Mel Rodriguez to Star in YouTube Premium’s Dark Comedy “On Becoming a God in Central Florida”

Posted on September 15, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Mel Rodriguez has landed a God-sized project…

The 45-year-old Latino actor has been cast in On Becoming a God in Central Florida, YouTube Premium’s a one-hour dark comedy series set in the 1990s.

Rodriguez will star opposite Ted Levine, Kirsten Dunst and Beth Ditto, the lead singer of Gossip, who’ll be series regulars, as well as Usman Ally, who has a recurring role.

The web series hails from George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures and Sony’s TriStar Television.

On Becoming A God In Central Florida, one of the passion projects for the late TriStar television head Suzanne Patmore Gibbs, was written by Robert Funke and Matt Lutsky based on a spec script they wrote.

Set near Orlando in the early 1990s, it centers on Krystal Gill (Dunst), a minimum-wage-earning water park employee who will eventually scheme her way up the ranks of the Founders American Merchandise, the cultish, flag waving, multi-billion dollar pyramid scheme that drove her family to ruin.

Rodriguez will play the manager of the low-rent waterpark where Krystal works.

Rodriguez’s previous credits include Getting On, The New Normal, Hot in Cleveland and The Middle.

ABC Developing Mexican-American-Themed Comedy

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like ABC is going Tex-Mex…

The network has put in development a single-camera comedy from The Real O’Neals co-creators Casey Johnson and David Windsor and writer Rob Sudduth.

Penned by Sudduth with Johnson and Windsor supervising, the untitled multi-generational family comedy follows a man who, along with his husband and son, moves back in with his Mexican-American family in the heart of Texas, where he struggles to navigate his family’s deep-rooted traditions.

The project is semi-autobiographical: Sudduth was born and raised by a Latino family in Texas and is married to longtime The Young & the Restless actor Greg Rikaart; the two have a son.

Johnson and Windsor will executive produce, with Sudduth serving as co-executive producer. ABC Studios, which also produced the ABC comedy The Real O’Neals, is the studio.

This is the first project to be taken out this summer by Johnson and Windsor who also are working on several others under their ABC Studios overall deal. The duo co-created and executive produced The Real O’Neals, which aired on ABC for two seasons. They also served as co-executive producers on ABC’s Galavant and on Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23.

Actor-turned-writer Sudduth also was a writer on Telenovela, GCB, The New Normal, The Crazy Ones, and Red Band Society.

Richie to Star on NBC’s Upcoming Comedy Series “Great News”

Posted on July 23, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

There’s a little Great News for Nicole Richie…

The 34-year-old part-Mexican American television personality and fashionista will star in NBC‘s forthcoming comedy Great News in a recasting, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Inspired by the life of Tracey Wigfield, the comedy centers on a mother-daughter relationship that is challenged when an overly involved New Jersey mom (Andrea Martin) interns at her daughter’s (Briga Heelan) workplace, a cable news network.

The Simple Life alum has been tapped to play Portia, the role originally played by Kimrie Lewis-Davis in the pilot.

Producers are said to have wanted to go in a different direction with the role. Portia is the hip, young co-host of The Breakdown, the cable news show within Great News. Sometimes a shrewd social media genius, sometimes a clueless idiot, Portia has little interest in her older co-host’s (John Michael Higgins) hard-hitting traditional vision for the show.

Written by Wigfield, the 30 Rock alum exec produces the Universal Television single-camera comedy alongside Tina Fey and Robert Carlock.

Beth McCarthy Miller directed the pilot for the series, which is due to bow midseason.

It’s Richie’s first scripted series-regular television role following reality television work on The Simple Life and Candidly Nicole as well as guest-acting appearances on NBC’s Chuck, The New Normal and Fox‘s Empire.

Consuelos to Star in Katie Holmes’ Directorial Debut “All We Had”

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Mark Consuelos is Vic-torious…

The 44-year-old half-Mexican actor has joined the cast of All We Had, the directorial debut of Katie Holmes.

Consuelos, best known for his role as Mateo Santos on All My Children, will portray “Vic.”

Stefania Owen, Luke Wilson, Richard Kind and Judy Greer also star in the film about a young mother and her teenage daughter who relocate to a small midwestern town during the height of the worldwide economic crisis in hopes of making a better life.

Josh Boone and Jill Killington wrote the script, based on the novel by Annie Weatherwax.

Consuelos currently stars in Amazon’s political comedy series Alpha House.

His other credits include Guys with Kids, The New Normal, American Horror Story: Asylum and Ugly Betty.

Madera to Star in the USA Network’s Drama Pilot “Queen Of The South”

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Hemky Madera’s next role is taking him south…

The 37-year-old Dominican American actor has landed a role opposite Alice Braga in the USA Network’s drama pilot Queen Of The South.

The project is an English-language adaptation of Telemundo’s blockbuster 2011 telenovela La Reina Del Sur, starring Kate del Castillo.

Based on the best-selling book by Arturo Perez-Reverte, Queen Of The South centers on Teresa Mendoza (Braga), who’s forced to go on the run when her drug-dealing boyfriend is unexpectedly murdered in Mexico. She seeks refuge in America, where she teams with an unlikely figure from her past to bring down the leader of the very drug trafficking ring that has her on the run. In the process, she learns the tools of the trade and strategically positions herself to become the leader of the cartel.

Madera will portray violent cartel henchman Pote Galvez.

His previous credits include appearances on Weeds, New Girl, The New Normal, Burn Notice, Luck and My Name is Earl.

Richie Hits the ‘Paparazzi Patch’ on “The New Normal”

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Nicole Richie’s ready for her close-up…

The 31-year-old part-Mexican reality-TV-star and fashion mogul is set to appear in Tuesday’s Halloween-themed episode on NBC’s The New Normal.

In her cameo appearance as herself, Richie hits the paparazzi patch with Andrew Rannells’ character Bryan.

In the episode, Bryan gives viewers a glimpse into some of his favorite things to do for the holiday, which includes hitting one of Los Angeles’ notorious “paparazzi patches” to pick out pumpkins with his celebrity BFF.

Even though Bryan realizes it must be “so annoying” for Nicole to deal with all the attention, he quickly steps in front of the cameras to block her. Or is he just ready for his close-up?

The episode of The New Normal featuring Richie appears on Tuesday at 10:30 pm ET on NBC.

Richie to Appear on NBC’s “The New Normal”

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Nicole Richie is about to experience the new normal…

The 31-year-old part-Mexican reality TV star and fashionista will be appearing on NBC’s new sitcom The New Normal, along with former Star Trek star George Takei.

“Proud to announce Nicole Richie and the legendary George Takei are joining The New Normal family,” New Normal and Glee creator Ryan Murphy tweeted, presumably referring to acting on the sitcom.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Richie and Takei will play themselves on the show, which also stars Nene Leakes, Ellen Barkin, Justin Bartha and Andrew Rannells.

Richie, who currently appears in ads for her own collection for Macy’s Impulse, most recently appeared as a mentor on NBC’s Fashion Star.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: The New Normal