The CW's first comedy offering "Jane the Virgin" has premiered and critics shared mixed opinions about the show's debut.
At first, the plot of "Jane the Virgin" gives you the impression of a formulaic telenovela - with strong family ties, a love story in between - but surprise! The biggest plot twist the show offers is what happens to the 20-year-old protagonist (played by Gina Rodriguez).
Jane comes in for her routine pap smear at her OB-GYN but gets the surprise of her life when her doctor mistakenly inseminates her.
Flavorwire described the show, saying "Despite its questionable premise 'Jane the Virgin' is surprisingly good, managing to wring a worthy and complex story out of such a laughable and desperate hook ... A show like [it] could go wrong in so many ways, but as of the pilot, it's clear that everyone knows what they're doing."
Meanwhile, David Hinckley of the New York Daily News was not as impressed and said "Even by the soap-opera standards of telenovelas, it feels a little much. The pieces at first don't always mesh smoothly."
Bustle's Kadden Greefiths, on the other hand, said "The CW is taking a risk on this show that many other networks have tried to take before in adapting telenovelas of their own ... In the CW's case, however, I feel like it's a risk that's definitely going to pay off."
He added, "Jane the Virgin" might be 10 shades of ridiculous, but every new trailer and every new review reveals that they took the absurd and they grounded it in realism."
The Los Angeles Times' Robert Lloyd said "The series is unusually successful in its mix of tones: farcical, serious, melodramatic and metafictional. It both mimics and comments on the telenovela form; indeed, it becomes part of the story line."
Lloyd added, "It's also serious, sobering stuff, and the show manages to accommodate all these different moods without trivializing the situation or tearing itself apart."
"Jane the Virgin" will air on Monday at 9PM on the CW.
