"Lifetime" has been doing a lot to promote their new show "Devious Maids." Even though the show's first episode hasn't even premiered yet the leading actresses find themselves constantly defending what the show is actually about.
At the beginning of May, Huffington Post blogger Tanisha Ramirez wrote a blog post about the show after watching the trailer. In the post she praises Eva Longoria, who is the executive producer, for featuring an all-Latina lead cast but heavily criticized the "Desperate Housewives" actress for failing to break the stereotypes surrounding the Latina community. She feels Longoria and the show capitalized on the negative portrayal by casting all five of the leading ladies as domestic workers, or maids. She labeled the show a "wasted opportunity."
"The minute-long trailer manages to efficiently portray Latinas as hypersexual, nosy, scheming and, at times, totally invisible domestic servants, one set of pushed-up breasts, devilishly squinted eyes and sassy hair flip at a time," she wrote. "What the trailer doesn't do, however, is allude to the supposed actual premise of the show."
Longoria quickly responded and wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post addressing Ramirez's remarks as well as other criticism the show has received.
She began the post by addressing how the same criticism came when Marc Cherry created "Desperate Housewives" saying that many networks chose to pass on the show because they felt it would "alienate women." She said the show wasn't just about women who were housewives but focused on "universal themes such as marriage, child rearing, friendship and hardships." ABC and the audience saw past the exterior of the show.
Longoria said it's the same thing with "Devious Maids," which was also created by Cherry.
"'Devious Maids' is a show that centers on five count 'em) five Latinas who are bonded together by their jobs, their ambitions, their dreams and their life struggles," Longoria wrote. "The five women are maids by occupations only; it is what they do, not who they are."
She went on to say that it is a realistic reflection of Latinas in America but not a reflection of all Latinas adding that the women in the show break the stereotypes by choosing not to live in the box people put them in.
"The stereotype we are grappling with her is that as Latinas, all we are is maids. And yet, this is a show that deconstructs the stereotype by showing us that maids are so much more," she wrote. "I take pride in the fact that these characters are not one-dimensional or limited to their job title."
Dania Ramirez, who plays Rosie a woman who had to leave her son when she came to the United States, has also defended the show.
"This show is about five Latina women chasing their dreams in America," Ramirez told the Huffington Post. "Don't focus on the dishwashing; these are women who are working hard to get ahead."
Ana Ortiz, who plays Marisol a women who gets hired as a maid to investigate a murder admitted that at first she didn't want to do the show, US Weekly reports.
"To be honest, I had the same reaction [as critics]," she told US. "When I first saw the script, I was like 'Really?'"
She said after really studying the script and meeting with Cherry she changed her mind.
"I reject the notion that if a woman, a person, a human is a maid, that they don't deserve to have their story told," she said. "I just don't accept that you have to be a doctor or a lawyer to be a hero."
The show "Devious Maids" Sunday, June 23 on Lifetime at 10 p.m.
