Espanol goes prime time

Oye, have you noticed? All over the TV dial, se habla espanol. Si. Si. It's true. Many of your favorite TV characters are speaking in Spanish. Sometimes it's just a line of dialogue sprinkled in to add a dash of authenticity. Sometimes it's a full-blown conversation with or without subtitles. Sometimes it's even that (lazy? or is it naughty?) bicultural hybrid, Spanglish.

As Latinos have grown into the nation's largest minority, the culture has surfaced ever so slightly on our TV programs. To be sure, the TV networks still have their work cut out for them when it comes to all-around diversity. But more and more, Latino characters on television are resembling the full U.S. Latino experience: from the working-class families of "The George Lopez Show" and "Ugly Betty" to the middle-class professionals of "Scrubs" and "Dexter," to the wealthy elite of "Cane."

Now for the bad news: Sometimes Spanish words are so horribly mispronounced and the grammar is so mangled that the FCC should consider charging someone with a crime against language. Que pasa, TV networks? Is it that challenging to hire some tutors? In the same way that shows hire consultants to get medical or crime investigation procedures right, can't you hire some native speakers to work with your actors? Because, believe us, some of them need some H-E-L-P.

Cases in point: In a recent episode of Showtime's "Dexter," detectives Angel Batista (David Zayas) and Maria Laguerta (Lauren Velez) expressed their condolences to the family of a victim. But the way the actors pronounced perdida (loss), emphasizing the second syllable instead of the first, sent the wrong message. Instead of "I'm sorry for your loss," they told the grieving mother that they were "sorry that you got lost."

Fox's "Prison Break" can thank its lucky stars for Amaury Nolasco, a Puerto Rican actor who plays heartthrob Sucre and delivers his Spanish lines as flawlessly as his English ones. But the rest of the Panamanian prison is infested with folks who really need to spend a little more time on phonetics.

Similarly, "CSI: Miami" can't rely on Adam Rodriguez to carry all the espanol on his broad shoulders. The show is based in a city where most of the population is fluent in Spanish and not necessarily in English. But some of the language is so mashed that those of us who do speak Spanish could still use subtitles. Horatio, ayudanos! (help us!)