On the December 15th episode of his new TBS late night talk show, George Lopez was reunited with the cast of his self-titled sitcom. It was cool to see them all together because The George Lopez Show is one of my favorite sitcoms. Not only did I watch it regularly when it aired on ABC, I still catch it on Nick At Nite.In addition to The George Lopez Show being hilarious, I liked that it showed how the situations Hispanic families face are no different from anyone else. During the course of the series, episodes dealt with such storylines as George's complex relationship with his mother Benny (Belita Moreno), George struggling to accept that Angie (Constance Marie) was the breadwinner after he was laid off, the academic problems faced by youngest child Max (Luis Armand Garcia), and oldest child Carmen (Masiela Lusha) feeling that George favored Max over her.
During the reunion, a comment made by Constance Marie (who played George's wife Angie) stood out. Constance said she wished there was a program like The George Lopez Show when she was a kid, adding that there were no brown people on TV. She has a point. Outside of such performers as Rita Moreno, Gregory Sierra, and Liz Torres, the consistent presence of Hispanic faces was sorely lacking on American TV back in the day. Even with the three I previously mentioned, there was no show on American TV back then where a Hispanic family was the main focus. Hopefully, the continued success of The George Lopez Show (it's gained a whole new audience in reruns) will cause network execs to put on more series that reflect the Hispanic experience. Like Constance said, "brown people are cool too!"
In case you missed it, here is the clip from the cast reunion of The George Lopez Show where Constance Marie talks about the lack of Hispanic images on TV when she was growing up. If you click here, you can watch segments of the entire episode.
2 comments:
Hi Malcolm, I totally agree with Constance Marie about the lack of Latinos on television that occurs even today. There was a time it was like that people of African descent as well. I see a big change coming for Latinos, especially as they become the first minority, replacing African Americans. Any positive movement in regard to television, film, employment, etc. is usually a battle hard fought. I am especially proud of George Lopez because I have followed his career and he is hilarious.
Pjazzy: When I heard Constance make that comment about the lack of brown people on TV when she was growing up, I was thinking about a point you mentioned (the time when blacks were scarce on TV). Because I grew up with shows like "Good Times", "The Jeffersons", and "Sanford and Son", it didn't occur to me how it must have felt for minorities weren't properly represented on TV.
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