Jimmy Smits drama Cane shows promise on CBS

“This season, CBS is giving drama another shot with “Cane,” a slick and earnest soap about rival families in southern Florida. One makes sugar and rum; the other makes trouble. And presiding over it all is the ever-capable Jimmy Smits, who has been around long enough to play a world-weary heavyweight rather than the affable hunk of roles past. The show will sink or swim on his broad shoulders, and early indications are reasonably promising.

Despite the title, there is actually nobody named Cane here. The primary clan here is the Duques, a Cuban-American family headed by patriarch Pancho (Hector Elizondo) and matriarch Amalia (Rita Moreno, still breathing fire). They have an ambitious son, Frank (Nestor Carbonell), who sees as his birthright the assumption of their mega-successful rum and sugar empire. Frank is locked in a power struggle with Alex Vega (Smits), Pancho’s son-in-law who married into the business via his daughter Isabel (Paola Turbay), while youngest son Henry (Eddie Matos) is content to stay on the sidelines and away from the battle.”

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