It’s been a minute since George Lopez was driving the cultural conversation about Latinos in the media. Well, to be more specific it’s been about nine years. Since his groundbreaking sitcom George Lopez left the airwaves back in 2007 we’ve had Betties, Janes, and a veritable television land-grab for the coveted Latino market. And slowly but surely, Latino representation on American television is reflecting the reality of American demographics in shows like Jane the Virgin, Telenovela, and Superstore.
But Lopez still holds his place as an OG in the world of Latino televisual comedy, and after holding down his take on the Late Night Comedy game with TBS’ Lopez Tonight, and the short-lived scripted comedy Saint George he’s coming back to the sitcom format for a whole new generation of American viewers. Following in Larry David’s post-Seinfeld footsteps, Lopez has teamed up with two of the guys behind HBO’s Silicon Valley to create the semi-autobiographical, documentary-style sitcom Lopez for TV Land.
In the run up to the show’s March 30 premiere, the network has released a 30 second teaser that gives a taste of the comedy Mr. Lopez will be dealing in. After a setup about the semi-fictional Lopez’s “white people problems,” we’re quickly immersed in the world of a man who’s too rich for the barrio, but too barrio for the high society he finds himself in. Compared to the more traditional three-camera sitcom format of George Lopez, Lopez’s comedy strikes as subtle and refined, much like recent big league TV sitcoms The Office or even Curb Your Enthusiasm.
A case in point: during a final gag in which Lopez’s assistant suggests his audience is too brown, Lopez responds with a series of befuddled grunts that couldn’t possibly read like a joke on paper, but somehow Lopez manages to transform frustrated stuttering into high comedy. Plus, he looks like a straight up vato with his new goatee. This one’s definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Lopez premieres March 30, 2016 on TV Land and will air Wednesdays at 10 p.m.