How removed is Eva Longoria from her Latino roots? Enough not to see the latest soapy series she’s executive producing is mostly just stereotypes.
Yes, “Devious Maids” (Lifetime, 10 p.m.) is one of the first series led by a female Latina cast, but they are all cast as maids, one after another. In Hollywood, they must look at all Latina women as maids. Never mind that they’re ambitious, wily, and easily better people than the odious Beverly Hills types they serve. They’re still maids.
Had been there a Lifetime series about Latino men, it would probably be “Scheming Gardeners.”
“Devious Maids” collects several Latina actresses familiar from other series — Ana Ortiz of “Ugly Betty,” Judy Reyes of “Scrubs,” Roselyn Sanchez of “Without a Trace” and Dania Reamirez of “Entourage.”
And they’re each involved with a family where one is more cartoonish than the next – a racist and philanderer whose maid dies in a pool to start off the series, a leftover idea from Marc Cherry’s “Desperate Housewives” that he uses again here. There’s another who wants to get in good with the rich son, a third who wants her music to be heard and a fourth who may be impersonating a maid to get information related to the murder.
The racist remarks from the employers pass as frothy humor, the action is as broad and broadly acted as a telenovela, from which this was adapted. And while it starts with the bemused pizzicato strings so overused in Cherry’s other series, this one soon makes way for all manner of spicy Latin music. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used “La Cucaracha” as a recurring musical sting.
It’s all about having fun supposedly, but there’s nothing funny about recurring stereotypes even if it’s this glamorized. From “Desperate” to “Devious,” Cherry’s latest output is also deplorable.