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Jenni Rivera, the fun-loving Mexican singing star who was on the cusp of mainstream fame when she was killed in a private plane crash late last year, cannot be replaced.
Producers of an ABC sitcom inspired by the Latina singer’s life say they won’t even try to re-tool the show for another star.
“No other actress would work for what we created,” executive producer Robert Boyett, who produced “Full House” and “Family Matters” among a host of other hits, tells The Post. “We have no plans to do this show [now] or anything like it.”
The pilot for “Jenni” — a comedy about a singing, single-mom modeled closely on her real life — was announced by ABC just four days before the singer died in a post-concert plane crash.
The comedy had been secretly in the works for three to four months and “was very specific to her,” Boyett says.
TV networks have been searching for years for a breakthrough Hispanic star who — like Bill Cosby did for African Americans in the 1980s— could appeal to a broad audience.
And by all accounts, Rivera, the mother of five and star of hugely successful reality show, “I Love Jenni,’ on bilingual Mun2, the sister channel of Spanish-language Telemundo — was it.
Rivera’s real-life struggles were the stuff of Spanish TV telenovellas.
Abused by her first husband, who was also accused of sexually molesting her eldest daughter, she struggled with her weight and complicated personal life.
Two more marriages — punctuated by reports of cheating — followed and failed.
Like Tejano singer Selena — who was murdered in 1995 — it now appears Rivera will become an even bigger star in death.
The third and final season of ‘I Love Jenni” starts Sunday and is expected to roll up big ratings because of the tragedy.
A movie about her life, titled “La Diva de la Banda” (her nickname, which translated roughly into “the band diva”) is also in the works.
The director says he would like Jennifer Lopez — whose first starring role was as Selena — to star.