Netflix's Mr. Iglesias is well-meaning and occasionally likable, but don't call it a replacement for One Day at a Time

The Hollywood Reporter

"There is an instinct to resent the mere existence of Netflix's Mr. Iglesias on behalf of the canceled remake of One Day at a Time, as if Latinx-themed multicamera comedies were a Highlander-esque zero-sum game in which one must die for the other to live," says Daniel Fienberg of Gabriel 'Fluffy' Iglesias' new school-set sitcom. "The reality, it turns out, is that Mr. Iglesias isn't bad at all. It lacks the sublime grounding that Rita Moreno and Justina Machado brought to One Day at a Time, but as broad ensemble multicams go, this one has its heart in the right place and occasionally tackles topical issues well. Would I like for Mr. Iglesias to be funnier? Or, at times, especially funny at all? Yes. But I'm a sucker for 'well-meaning,' especially when it's warm and inclusive."

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• Mr. Iglesias is every bit the conventional multicamera sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter was four decades ago: "Take away the dating-app jokes, and the humor is, if anything, blander and more predictable, the jokes more obvious, the reaction shots more ubiquitous," says Mike Hale. "The show glides along on the self-effacing charm of its star (who uses his stand-up moniker, Gabriel 'Fluffy' Iglesias, in the credits), but it doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere."
• Mr. Iglesias is a throwback to when great comics where given decent sitcoms
• Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias never saw himself as an actor: "I think it’s gonna sink in once the show is officially out because it’s still very surreal to me. The fact that there’s a giant billboard rolling the trailer for the show at Times Square, it’s like, Wow."