'Gordita Chronicles' features family trying to find American dream that embraces Latino culture

"Gordita Chronicles" is a new HBO-MAX series about a Dominican family, trying to find an American dream that embraces a Latino culture.

Actress Eva Longoria is at the helm of the creative team. She and some of her cast talk to Hosea Sanders about the lively comedy.

It's the 80s, and a 12-year-old and her immigrant family are trying to make a new home in Miami. Executive Producer Eva Longoria directed the first episode of "Gordita Chronicles."

Sanders: "Why is it so important to have something like this for cultural representation?"

Longoria: "This is at the heart of family comedy. It's things that parents deal with all the time, that kids deal with, it happens to be in the 80s, but I think so many people are going to find humor in these situations. They're fish out of water, they're trying to raise kids [and] they're trying to have a marriage.

To see our brown faces in front of the camera, obviously makes me extra proud, and that representation matters, you should be able to see these families. We live normal lives, like everybody else, so it's nice to show it."

Sanders: "This is your first one, you really nailed it, little sister!"

Olivia Goncalves, who plays "Cucu": "Thank you! Getting a taste of working with such great women and amazing people and there's an amazing cast."

Sanders: "How much is Cucu like you?"

Goncalves: "100 percent!"

Longoria: "She is Cucu!"

Sanders: "Despite the laughter, despite the joy, there's an important message here."

Diana Maria Riva, who plays "Adela": "When you come to that new chapter in life where you have to figure out what your new place is at your new job, in your new school in your new community the vulnerability that's tapped into is a through line that runs through all of us no matter what our age is or our stage in life and we lean on each other."