''Telenovela'' is an American
single-camera sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
television series starring
Eva Longoria and
Jencarlos Canela. The series is a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional
telenovela
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...
(Latin American soap opera) that is shot in
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, and follows the daily life of the show's star, who does not speak Spanish.
The series premiered on December 7, 2015 on
NBC,
and concluded on February 22, 2016.
On May 13, 2016, NBC canceled the series after one season.
Cast and characters
Main
*
Eva Longoria as Ana Sofia Calderon, the neurotic star of ''Las Leyes de Pasión''
*
Jencarlos Canela as Xavier (Xavi) Castillo, Ana Sofia's ex-husband, recently hired to co-star on her show
*
Diana-Maria Riva as Mimi Moncada, Ana Sofia's best friend and the show's clothing designer and seamstress
*
Amaury Nolasco as Rodrigo Suarez, Ana Sofia's co-star who plays the show's villain
*
Jose Moreno Brooks
Jose Moreno Brooks is an American actor best known for playing Gael Garnica on the NBC comedy ''Telenovela''.
Early life
Growing up in San Jose, California, Brooks attended Bellarmine College Preparatory. He graduated from University of Californ ...
as Gael Garnica, Ana Sofia's gay friend and co-star who plays her love interest on the show
*
Jadyn Douglas
Jadyn Douglas (previously known as Jadyn Maria; born April 20, 1985) is a Puerto Rican singer. At the age of seventeen, she was signed to EMI and later to Universal Motown in 2008, releasing a few singles to little commercial success. Douglas t ...
as Roxi Rios, the show's youngest cast member who is dimwitted yet insightful
*
Alex Meneses as Isabela Santamaria, the telenovela's aging former leading lady and Ana Sofia's chief rival
*Izzy Diaz as Isaac Aguero, the show's head writer who drunkenly writes the episodes only to forget the scenes he wrote the next day
Recurring
*
Zachary Levi as James McMahon, the new network president of VivaVision; much to Ana Sofia's irritation, he speaks more Spanish than she does.
* Juan Carlos Cantu as Gustavo
* Phillip Garcia as Paulo, the show's
PA
*
Luis Fernandez-Gil as Director
*
Roselyn Sánchez cameo as a reporter on TV
Production
On January 16, 2015, NBC ordered thirteen episodes.
On October 19, 2015, the network cut its order to eleven episodes. In November, the show title was switched from the production title ''Hot & Bothered'' to ''Telenovela''.
Episodes
Broadcast
''Telenovela'' premiered as a "preview" on December 7, 2015 on
NBC.
The series then moved to its regular Monday at 8:30 PM timeslot on December 21, 2015 as a mid-season replacement.
Reception
Ratings
Critical reception
According to
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, ''Telenovela'' currently holds a score of 62 out of 100, based on 21 critics indicating "generally favorable reviews". On another review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the series holds a critical approval of 63%, based on 19 critics, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Featuring a likable cast led by a charming Eva Longoria, ''Telenovela'' is a comedy that provides entertainingly predictable laughs".
References
External links
*
*{{IMDb title, 4363588, Telenovela
2010s American single-camera sitcoms
2015 American television series debuts
2016 American television series endings
English-language television shows
NBC original programming
Television series about television
Television series by Universal Television
Television shows set in Miami