CBS is developing Mexican Beverly Hills, a single-camera family comedy set in the Southeast Los Angeles suburb Downey.
Deadline reports that Wilmer Valderrama will executive produce alongside Erick Galindo, Aaron Izek, and Kaitlin Saltzman under Valderrama’s WV banner.
The series is inspired by Galindo’s New York Times essay of the same name, where the five-time Telly Award-winning writer, director, and producer discusses living in Downey as the child of working-class immigrants. In the essay, Galindo describes Downey as “hoity-toity, gilded…a status-marking place where the average household income, at $88,000, is significantly higher than in other areas in Los Angeles with a similar ethnic makeup.”
Mexican-Beverly Hills tells a similar story to Galindo’s youth: a working-class Mexican-American family moves to Downey and experiences both community and culture shock. Following in the footsteps of projects like Black-ish or Crazy Rich Asians, Mexican Beverly Hills shows how people of color navigate upward mobility while still holding onto their culture.
Galindo and Izek will write the series. Galindo’s dark comedy script Legends was selected for the 2020 NHMC Latinx Screenwriters Show. Izek is an alumnus of the CBS Mentoring Program and has done shows with the Upright Citizens Brigade.
