country is getting ridiculously single-minded over political correctness. How about when enough people want to watch a drama about a hispanic family they will make it? If I was making a miniseries on the drug trade im pretty damn sure id have to use hispanic actors - considering most of our drugs come in from Cuba, Columbia, and Mexico. WAKE UP and shed the PC crap, it isnt helping anyone - its driving us further apart.
Thinly-Veiled Racism... by The Llama	Feb 4th, 2003 01:17:26 AM
...is a typical knee-jerk reaction. If you're going to make a miniseries about the drug cartels, what ethnic group did you think would be portrayed? On the other hand...just based on quality, I was pretty underwhelmed by the storyline...did indeed feel like I was watching a Sopranos knockoff.
Ok, I realize I'm late... by rev_skarekroe	Feb 4th, 2003 12:36:28 PM
...but I just have to say that I think the race thing is just horrid. The Kingpin was a white guy in the comic, and he should be a white guy here! What? sk
It"s got potential by VatoLoco	Feb 5th, 2003 10:08:31 AM
Unfortunately a show of this subject matter does not fit the mold of normal prime time network programming, so it's going to have to be extra godd inbetween the commercials.Kudos to the inclusion of Danny Trejo in episode 2 but I'm still not sure about the lead guy playing Miguel, Yancey Arias. He's a cool looking dued, but I'm not sure I buy him as a leader of a ruthless drug cartel.
Aaron Spelling's Mezzo-Sopranos. by Fatal Discharge	Feb 5th, 2003 01:56:57 PM
From the creator of Dynasty and Charlie's Angels, hmmm........ This reeks of exploitation - violence for the sake of violence, excessive boob shots (mostly of the guy this time), cocaine snorting, even pubic hair on prime time tv...sheesh. What show were the critics watching? There's no likeable chracters in this except the woman police drug agent (who gets shot, lies in a hospital bed looking near death, then in the next scene is riding a horse....now there's realism for ya). There's no one in the drug family I care about including the lead guy who's supposed to have qualms about what he's doing because he has a young son but then orders the most despicable things done thereby negating any sympathy we might've had for him. The Sopranos walks a fine line because even though they commit brutal crimes (much more sparsely than the multiple deaths per episode we're getting here), we also see extensive & troubled family life as well as Tony's psychiatric problems (great writing which is sadly lacking in Kingpin).
t by BAMF	Feb 6th, 2003 01:09:37 PM
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AWWWFUL!!!! by ASPEN FILM GEEK	Feb 6th, 2003 01:32:10 PM
This show is pathetic. Any comparison to THE SOPRANOS is an insult. So made for network censors it is pathetic. I can't believe the creators had anything to do with NYPD BLUE!!

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NBC's KINGPIN!!

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