ABC Offers Lost, Housewives en Espanol
Hoping to lure some of the burgeoning Latino market to its wares, ABC says it will offer all of its prime-time entertainment programming in either dubbed or subtitled Spanish this season.
Four shows -- the returning hit dramas Lost and Desperate Housewives and comedies George Lopez and Freddie -- will be dubbed into Spanish, as will some specials and showings of theatrical movies. The remainder of ABC's shows will be close-captioned in Spanish.
"We wanted to move beyond toe-dipping and really dive in," says Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment. "Almost half of the 41 million Hispanics in this country watch only or mostly Spanish-language television, and we want to bring that audience to ABC."
Part of Freddie, a new comedy starring Freddie Prinze Jr., is already in Spanish. One of the show's running jokes is that Freddie's grandmother (Jenny Gago), although she understands English perfectly, only speaks Spanish (her lines are subtitled in English).
Spanish-language networks grabbing an increasingly large slice of the total TV audience. The Univision telenovela "La Madrastra" (The Stepmother), which had its finale Monday (Sept. 5), averaged better than 5 million viewers per night last week and helped propel Univision stations in New York and Los Angeles to the top of the ratings, regardless of language, in their markets.
ABC says it's currently casting the voice roles for the series it plans to dub.
ZAP2it 9/8/05
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