PASADENA, Calif. — Gregory Nava calls it an American Family, not a Hispanic family, for one reason.

        “I want people, when they watch this show, in the first 15 minutes to forget that it's about a Latino family, and just enjoy the show,” says Mr. Nava, the film director (El Norte) who created American Family, U.S. broadcast TV's first Latino family drama.

        Says Sonia Braga, who plays the family matriarch Berta Gonzalez: “We're writing about the human experience. It's a wonderful show about a family, and it doesn't matter who this family is.”

        And yet, it does. The Gonzalez family of East Los Angeles portrayed in the show is an important breakthrough for America's growing Hispanic population.

        Edward James Olmos stars as Jess Gonzalez, a barber and Korean War veteran. He and Berta have five children: Nina (Constance Marie), Esteban (NYPD Blue's Esai Morales), Vangie (Rachel Ticotin), Cisco (A.J. Lamas) and Conrado (Kurt Caceres). One is a lawyer (Ms. Marie); another is a wealthy professional (Ms. Ticotin) married to an “Anglo”; and Esteban (Mr. Morales) is an ex-con training to be a firefighter.

ON THE AIR

What: American Family     When: 8 p.m. today and Thursday     Where: Channels 48, 16

        “This doesn't look like anything on television,” says Raquel Welch, who plays Jess' sister and next-door neighbor. It's one of the few Latino roles for the actress, born Raquel Tahatha. She was encouraged by Hollywood executives to change her last name after marrying high school sweetheart Jim Welch.

        “American Family doesn't look like Ally McBeal,” she says. “It doesn't look like the regular American thing.”

Passed by CBS

        Mr. Olmos, who appeared in Mr. Nava's Selena and My Family/Mi Familia, doesn't want viewers to forget they're watching a Latino family. He doesn't think that's possible, anyway, after viewers see his character, a conservative Korean War veteran.

        “Imagine Archie Bunker meeting Zorba the Greek, and then you get me,” says Mr. Olmos, who was born and raised in East Los Angeles. “He likes to dance. At the same time, he's listening to Rush Limbaugh ... in the barber shop.”

        Mr. Olmos helped Mr. Nava take the show to PBS after CBS passed on the series. He understands why the big four commercial broadcast networks have not invested in Latino dramas or comedies.

        “You have to think that the networks really feel they get this audience without catering to it. And I don't blame them,” he says.

        Although the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has kicked in funding for American Family, the show is being produced on a smaller budget than one-hour dramas on NBC, CBS, ABC or Fox, Mr. Nava says. To cut costs, Mr. Nava shoots many scenes on Los Angeles streets (eliminating the need for sets on sound stages). He also shoots on weekends, when Mr. Morales isn't working on NYPD Blue.

        “We have a lot less money than if we were on CBS, but we have a lot more creative autonomy,” says Mr. Nava, a San Diego native. “The money limit is difficult to deal with. But I did El Norte for like no money, so I know how to do it.”

Role models

        All involved in the show want the American Family to change the face of American television. And it's about time, one TV studio executive says.

        “One of the most extraordinary failures on the part of all of us in network television has been ... to present finally a Latin-based either situation comedy or drama,” says Peter Roth, Warner Bros. Television president. His studio is producing a spring sitcom for ABC starring George Lopez, a Latino comedian from Los Angeles.

        “Hopefully, American Family will impact the other networks,” says Ms. Ticotin, who grew up “completely confused” when she didn't see people like herself, a Puerto Rican Jew, on TV as a child. “It made me feel like I wasn't human,” says the actress, whose TV credits include Crime & Punishment, For Love and Honor and Ohara.

        Barbara Martinez-Jitner, American Family supervising producer, says she would watch TV as a child and say: “Why isn't my family like The Brady Bunch? It was an isolating, depressing feeling, because you didn't see yourself reflected back (on TV).”

        That will change for young Hispanic viewers, at least once a week on PBS.

        “This allows you to experience in 45 minutes something that you've never seen before,” Mr. Olmos says.

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