George Lopez (TV series)

Comedian George Lopez had been performing standup throughout the early 1990s, expressing interest in having his own comedy television show like Seinfeld.[7] Lopez was only willing to do a show if it meant that the roles were not demeaning to Latinos, vowing never to play a murderer, drug dealer or gang member.[7] With an absence of TV deals, he continued to perform standup through the 1990s and into the 2000s.[7] In August 2000, after being given one of Lopez's comedy albums to listen to, actress Sandra Bullock saw Lopez perform live at the Brea Improv Comedy Club.[8] Bullock had been interested in developing a TV show with a Latino storyline, being concerned about the lack of visibility for Latinos on American television.[8] Bullock approached Lopez backstage after the show and made her pitch to produce and star in a situational comedy centered around the comedian.[9]

Though Bullock had connections through Hollywood, The George Lopez Show was not an easy sell.[10] Bullock sought the help of Bruce Helford (who created The Drew Carey Show and had been a head writer for Roseanne), and, due to his history with ABC on those shows, became a co-creator and executive producer of Lopez's show.[10] Bullock, Helford, and two of the show's other executive producers met with ABC executives later that month, and the network tested the show with 4 episodes, before committing to 13 episodes the following fall and eventually adding an additional 9.[9][10] Lopez was given full starring, creator, producer and writer credits for the show.[9] The George Lopez Show was seen as an attempt from ABC to diversify their programming, while still appealing to the widest possible audience.[9] ABC executives were hopeful that Lopez's humor and relatability would draw a large family audience, focusing on marketing the series as much as possible.[9] The network bought promotional time for the show on Spanish-language networks, and took out full-page ads in some magazines.[9]

Lopez drew much of the material for the show from his own life experiences, especially his upbringing in the San Fernando Valley.[9] Upon the series debut, Lopez became one of the few Latinos to star in a television comedy series, following in the footsteps of Desi Arnaz, Freddie Prinze, and John Leguizamo.

For the first five seasons, the show had an all-Latino cast with the exception of Albanian American actress Masiela Lusha, who played George's daughter Carmen. During the show's fifth season, Aimee Garcia was cast as George's niece, Veronica.

The show's theme song is "Low Rider", performed by War. The theme plays in the opening credits and was present when the show aired on ABC as well as syndication, but was replaced in the DVD releases of all seasons except 1 episode due to licensing costs. At the 9th ALMA Awards in 2007, George Lopez called the song the "Chicano National Anthem".

The show entered syndication one month after the series finale on ABC, and is distributed by Warner Bros. Television Distribution. The show aired in broadcast syndication on independent stations, and affiliates of Fox, The CW and MyNetworkTV as well as The CW Plus stations in the United States from 2007 to 2011 and on Telelatino in Canada. The show moved to ION Television on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011.[13] The series joined TBS on September 28, 2020.[14][15]

On March 8, 2007, it was announced that George Lopez would join the Nick at Nite lineup. It first aired on Nick at Nite on September 10, 2007—it was the most current non-original show to air on Nick at Nite[16] (until it was announced that Everybody Hates Chris would join the lineup, followed by The Goldbergs and Mom and currently Young Sheldon). To this date, it continues to be their highest-rated series and one of cable's best for an off-network sitcom. On September 8, 2020, the show was removed from syndication on Nick at Nite, ending its almost 13-year run on the network. The series was also shown on ViacomCBS sister networks MTV Tres and TV Land.

Never a major hit in primetime, the show became an unexpected success in syndication. Many markets also moved the show from overnight timeslots to more desirable ones.[17]

Episodes from the first four seasons of George Lopez do not use those respective seasons' opening titles, the season five version is used instead (this is evident as Emiliano Diez is credited in the sequence, which is slightly longer than how they were originally broadcast on ABC, though there is also a short version also used in syndication that also differs from the original short opening credits that does not credit him for seasons 1–3, even though Diez did not make his first guest appearance until season two and did not become a cast regular until season four); the final two seasons use those seasons' appropriate versions of the opening credits.

On April 17, 2007, Warner Home Video released seasons 1 and 2 on DVD in Region 1.[18] After over six years since the release of the first and second seasons, Warner Bros. released the third season on July 16, 2013.[19] The fourth season was released on June 23, 2015.[20] The fifth season was released on August 18, 2015.[21] The sixth and final season was released on November 24, 2015.[22]

The complete series was also published in high definition on the iTunes Store and Amazon Video. The show's theme song "Low Rider" is intact in these releases.[23][24] The series became available to stream on Peacock on July 15, 2020.[25]