Watching Lifetime Television is like having a kid with a disagreeable person. Although many special moments are shared and cherished, everything about the relationship is just wrong. Lifetime’s target audience is women, yet the network goes out of its way to portray its main demographics as users, abusers, cheaters, liars, airheads, victims and generally crazy you-know-whats. Its latest show, “Devious Maids,” does not deviate from tradition.
If the name “Devious Maids” sounds reminiscent of “Desperate Housewives,” that’s because it is meant to be a loose spin-off of the elder ABC nighttime soap. The show is filmed at ABC Studios, Eva Longoria is an executive producer and Susan Lucci is a part of the cast. Plus, there’s the same quirky soundtrack and identical over-the-top acting. When ABC didn’t pick the show for its own line-up, Lifetime swooped in and added it to its 2013 summer broadcast schedule.
Instead of focusing on the antics of the privileged homeowners, the show allows the help to take center stage. Of course, all of the maids are Hispanic and the employers are wealthy, petulant Beverly Hills nutcases with a couple of “nice” masters, um bosses, here and there.
Like “Desperate Housewives,” “Devious Maids” kickstarts with a murder and then introduces the audience to Marisol Duarte (Ana Ortiz), Rosie Falta (Dania Ramirez), Carmen Luna (Roselyn Sanchez), Zoila Diaz (Judy Reyes) and Valentina Diaz (Edy Ganem).
Rosie is trying pay for the legal aid necessary to bring her son, who is still in Mexico, to the United States. She works for a conniving, adultering actress and her heart-of-gold actor husband. Carmen is an aspiring singer/songwriter who is hellbent on getting her Latin Grammy-winning employer to notice both her and her abundant talent. Zoila and Valentina are a mother/daughter cleaning team. Zoila wants to convince her aspiring fashion-designer daughter that falling in love with their employer’s son is a bad idea. Finally, Marisol is the educated anomaly of domestic service who is trying to get to the bottom of who killed Flora, the now-dead maid. Each maid uses her own special brand of cunning to get what they want from their unsuspecting and rather obtuse employers, hence the title.
Although the show touches on race, class and the prevailing ignorance that accompanies intercultural socialization, it’s all still a bit hard to swallow. All of the maids are irrationally beautiful and somehow manage to clean mansions in designer outfits. All of the employers are crazy in that “Lindsay Lohan’s parents meet Mad Hatter” sort of way. The storyline twists and turns are incredibly predictable. Yes, Rosie walks in on the philandering wife doing the two-backed beast with her side game. Yes, Valentina’s subservient social status is revealed after she tries to fool her boss’s son’s friends.
Then again, every viewer will score some awesome interior decorating tips and all the actress’ shoes are fabulous. Perhaps therein lies the beauty of Lifetime Television. It just looks so good while it’s hurting the very same women it depends on. Sigh. “Devious Maids” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on Lifetime Television.
