CROSSING BORDERS NBC'S 'KINGPIN' EMPLOYS MANY LATINO ACTORS, BUT CRITICS SAY SHOW ENFORCES HARMFUL STEREOTYPE.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

A tiger on the set of NBC's new limited series ``Kingpin'' helped inform Yancey Arias' performance as a power-seizing drug lord.

``I loved that tiger,'' says Arias. ``Let me tell you something - when I met that tiger on set, I learned what true power is. I took his soul and embraced it while I was on set. Because at any moment, he could've lost his patience. I remember how he looked at me and it wasn't about who can eat who. It was about, 'I understand you, you understand me.' And that added another texture to my character.''

Arias stars in ``Kingpin'' as Miguel Cadena, who employs both his education at Stanford and good old-fashioned muscle to rise to the top of his family's Mexican drug empire. The series is trying to be far edgier than anything you'd see on network television, but at the same time, it's raising concerns among groups over its depiction of Latinos as drug dealers.

``Kingpin'' is the creation of David Mills, who has won awards for scripting episodes of ``NYPD Blue'' and ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' and won an Emmy and a Peabody for collaborating with David Simon on the HBO miniseries ``The Corner.''

The premiere episode is directed by Alan Coulter, who has worked on ``The Sopranos,'' but even though NBC is promoting the ``Sopranos'' angle, the network claims not to be seeking comparisons.

``That is not what we set out to do,'' claims NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker. ``I understand the comparisons that have been made because at the center of those shows you have a guy at the center of a family who is conflicted about his role in life and in his family.''

Then, getting caught up in the sort of hyperbole integral to any network president, Zucker adds, ``To me, what David Mills has come up with is far closer to the conflict and internal guilt that a Hamlet or a Macbeth feels as to his quest for power and the guilt he feels in killing. So where some see 'Sopranos,' I see Shakespeare.''

Perhaps Zucker should content himself with the ``Sopranos'' comparisons, for before it has even aired, ``Kingpin'' has garnered some controversy over its depiction of the Latino characters.

Lack of role models

Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition in Los Angeles, says he's received numerous phone calls and e-mails by coalition members worried about how Latinos will be portrayed on the series.

``At a time when there are very few Latino-themed programs on the air - not just on ABC, CBS, and NBC but on the multitude of cable channels too - the characters that I saw on the 'Kingpin' pilot made me very uncomfortable,'' says Nogales, who was anonymously mailed a copy of the pilot two months ago.

``Are we going to see, week after week, all these Mexicans killing each other and DEA agents?'' Nogales adds. ``I understand that sometimes pilots get carried away, but we expect changes by the second or third episode. In the pilot, there was just one Latina battling the forces of evil. I want to see more Latino DEA agents and characters with positive images. Give me some balance.''

Mills rejects this criticism. Latino viewers won't be insulted by the series, he insists, because, ``A good story trumps everything. I am fed up with the notion that when it's a white character and white actors, it's a universal story, but when it's a Mexican character and a Latino actor, it's a story about Mexicans. Latino actors should not be limited to playing the noble inner-city math teacher or the salsa-band leader.''

Zucker notes, ``This is entertainment and it's real - the fact is, the three largest cartels in this country that are running drugs are Mexican drug cartels.''

Technically, this is true, according to the FBI: Though Colombians manufacture cocaine, they rely upon Mexicans to get the drug into the United States (Cadena - Spanish for ``chain'' - is depicted meeting with his Colombian connections). Mexican cartels also create most of the marijuana sold in America.

``A Mexican-American DEA agent is trying to bring him down,'' Zucker adds. ``So I think there are images of Mexicans within that one program that people can gravitate toward and grab onto.''

However, Esteban Torres, president of the National Latino Media Council and a former congressman from Los Angeles, says he is ``not pleased'' with the pilot and is weighing a possible boycott against NBC and the show's advertisers.

``I've been hearing from a lot of people asking us to stand up to this,'' Torres says. `` 'Kingpin' amplifies the stereotypical images that we've been fighting for so long to eradicate. Why is it that we never see ourselves on television as senators or congressmen? I've been one.''

Arias says those who divine a racist subtext in ``Kingpin'' are missing the point. ``These characters are people,'' he says flatly. ``If this happens to a Mexican family or Italian family or Chinese family, it's still a problem, and these are the things (Mills) put forth for the characters to deal with.

``I am proud to have been chosen to play this role to represent actors of whatever color,'' Arias continues. ``As far as the Hispanic culture is concerned, they're going to see a lot of Latino actors putting out their skills and really giving it their all to show some of these people in the industry we're here and we're ready to rock 'n' roll if you've got a part for us.''

Bobby Cannavale, who plays Miguel's brother Chato, likewise suggests the series will prove a boon for Latinos.

``I don't think you'll find any Latino actors that don't want to work on the show. Actors want good parts, and that's the bottom line. If you're an actor, you want to look for the most challenging parts. And you can also put a positive spin on this, which is this show is employing 20 to 30 Latino actors every week.''

Luis Reyes, author of ``Hispanics in Hollywood: A Film and Television Encyclopedia,'' likewise sees good coming from ``Kingpin.''

``If there were no other Latino shows on the air, I would have a problem with it, but you have series like 'The Brothers Garcia,' 'George Lopez,' 'Greetings From Tucson' and you had 'Resurrection Boulevard,' '' says Reyes, who adds that he didn't find the show particularly original but thought it ``very stylish.''

``The characters are well-drawn - they're not cartoon stereotypes, though they are bigger than life. There's a depth to them. It's a great opportunity for Latino actors to showcase their talents. Because you have diversity of images, I don't mind 'Kingpin' at all. There's good and bad in every culture.''

A ``director's cut'' of the series - read that, naughtier version - will air on Bravo, and a version entirely in Spanish will air eventually on Telemundo. Though Telemundo issued a statement to the effect that it won't issue a statement, Reyes suggests, ``There are Mexican movies on Telemundo that deal with drug trafficking and that sort of thing, so it won't be anything new for them.''

Perhaps mindful of this controversy, ``Kingpin'' assiduously avoids the bleak, sobering view of America's war on drugs that made Mills' ``The Corner'' so powerful.

``I just don't happen to have any political feelings whatsoever about the drug war,'' says Mills. ``The drug trade, all it does is give us a very big canvas upon which to tell these human stories. It has nothing to do with being subversive or not. David Simon has a passionate critique of the drug war and that fueled him in writing 'The Corner.' I have not thought that deeply about it and don't care to. ... You don't have to be motivated by that to tell the story.''

Arias does, however, say of his character, ``He knows the hypocrisies of how the drugs make money for everybody. It's as if you told England to stop making tea. It's an old issue, and it's a monster of a problem. And all of these characters are in the monster's belly.

``The show and the producers and NBC - they don't want to go the political route. But the show is going to move people in a certain way that it's going to make them feel all kinds of things. It's going to entertain, and there are some things there that will raise questions. ... Definitely some good will come out of this, one way or another, in our society. But at the end of the day, people will just go, 'Man, that kicked butt!' ''

Wire service reports contributed to this story.

NBC putting all its might behind 'Kingpin'

If ``Kingpin'' does not catch on with the public, it won't be for lack of trying on the part of NBC.

The drama focusing on a Mexican drug lord and his family was designed as a limited six-hour series. It begins airing tonight, with the last episode airing Feb. 18. The show has been heavily promoted because this is the industry's ``sweeps'' period.

In mid-January, NBC began running an eight-minute sneak peek of the series on IFILM (www.ifilm.com/kingpin), a Web site often used for teasing edgy theatrical releases.

Last week, the network hosted a star-studded, red-carpeted premiere party. Networks have been throwing such fetes for made-for-TV movies for years but rarely, if ever, for a series debut.

Although there are no definite plans for the show to continue beyond February, an NBC spokeswoman said ``the door is open to bring it back'' depending on the ratings.

But even after its initial airing, it will live on. Barely a couple of months after announcing its purchase of Bravo, NBC announced that ``Kingpin'' will get a replay on the indie-film-oriented cable channel with previously unseen adult-themed footage included.

In March, a Spanish-language version of the series will air on Telemundo. So far, airdates have not been set. All the Spanish-language network would say is that ``Kingpin'' would be dubbed by other actors due to time considerations, but Telemundo has not yet decided whether it will use the NBC version or the racier Bravo one.

David Mills, the series' creator, has mixed feelings about throwing the show into the highly competitive sweeps environment.

``It's an index of NBC's faith in the show that they threw it into February, but I don't know,'' said Mills. ``I don't know if it's a good gamble or a bad gamble.''

- Staff and Wire Services

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(1 -- 4 -- cover -- color) `Kingpin' makers

NBC pulls out stops for series on drug trade below the border

(5) From left: Bobby Cannavale, Sheryl Lee, Yancey Arias, executive producer David Mills, Angela Alvarado Rosa, Brian Benben, Shay Roundtree.

(6) Danny Trejo as Manny Manrique

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NBC putting all its might behind 'Kingpin' (see text)