INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Eva Longoria On Her Return To Television In NBC’s Comedy ‘Telenovela’

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 05:09 PST, Dec 31, 2015

Eva Longoria, the Desperate Housewives alum, made her return to television earlier this year, appearing in NBC’s new comedy Telenovela. Now, the actress is talking about her new role and her decision to come back to television five years after leaving her role as Gabrielle Solis.

In Telenovela, Longoria plays the part of the self-involved Ana Sofia, who is the star of a Spanish-language soap opera called Las Leyes de Pasión (The Laws of Passion). There’s just one thing, though — she doesn’t speak Spanish.

“You’re going to fall in love with Ana,” Longoria told Parade during a recent interview. “She’s actually self?involved in an insecure way. She doesn’t mean to be. She just feels like she is not worthy enough. As you can tell, she doesn’t speak Spanish. So she’s always one foot in, one foot out of this culture, which is really my life story.”

Not only is Eva Longoria starring inTelenovela, she is also producing and directing, according to the Los Angeles Times. This isn’t the first time Longoria has worked as a producer. Since Desperate Housewives ended in 2012, Eva has been working behind the scenes on a couple other shows, including Devious Maids and Ready for Love, serving as both a producer and director. While she has enjoyed her time off-screen, she said she is ready to start back, even though she isn’t quite happy about the early start times.

“I hadn’t acted in comedy for a while, so I did Brooklyn Nine-Nine to dip my toe back in the water,” she said. “Oh my God, those 5 a.m. call times! I’m like, ‘Do I really want to go back? Oh, my God, I’m enjoying this so much.’ So that was a little tough, but that’s a conditioning thing. I was always up for Housewives at 5:30, 6 a.m., and then to not do it for three years, and have to do it again.”

So, why now you might ask? Longoria said she has always loved working on television, and television is at its best right now, making it the perfect time for her to make her comeback.

“I left Housewives four years ago, and I focused completely on my foundation and my charity work. I was traveling the world,” Longoria explained. “And then I was directing and producing Devious Maids and other projects. And I knew I wanted to return to television, because television is my favorite medium of content. Television is at its best right now. And I knew I would be back and do a comedy, because I had so much fun on Housewives. I hit the lottery with Housewives. It was the best show in the last decade. Then I had this idea for this show. I never thought I would star in it, I just wanted to develop this idea.”

Longoria, who is also a Latino activist, said she hopes Telenovela will be a step in the right direction in diversifying what is on television. Telenovela has an all Latino cast, and three of their 14 writers are Latino as well.

“When it comes to diversity in television, we have to have more people behind the camera,” she said. “We have to have more producers and writers — specifically, writers — in order to create those stories and dig from the well of our community, which has been untapped. And that’s what we’re doing here.”

While Telenovela was previewed in December, it won’t take its regular time slot on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. until January 4.

[Photo by Martin Dokoupil/Associated Press]

Share this article: Eva Longoria On Her Return To Television In NBC’s Comedy ‘Telenovela’
More from Inquisitr