Spanish TV needs a makeover

I stayed with my senior parents at a hotel this weekend and, out of love, I participated in a Saturday ritual of theirs of which I hadn't been part in years.

We watched hours of the longest running show in Spanish television. You know, the one with the host everybody calls "Don". The show has always made me cringe for the cheap, slapstick humor it abuses. But this particular edition really pushed the envelope beyond that and activated my gag reflex.

Three women, their faces stricken by grief, competed for an awkward who-has-the-sorriest-story title that carried a $5,000 prize. Sad woman number one had an autistic son, number two was alone with her children with no income because Dad had been deported and number three was an elderly lady caring for her grandchildren who had been neglected by mom. The women were each been represented by former models of the show who put up pitiful performances on their behalf-one sang an off-tune version of Pedro Navaja , another "danced" while sitting on a chair because of a broken ankle- to earn the poor ladies "points" that the audience awarded based on whose act they liked.

Spanish TV needs a makeover. Between shows like this, endless novelas and shallow morning shows, it fails to appeal to the multitude of Spanish speakers who want quality. But this could soon change. American television biggest players are taking notice of our large population in a way they hadn't before and are betting big money to go after Hispanic viewers for whom the current offerings fall short.

The Walt Disney Company and Univision recently announced that they will launch the first-ever 24-hour English newscast that targets Hispanic. With a player like Disney in this equation, there's hope the bar would be set higher than the current standard of appealing to the lowest common denominator. Another one jumping in the game is FOX, which also recently announced that it will team up with Colombian company RCN to create a new Spanish-language network that offers quality entertainment options that aren't there now. Telemundo has said it too is reinventing itself.

I can't wait to see what the media landscape will look like in a couple of years. Hopefully, next time I'm stuck with one TV with my parents they will let me change the channel because there is something better on.