After Beso Bankruptcy, Longoria to Produce TV Legal Drama

For Eva Longoria, art imitates life. The “Desperate Housewives” actress spent the past year embroiled in legal drama with investors in her Las Vegas restaurant Beso and will now produce a legal drama for the CW television network.

The one-hour show, called “Vega v. Vega,” will focus on “a brilliant, young, successful lawyer who suddenly finds herself forced to go into a practice with her mother, a pioneering female attorney with whom she has a love/hate relationship,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Bankruptcy Beat readers are familiar with the legal drama that’s been the backdrop to Longoria’s daily life over the past year. In January, the Las Vegas restaurant Beso sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid a dispute between its investors, including Longoria, who held nearly a third of the company. One of those investors quickly took the dispute to bankruptcy court, arguing that the company didn’t have the authority to file for bankruptcy and aiming to press forward with a suit accusing Longoria of violating California state usury laws.

Fighting continued through the spring and summer, but the restaurant was saved in October by its sale to Landry’s Restaurants Inc. The $1 million deal gives Longoria a 30% stake in Beso and ensures she will continue as the face of the upscale restaurant.

With Beso running smoothly again and “Desperate Housewives” moving through its last of eight seasons, Longoria is no doubt looking for a new project. She’ll find it as executive producer of “Vega v. Vega,” whose other producers and its writer have ties to such shows as “Pan Am” and “Desperate Housewives.”