As TV pundits go, they're not yet in the same showbiz stratosphere as David Gergen and Arianna Huffington.
But it's a safe bet that Humberto Guida, Maria Teresa Petersen, Jesus Malverde and their colleagues on LATV's "Decision 2008" have more insight than their fellow talking heads about what's on the minds of one of America's fastest-growing voting (and viewing) blocs: Latino youth.
Spreading that knowledge among young Latinos, as well as to the general public, is the impulse behind LATV's freewheeling, election-year round-table debate show, apparently the first of its kind. Produced in-house by L.A.-based bilingual entertainment network LATV, in conjunction with the get-out-the-vote organization Voto Latino, "Decision 2008" was shot in front of a live Los Angeles studio audience earlier in the fall and first aired Oct. 20. It will be rebroadcast at 8 p.m. today.
Hosted by Guida, a Cuban American journalist and TV producer, the show's panel includes Malverde, a Mexican American hip-hop artist and activist; Petersen, Voto Latino's Colombian-born, Harvard-trained executive director; and Carlos Arias, a Cuban-Brazilian producer whose credits include the upcoming reality show contest "Miss University."
The banter, mostly in English, with occasional colorful bursts of Spanglish, is lively and informal, and the overall seriousness level hovers somewhere between CNN and the bilingual channel MTV Tr3s. Rounding out the formula is a large dose of pep-talk enthusiasm, urging viewers to register to vote.
Topics covered include the current global financial meltdown and U.S. trade relations with countries such as Colombia. A sprinkling of brief man-on-the-street interviews overturns conventional wisdom by revealing that young Latinos this election cycle are as concerned about finding jobs and the state of the economy as they are about hot-button issues like immigration.
Guida, 27, who cites Bill Maher and Jon Stewart as his talk-show role models, believes that an up-tempo, well-informed show about politics, with a touch of irreverent wit, will attract far more young Latino viewers than plodding earnestness.
"I think that humor is a great way to reach young people, even on real issues," he says. "Young people might be angry, but they're also optimistic. So they don't want a whole lot of end-of-the-world kind of talk."
