For Debby Wolfe, Lopez vs. Lopez is a bit of a study on who she is, and on who we as a community are—and can be. The show is one of the few on TV that focuses on a Latine family, in this case, that of George Lopez and his daughter Mayan Lopez. The two come together in an attempt at reconciliation and reconnection that also reflects our communities in a very intentional way. Wolfe, the show’s showrunner, sat down with Remezcla to discuss Lopez vs. Lopez, how she got to where she is, and mental health in our communities.
“I think it’s just being observational,” Wolfe responded to the question of writing for two very different generations. “I’ve always been that way. My mom is an immigrant from El Salvador. My dad is Russian-Jewish, but he was raised in Miami. And so I grew up with these two very different cultures. I was an outsider kind of looking in.”
“I became an observer and a studier of humans because I was trying to figure out who I was. I didn’t really quite fit in with the Jewish or Salvadorian families. I wasn’t Latina enough for them, and I wasn’t Jewish enough for them.”
This led Wolfe to pay attention and to listen. And then, she shared, there was also the benefit of therapy. “I think Mayan and I have gone through a lot of therapy, and this show is us sharing what we’ve learned with the world about self-help and holding yourself accountable, holding others accountable, but also accepting people’s limitations.”
For Wolfe, that’s one of the most important things she wants to do on Lopez vs. Lopez—tackle “mental health specifically, which I don’t think we talk about enough in our comunidad.” And the show does so in a funny way, too. “I think that’s something that comes naturally to us as Latinas. I say, like the more oppressed you are, the funnier you are because you have to cope somehow with all the rejection and oppression of the world.”
Wolfe, who works in conjunction with both George and Mayan Lopez on the show’s storylines, but who also has a writer’s room made up of mostly Latinos, is proud of the “very collaborative” environment she’s managed to build on the show. And the idea is to tell funny stories, yes, but not do just that. “There are a lot of funny things we talk about and funny situations, but we always try to think about “How can this episode be bigger than just making people laugh?” Like how can this show be bigger than us? And I think that that’s what we do and we’ve done it well. And I hope we get to continue to do it for many seasons.”
Now, more than ever, Debby Wolfe has things she wants to say. “I hope we keep going because there are so many stories to tell. And there’s so much going on now, too, with Latinos in America. There’s stuff that we want to talk about.”
And stuff we hope we get to see.
Lopez vs. Lopez Season 3 airs on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock.
