Whether you’ve grown bored of all those procedural dramas on network TV, those medical dramas that all start looking the same after a while, and those cookie-cutter family shows that you’ve seen a thousand times before, know that indie producers on the web have you in mind. Over the past decade, web series have pushed the envelope when it comes to the kinds of stories and characters they portray. Often the result of wanting complete independence from “network notes” or just the desire to make homegrown entertainment that could be distributed directly to its consumers, the web series is experiencing a cultural boom that’s hard to miss.
It makes sense that Latino stories would find a logical home here. And to judge by the shows we’ve listed below, there’s no shortage of great content being made available (for free!) on the web right now. So if you’re in the mood for a supernatural burjería-themed show set in Chicago or a comedic look at Latina entrepreneurs, feel free to binge-watch all five of these series.
1
Brujos
Brujos was created by Ricardo Gamboa, who wanted to create a supernatural web-series that was radical in its politics and its form. With a keen academic eye to issues of colonialism, disenfranchisement, queer problematics, and infused with a lived-in knowledge of brujería and Santería, this Zodiac sign-structured show about witches being hunted by privileged, wealthy white men is as potent an allegory for the insidious way white supremacy works in erasing and colonizing black and brown bodies in the 21st century as you’ll find.
‘Brujos’ Is a Slick Web Series About Gay Latino Brujos That You’ll Never See on Network TV
2
Chinga la Migra
Conceived of by Mijente Director Marisa Franco, and produced by Mijente staff, Chinga la Migra will be stopping in various towns with ICE deportation centers to show the growing protests associated with the mass deportations being led by the Trump administration. The series blends eye-catching graphics and bright colors with hard-hitting journalism. The informative show is hosted by Alejandra “Ale” Pablos.
‘Chinga la Migra’ Web Series Is a Master Class on How to Resist ICE
3
Gol Peleado
This fútbol-themed web series Gol Peleado was directed by Carlos Toledo and presented on Honduras’ ambitious new web content platform 2que3. Gol Peleado follows the misadventures of a middle-class couch potato named Gabriel, who meets his dream girl and invents a story about leading the neighborhood’s star soccer team in a clumsy attempt to impress her. When she takes him at his word, our hero must assemble a ragtag team of unathletic gamers and math nerds and turn them into a championship selection.
You Should Stream: The First-Ever Honduran Web Series ‘Gol Peleado’
4
El Joe T. Hodo Show
For years Gregory “Gringoyo” Berger has been blessing us with his humorous and provocative takes on Mexico-US relations with characteristic biting satire, and now he’s back with a new and wholly appropriate comedic alter-ego, Joe T. Hodo (pronounce it in Spanish with a hard “H” if you want to get the joke.) Appearing in a new web series titled El Joe T. Hodo Show, Berger takes his unapologetically laissez-faire Texas oil baron persona through Mexico’s social landscape, spotlighting everything from indigenous community policing to iconic Rock en Español pioneers in a hilarious mashup of satirical performance art and radical journalism.
You Should Stream: This Hilarious Web Series on a Texas Oil Tycoon Running For President of Mexico
5
Pinkslipped
This series is the brainchild of Jacqueline Priego. Playfully riffing on its title, Pinkslipped follows three friends, Jacqueline, Elena and Rosie (played by Priego, Samantha Ramirez-Herrera and Ana Ayora) who are ready to leave their dead-end jobs and start a venture of their own making. Priego’s work is aiming to represent Latina entrepreneurs as a newfound class of women who are sick and tired of the discrimination and micro-aggressions they deal with on a daily basis. With pink-hued surreal fantasy sequences, sobbing brawls with ex-boyfriend scenes, and the requisite satirical take on white woke women, Pinkslipped is a feminist Latina workplace comedy that’s all about doing away with the workplace altogether.
This Chicago-Set Web Series Is a Latina Feminist Workplace Comedy