Overused as the phrase may be, we’ve found a TV series that promises to give you life. Literally, as Starz’s upcoming show is called Vida. Created by Tanya Saracho and featuring a mostly female Latinx ensemble, this half-hour series centers on two estranged sisters who have to come together after their mother dies. And, as if needing to get along with one another weren’t enough, they have to grapple with a revelation about their mom that unsteadies them further.
Ahead of its debut at South by Southwest as part of its Episodic program, Vida has unveiled its first teaser. Popping with color and scored by a bopping track, this first look immerses you in the East Side world Saracho has cooked up for us. You know, the kind of world where, as Emma (Mishel Prada) tells her sister Lyn (Melissa Barrera), nothing quite says homecoming as someone calling you a puta while walking down the street. With plenty of melodramatic quarrels between the sisters (“Did you know? That mommy was sick? That she was as a liar!”), steamy scenes that look to make Vida one of the queerest shows on the air (“I don’t identify as anything, I’m just me”), and the kind of Mexican-American sensibility that comes from having recruited a predominantly Latinx cast and crew, Vida should be on your must-watch list.
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Check out the teaser below and learn why, as one character notes, “There is such a thing as too much family.” Oh, and be sure to keep an eye out for the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, late-night selfie that’s bound to catch your eye.
Vida screens at SXSW and will premiere May 6, 2018 on Starz.