Two Vatos Talk Pop Cultura
Subtitle
Latinx TV, Film, and Futures Unscripted
Two Vatos Talk Pop Cultura brings a leading Latinx media studies scholar, Frederick Luis Aldama, together with an award-winning television writer and producer, Peter Murrieta, to examine how Latinx representation has evolved—and stagnated—across seven decades of American TV, film, and pop culture.
Born from the popular podcast Mighty Peter and Professor Latinx but written in a collective voice with breakout discussions shaped by specific experiences and insights—Aldama’s theoretical acumen and Murrieta’s industry war stories—the book exemplifies what the authors call the collective shaping of “borderlands epistemology.” It analyzes shows while accounting for the behind-the-scenes industry battles such as those fought in writers’ rooms.
Two Vatos Talk Pop Cultura aims to be an essential book for students and lay readers alike, shedding light on who shapes representation—and why it matters.
Bio
Peter Murrieta, the recipient of the Imagen Foundation’s Norman Lear Writer’s Award and Deputy Director at the Sidney Poitier New American Film School, the interim Assoc. Dean for HIDA in LA, and a Professor of Practice. He is a multiple Emmy-Winner known for award-winning series like Netflix’s "Mr. Iglesias" and Disney’s "Wizards of Waverly Place," which notably launched the career of global superstar, Selena Gomez.
Over the last two decades, Murrieta has produced more than 300 hours of television, including hit shows “One Day At A Time,” (Netflix), “Lopez” (TV Land), “Superior Donuts” (CBS) and “Cristela” (ABC). His extensive experience and commitment to creating shows that serve as star vehicles for LatinX actors that also achieve mainstream success, is second to none in the industry. Murrieta, who's Mexican-American, created the acclaimed WB series, “Greetings from Tucson,” a groundbreaking series that was one of the first ever to feature a diverse, bi-racial family, set in Peter's native Arizona.
More than any other producer in Hollywood, he has developed projects that have contributed to the careers of the industry’s biggest Latino stars, including Selena Gomez, George Lopez, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Cristela Alonzo, Mario Lopez, Justina Machado and the legendary, Lupe Ontiveros, among others.
Murrieta currently has a first-look deal with Universal and is developing an adaptation of the novel ‘Blood and Gold: The Legend of Joaquin Murrieta,” which he co-wrote with the novelist, Jeffrey J. Marriote.
And co-author of "Two Vatos Talk Pop Cultura"
Praise for this book
Two Vatos is the book I wanted to throw at every Hollywood exec who told me my stories needed to be ‘universal.’ What the entertainment industry’s gatekeepers still need to learn is that specificity is universality. Fede and Peter share what brown storytelling is really all about. Courage and corazón! Forevers, foo!”—Lalo Alcaraz, 2025 RFK Book & Journalism Award recipient and creator of La Cucaracha
Lalo Alcaraz 2025 RFK Book & Journalism Award recipient and creator of La Cucaracha
