Telenovela

Fun, light, colorful and original.

Longoria remains radiant. Whether a sitcom spoofing soap opera is still relevant in 2015 remains to be seen--but this one is certainly a worthy addition to your weekly viewing.

Telenovela is legitimately laugh-out-loud funny.

While Longoria is the draw, her supporting cast is just as entertaining, including Jeancarlos Canela as her ex-husband, Amaury Nolasco as the soap’s villain, Diana-Maria Riva as Ana’s best friend and Alex Meneses as Ana’s nemesis.

The show also wears well, with Longoria vigorously in the forefront and a solid supporting cast led by scene-stealers Diana Maria Riva and Alex Meneses.

A lot of Telenovela's humor will stretch across any cultural divide.... But what distinguishes Telenovela from any other sitcom--its relentless lampooning of every convention of its own genre, from the pistolero mustaches of the villains to the ever-escalating décolletage wars of the heroines--may fall flat with an audience that's largely unfamiliar with real novelas.

Telenovela may not have depth, but watching Longoria mug for the camera ain't a bad way to spend half an hour.

Silly and eccentric but not quite graceful enough to be considered irreverent, producer/star Eva Longoria's eager commitment to the premise still allows Telenovela to crackle with great jokes and solid physical comedy.

The neurotic, vaguely narcissistic star hardly treads any new ground, but Longoria manages to make her reasonably likable, despite all the requisite eccentricities.

As holiday gifts go, Telenovela, starring Eva Longoria as a Miami-based soap star, is a happy one: appealing, sweet, witty, traditional in its bones, modern in its complexion.

Likable but not especially funny.

Telenovela can be fun, if only the show knew the difference between silly and dumb.

In terms of the writing, there's nothing extraordinary going on, but the casting and setting is another step forward in TV's drive toward greater inclusion.

Watching everyone on Telenovela emote every last plot point directly at the camera starts to wear after a while.

Telenovela is an Americanized version of a telenovela, and that may be why it doesn’t reach its full potential.

The show clearly wants to be like the movie “Soapdish,” but Telenovela can’t quite pull it off. A second episode is considerably less funny than the pilot, a danger sign. The pilot episode has fun riffing on TV stars with swelled heads and telenovela camera trick clichés, and it all plays to Ms. Longoria’s comedic strengths.

Trouble is, there’s not a single surprising twist on any of the threadbare inside-showbiz tropes, and even worse, every single zinger feels like it’s from a hastily assembled first draft.

All too often, though, this looks like a “Saturday Night Live” skit that doesn’t quite land.

Telenovela never fails to break a sweat in its attempt to create something interesting or funny, but all that effort falls wincingly short of its goal.