Smits Enjoys The Sweet Life On "Cane"
From "L.A. Law" to "NYPD Blue" to "The West Wing," Jimmy Smits has become a major star. Now he brings his talent to CBS in the family drama "Cane."
Smits plays Alex Vega, a member of a wealthy Cuban-American family that runs a sugar and rum business. He is also the executive producer and said he was drawn to the series because of the writing.
"It was the script; very textured, complex character, I think," he told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "Somebody who has a very strong moral compass, all about family, but has a lot of conflicted issues. Being part of the producing team that was another kicker because you can help kind of nurture some things.
It was no secret that CBS has been pushing the new series hard in an expensive advertising campaign. It is also unique because the show focuses on a Latin-American family. The show's producers want to raise the bar on the way Latinos are portrayed on TV.Photos: CBS Fall Lineup
"We talk about it as an American show and the fact that we're going to be looking at a very well-to-do family that has come to this country in a very affluent in business through maybe a specific cultural lens," Smits said. "But we're all inclusive in terms of where we're going with it."
Aside from the cultural dimension of "Cane," the show's name is also a play on the Biblical tale of Cain and Abel in which the sons of Adam and Eve fight for their parents love. Smits' character has an intense rivalry with his brother.
It's these two competing dynamics that make the show an easy comparison to the HBO series "The Sopranos," but Smits said critics should resist the urge to categorize.
"You guys need to feel like you need to put it in a box and when you certainly think about those iconic nighttime soaps of the late '80s ... The television landscape has changed a whole lot so I like to think of it as a hybrid of all of those things because we have -- the pilot episode does take a kind of dark turn," he said.