(PNS reporting from HOLLYWOOD) Television producer Marc Cherry is developing a new series called Desperate Tontos, which is about four white actors donning even whiter makeup to play Native Americans. The series is seen as a comeback attempt following Cherry’s floundering Devious Maids series, which was a disastrous attempt to portray Latinas.
Cherry admits Maids took him a little out of his comfort zone as a writer. “I’m a white guy, and I should write what I know,” said Cherry. “And what I know is how to be a white man pimping other people’s cultures.”
Desperate Tontos is reported to star Johnny Depp, Ben Affleck, Ashton Kutcher and Ben Barnes, who played Alejandro in The Big Wedding.
“I wanted the biggest Tontos I could get,” said Cherry. “These actors all have experience playing ethnic roles, so playing Native Americans should be easy. These guys are heap big Tontos!”
In related news, anthropologsts have identified the American tribe that was the inspiration for Depp’s Tonto makeup (photo.) Although Depp was eventually jumped into the Commanche Tribe, it was only after he had been previously turned down by the Cleveland, Bombay and Tobacco Store Indians.