Lawrence.com

Hollywood, Calif. — One year after filmmaker Gregory Nava submitted a pilot to CBS with hopes that it would become the first Latino family drama in the history of network television, the show's odyssey has ended at the smaller, lower-budget PBS network.

A formal announcement about the 13-episode deal is expected later this week.

"It took a long time," Nava said. "It's never been done before."

The production history of "American Family," a series about a Latino family in East Los Angeles, is a relief map of the rough terrain in Hollywood for nonwhite programming.

For years, Hollywood executives insisted their prime-time schedules, which consisted mostly of shows without largely minority casts, were selected for their quality. The executives maintained they never specifically intended to exclude minorities, pointing out their minority programs designed to foster greater involvement in the networks' shows. Meanwhile, a few prominent minority artists had managed to secure development deals at studios and networks.

One of those artist was Nava, who burst on the scene with a 1984 film about a Guatemalan brother and sister who journeyed to the United States. "El Norte" earned him, among other laurels, an Academy Award nomination. News that Nava had turned his TV development deal into a go-ahead to film an hourlong pilot was viewed with terrific optimism by activists. He cast well-known Latino actors including Edward James Olmos, Raquel Welch and Esai Morales. And he shot the program last spring in East L.A.

But in mid-May, when CBS announced its new prime-time lineup, Nava and his team were devastated. "American Family" had not been selected.

"We would have had � automatically � a much larger audience to get the show out to, and we would have had more marketing money and a bigger push," lamented executive producer Robert Greenblatt.

CBS president Leslie Moonves was clear. He had passed on the show, but in an unusual move, he gave Nava permission to shop the pilot elsewhere. Nava launched talks with PBS, where he received an enthusiastic reaction from its new president.