by Robert T. Wood
Cristela Alonzo’s brand new self-titled sitcom, Cristela premieres on ABC on Friday, October 10th. If the series’ buzz at ABC’s test screenings is anything to go by, there’s a solid chance it could be the next Latino sitcom hit and could give the multi-camera, live-studio-audience format, developed by I Love Lucy co-creator and producer Desi Arnaz, another success story.
Cristela is based on Cristela Alonzo’s real-life experiences with a dash of fantasy. Set in Dallas, where Alonzo got her start as a stand-up, the sitcom draws upon several family dynamics she experienced while growing up in South Texas.
Alonzo got her first TV job behind the camera as a writer for Comedy Central’s Mind of Mencia. Her stand-up gained traction after NBC’s Last Comic Standing introduced her to a wide audience. Since then she has appeared on a multitude of late-night shows such as The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, TBS’s Conan, and Last Call with Carson Daly. Based on her track record and audience appeal across cultural and generational barriers, more people came to agree that Cristela Alonzo was ready for prime-time.
While Alonzo has been writing and has been performing comedy for over a decade, her character Cristela is a law intern (an homage to her late mother). In her final year of law school, Cristela is living with her sister and looking for work, with plans to move out on her own in pursuit of her dream of becoming a successful lawyer.
Cristela the sitcom, has the potential to appeal to all audiences, both seasoned and young on many different levels. It’s a show that deals with universal stories. The protagonist’s journey from college grad to law student, and the fact that she is an unpaid intern and still living with family, should be familiar to many of today’s twentysomethings, the target demographic for networks and advertisers. The series’s multi-camera, live in-studio audience format should reel in the viewers who fondly remember the family comedies of times past.
The Little Pilot That Could
At the start of last year’a pilot season, it did not seem likely the “alphabet network” would be adding another comedy series recorded and performed in the classic theatrically-inspired style, much less with a Latina lead.
Kevin Hench & Cristela Alonzo – TCA Press Tour
Originally Cristela did not get a pilot greenlight. However, Alonzo, her co-executive producer and writing partner Kevin Hench, and 21 Laps/Adelstein Entertainment thought Cristela could be a bona-fide hit. On a shoestring budget, Cristela’s team used the Last Man Standing setto shoot the pilot. Co-starring Terri Hoyos, Maria Canals- Barrera, Carlos Ponce, and fellow comic Gabriel Iglesias Cristela proved to be a hit among test audiences. Because of the unique path to pick-up, Deadline.com’s Nellie Andreeva dubbed it “the little pilot that could”.
Sitcom Staying Power?
Starting next October, Cristela Alonzo will join a very short list of Latinas who have starred in their own network comedy series. Elizabeth Peña was the first when she starred in I Married Dora in 1987 on ABC. Jackie Guerra, best remembered for her performance in Gregory Nava’s Selena, was the first Latina comedianne to headline a sitcom in the WB series First Time Out in 1995. This past decade saw America Ferrera’s dramedy Ugly Betty become a critical and ratings favorite, also on ABC.
Cristela has much in common with The Cosby Show and Roseanne, two shows Alonzo cites as having inspired her. The Cosby Show was based in part on Bill Cosby’s stand-up routine and comedienne/actress Roseanne Barr wrote her own self-titled series and eventually became executive producer of the show. As for Alonzo, she is not only the star in Cristela she is the first Latina to executive produce, star and write her own sitcom.
It seems one of the secrets to a successful sitcom is authenticity. At the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour this past July, President of ABC Entertainment Group, Paul Lee stated that Cristela, and some of their other shows,were picked up due to their “authentic, relatable stories”. That is what made George Lopez and Chico and the Man hits. They were developed from existing stand-up routines and based in part on the performer’s own experiences.
Producer James Komack seemed to understand this all too well when he retooled what was originally a Cheech and Chong inspired sitcom and turned into a vehicle for Freddie Prinze. Chico and the Man would turn out be the third-highest rated series of the 1974-75 season. Lopez also incorporated his own personal experiences into his sitcom which ran for six seasons on ABC. Both George Lopez and NBC’s Chico and the Man kept audiences coming back for more. Who could forget George Lopez’s resplendently ebullient “I got this!” in the face of adversity or the crescendo of Freddie Prinze’s “looking good!” on Chico and the Man?
Lasting Impressions
There are those that believe single-camera comedies perform better among viewers, but if you take a look at the ratings, they tell a different story. Variety‘s Rick Kissell wrote that the top two most-watched comedy series amongst the crucial 18-49 demographic were CBS’s The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, respectively. While The Millers, another CBS sitcom, was the highest rated new comedy. All three use the multi-camera setup, the format most familiar to older viewers. However, in contrast with the expectations of the networks, the style also appears to be embraced by younger audiences.
(L-R) Gabriel Iglesias, Terri Hoyos, Cristela, Carlos Ponce & Maria Canals-Barrera
Alonzo described her affinity for the multi-camera comedies at the TCA press tour, stating, “As a young girl growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, multi-camera sitcoms were the only accessible forms of theater. You know, for me, I loved theater as a kid, and Broadway shows didn’t come to my border town. … Nobody comes down there to perform any shows. So I always think about those towns and girls like me, kids like me that don’t have the exposure to that. And that’s why multi cam seemed like the only option.” Alonzo now has the chance with her show, to bring her take on a classic format to a new generation.
Back in a 2010 interview with Amy Nichol Smith of The Monitor, the future prime-time funnywoman said: “Maybe one day I can get close to doing like 10 percent of what George Lopez has been able to do — I’d be happy.”As the star of her own sitcom on the same network, Cristela Alonzo is one step closer to accomplishing her goal.
Will Cristela have the right ingredients to turn a situation comedy into a smash sensation? Will audiences turn on their flatscreens, tune in to ABC, and drop into Cristela’s universe? We’ll find out in October.
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