Cashing In = Cosby Show?

The big score

Cashing In offers a sexy slice of First Nations lifeAn unabashedly sexy soap, Cashing In ups the ante in First Nations programming with lots of glitz, glamour and greed. Don’t expect the gritty urban feel of Moccasin Flats or the earnest, plaid-shirted tone of North of 60. Set at a gaming palace on Stonewalker First Nation, a fictional southern Manitoba reserve, Cashing In is about good-looking people behaving badly.

The North Beach Casino is packed with high rollers, fast dealers, corporate sharks, bored wives, discontented daddy’s girls and local kids on the make. According to scriptwriter Elizabeth Denny, a Métis based in Winnipeg, the casino setting leads naturally to the audience-pleasing themes of “power, money and sex.” The series’ Manitoba-based producers, Animiki See Digital Productions and Buffalo Gal Pictures, are betting that Cashing In has crossover potential. The six-part series airs Tuesday nights on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and on Wednesdays on Showcase.And:The show itself is a bit of a gamble. It needs to deliver prime-time glamour on a bargain budget. And, like a lot of First Nations entertainment heading toward the big time, it’s tackling the tough issue of how to cash in without selling out.

“We’re usually looking at the downside” of aboriginal life, Denny acknowledges, speaking of the show’s staff of six aboriginal writers. “And we kind of started off in that direction, because our tendency is to want to educate the world about First Nations struggles.”

APTN, which launched in 1992 as the world’s first aboriginal network, deemed the writing team’s first scenario too dark and realistic. The next draft was outsized and over-the-top, though glints of comedy keep cutting through the soap-opera conventions.

Cashing In covers big ideas like land and money, community and identity. For instance, tycoon Matthew Tommy (Eric Schweig of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee) looks for success with his global casino corporation, Thundercloud International. Meanwhile, Johnny Eagle (Elijah’s Glen Gould), a laconic straight shooter who refers to the casino as “that bordello,” believes success means sticking to your rez roots.

Denny explains: “The issues are still there, but they’re dealt with in a different way—much more upbeat and sexy.”And:“A huge part of the aboriginal population is under 30 years old,” Strutt points out. “They want to see themselves on TV.”

Strutt also believes audiences will respond to the show’s representation of aboriginal characters who are affluent and powerful. “I definitely think this show is depicting a side of our reality—that there are successful aboriginal people owning vineyards and banks and casinos,” Strutt says. “Not a lot of content has been produced on that.”

The Jamaican-born, Toronto-raised Holness, who has previously appeared on Smallville and jPod, sees parallels with The Cosby Show, one of the first prime-time sitcoms to depict upper-middle-class African-American professionals. Holness watched the show growing up in the 1980s and still remembers its impact: “Finally, there was visual confirmation of the fact that we could succeed, we were succeeding.”Comment:  The approach of not dwelling on the pain and suffering in Indian country is a valid one. Most people don't want to visit this kind of world too often.

I did something similar in my PEACE PARTY comics. There were references to Indian culture and history, to the pain and suffering Indians have experienced. But the actual story was about two well-adjusted young Indians in an action/adventure thrill ride.

I don't know for sure, but showing successful Aboriginal people a la The Cosby Show may be the way to go. Bring the viewers in first with characters they can identify with. Once they're committed, then you can show them some of the darker side.

Nothing original about casinos

Of course, casinos and their corrupting influence is the newest Native stereotype. If a Native movie or TV show isn't about some historic event or supernatural horror, it's usually about a casino. Cashing In gets no points for showing Indians in a casino setting again.

Cashing In makes a movie such as Christmas in the Clouds look even more original. In Christmas, the well-adjusted, middle-class Indians of a Western tribe run a ski lodge. Other than a brief look at the tribe's downscale bingo hall, there's no mention of gaming.

A truly innovative approach would be to do a TV series based on Christmas. Or on another Native-run enterprise that doesn't revolve around gaming. For instance, a Native law office...a bank...or a basketball team.

"Sexy" time on TV

All this discussion presupposes that Cashing In is worth watching. The "sexy soap" label isn't exactly inspiring. There are huge differences between, say, Rich Man, Poor Man, Dynasty, Melrose Place, As the World Turns, and All My Children. These shows range from art to artsy trash to just plain trash.

On prime-time TV today, you have well-done soap operas such as Ugly Betty and Gossip Girl and others that aren't worth watching. Let's hope Cashing In is more like the best of these shows and not like the worst.

For an actual review of the series, see No Payoff in Cashing In. For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.

Below:  "Sarah Podemski, left, and Kyle Nobess in a scene from Cashing In, the sexy new casino drama on the Aboriginal People's Television Network." (APTN)