Having already been disappointed in two other ethnic sitcoms this year (black-ish and Jane the Virgin) I went into ABC’s new Hispanic sitcom Cristela with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. While this isn’t exactly must-see-TV, it does have some potential. The show is created by, written by, and stars Cristela Alonso who has more credits as comedy writer then as an actress. In this ABC sitcom she plays a girl named Cristela who is in her sixth year of law school. She lives with her mother, her sister, brother-in-law and niece as she’s trying to make ends meet and go to school at the same time. The show starts with her applying for and getting an unpaid internship with a prestigious law firm. Her new boss is marginally racist but knows that he is and jokes about it. One of the other new interns is his daughter who upon seeing Cristela presume she’s part of the janitorial staff. Even her father thinks the daughter is a dimwit.

The jokes are extremely cliché. The laugh track is annoying. But on occasion it did have some really funny moments in it that had me laughing and the live audience as well. If the show ever get the following in the audience gets used to the characters, they may not need to use the laugh track as much.

I guess if you’re trying to compare it to something I would call it an Hispanic version of “2 Broke Girls” with only half as many girls. By the way as silly as it is, I happen to love 2 Broke Girls. So for now I’m giving this one a tentative cautious “I’m watching it”. But then I’m a sucker for silly sitcoms. Like I said my only criteria for judging such shows is “Is it funny?” and it places this one was.