Network: El Rey
Episodes: 13 (hour)
Seasons: One

TV show dates: July 15, 2014 — October 7, 2014.
Series status: Cancelled

Performers include: Gabriel Luna, Alfred Molina, Nicky Whelan, Neil Hopkins, Jude Ciccolella, Tanc Sade, Peter Gadiot, and Louis Ozawa Changchien.

TV show description:      
This action TV series revolves popular soccer star Antonio “Tony” Bravo (Gabriel Luna). A world-class athlete from Boyle Heights known as “Matador,” Tony is known for his ventures both on and off the field.

Charismatic, successful, and a player who can turn a game around with his presence and skill, Tony is a swinging bachelor with an active social life. But he’s not a member of the LA Riot soccer team simply to help grow his ego.

Unbeknownst to the public and his family, Tony was recruited from the DEA by a clandestine spy organization in the United States Government and is under orders to infiltrate the life of billionaire team owner Andrés Galan, who is suspected of using his network of communications satellites for wildly illegal purposes.

Polished and sophisticated, Andrés Galan (Alfred Molina) made a fortune in telecommunications. He’s suspected of having used his personal network of satellites to assist in establishing a one-world government. He has no idea that his new star player is an undercover agent.

Annie Mason (Nicky Whelan) is intelligent, analytical, and beautiful despite her best efforts to be known for other merits. She’s Tony’s control agent and the head of a very small and very secret undercover unit of the United States Government. Annie is also an expert at either dressing up like a fashion model or killing an enemy with her bare hands.

Her partner is Noah Peacott (Neil Hopkins), a brilliant but awkward man who’s fond of blurting out uncomfortable truths. Where Annie manages to make Tony’s nerves tingle with anticipation, Noah manages to annoy Tony — all day and every day.

Ernest Macdonald (Jude Ciccolella) is the ornery head coach of the LA Riot and he’s under intense pressure from Galan to have a series of unbroken victories. He’s been a coach for years, and he’s completely illusion-free about the flawed characters of his star players. He also knows that stardom has a corrosive effect on the human personality.

Alec Holester (Tanc Sade) is the English striker for the LA Riot team and a master player who is past his prime — but is still very skilled. Scoring eight goals for Team England in the last World Cup, he’s been on top of the sports world for years and is wryly amused by his own talent for living in the limelight with a girl on each arm.

Caesar Arguello (Peter Gadiot) is the sole proponent of the “art” of soccer and a former dancer. Baby-faced Caesar is somewhat of a misfit among the ruthless, barbaric LA Riot players. His sensitivity intrigues the most unsuspecting of characters, inciting a surprising, forbidden romance.

Samuel (Louis Ozawa Changchien) is an intimidating, creepy 20-something Asian man with bleached hair, a pierced eyebrow, and a quasi-punk-rock aesthetic that puts him out of step with much of Andrés Galan’s well-heeled crowd. A criminal errand boy for Galan in charge of murders and assorted kinds of evil courier work, Samuel is silent but deadly.

What do you think? Do you like the Matador TV show? Do you think it should have been cancelled? Should they have actually made a second season?