TV review: Jane the Virgin, an edgier Ugly Betty

Gina Rodriguez (left) as Jane and Andrea Navedo as her mother in Jane the Virgin. Photo / Supplied

Jane the Virgin (Fridays, Prime, 9.30pm) may not have the literary pedigree of True Detective or the schadenfreude of Dancing With the Stars. It's not as zone-outy as My Kitchen Rules or as thought-provoking as, um, I Am Cait. But it could be a cult hit.

Jane is a 23-year-old teaching student, part-time hotel worker/mermaid.

She's saving herself for marriage. Then a doctor gets distracted and accidentally inseminates her with her brother's sperm. The doc's brother's, that is. Which sounds dirtier than it is.

If there was an Emmy for most original TV pregnancy, Jane the Virgin would win. It's already won one award, for likeable star Gina Rodriguez, whose portrayal of Jane earned a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Series, Musical or Comedy (beating Lena Dunham, Julia Louis Dreyfus, Taylor Schilling and Edie Falco). And it's won over American fans who apparently like that it doesn't try too hard. There's no epic novel adaptation or gender reassignment happening. It's a show for watching in your comfy pants.

That's not to say there isn't much going on. There's so much going on, it's a wonder they managed to fit it all into the pilot. The complications involved with Jane's predicament are even more ridiculous and over the top than the Venezualan telenovelas she likes to watch with her mother and grandmother. Jane's mother had her when she was 16, hence her gran's constant hectoring not to lose her virginity.

Whoops! Who'd go to the doctor's? Jane's never met her dad but he happens to be the guy with the floppy hair and cheesy smile she watches on those dramatic telenovelas. And the guy whose deposit made her pregnant happens to be her new boss, and a former crush. See? It'd be exhausting if it wasn't so amusing. Then there's poor old Jane's boyfriend, who just wants to marry her and have babies - preferably using his own DNA.

If only the tone stuck with that sense of whimsy. Occasionally it drifts into the sap you're more likely to find in one of those telenovelas. After contemplating her options, Jane decides to keep the baby because it turns out the father had his sperm frozen as he had to go through chemotherapy to treat his cancer, and

Anyway, given the telenovela parody angle and the fact Jane and her family are Latino, there are obvious parallels with Ugly Betty, the America Ferrera hit from 2006. Jane is a good girl like Betty, but this feels edgier, with far more to play with.

Jane's mother is a performer who invites good-looking strangers to her gigs. Then there are the baddies: the hotel owner who wants to divorce his wife; the manipulative wife playing nice to ensure she gets a decent cut in the divorce.

Being relegated to the late Friday night spot on Prime probably won't do Jane the Virgin any favours. Nor is it likely to put its supposed target market of teenagers off having sex. But it's a good excuse to pull on those comfy pants and stay in.