49 Fun Facts About George Lopez

On which network did the sitcom George Lopez originally air from 2002 to 2007?

ABC first ran the show in spring 2002 as a short tryout of just a few episodes. Only after that did the network order a full season, and the sitcom stayed until 2007.

Which actress saw Lopez perform in 2000 and pitched him a sitcom backstage?

Sandra Bullock went backstage after his set at the Brea Improv and, Lopez recalled, said she 'wanted to be in the George Lopez business'. She kept pushing even after her own agents told her they didn't see a show in it.

Which Latino comic does Lopez credit with inspiring him to become a stand-up?

Freddie Prinze. Lopez was a boy when he saw him star in Chico and the Man, and decades later he became one of the few Latinos since Prinze to lead a network sitcom of his own.

George Lopez co-creator Bruce Helford had earlier co-created which stand-up's sitcom?

The Drew Carey Show. Helford had also worked on Roseanne, and with that record in comic-led sitcoms he was brought in to help build a show around Lopez's stand-up.

Lopez hosted which awards show in 2003 and 2004?

Latin Grammys. Lopez fronted the last two ceremonies that CBS aired; the network then dropped the show, and from 2005 it went out in Spanish on Univision.

On the sitcom George Lopez, George works at a factory that makes what?

Aircraft parts. George manages the fictional Powers Brothers plant, a job drawn from life: Lopez once worked on the floor of an aerospace factory himself.

On George Lopez, what is the name of George's neglectful, hard-drinking mother?

Benny. She is written as a sharp-tongued worker at George's own factory, a mother who let him grow up believing that his father was dead.

On George Lopez, which learning difference does George's son Max have?

Dyslexia. Max has to work extra hard at school, and it runs in the family: the show makes George dyslexic as well.

On George Lopez, what is the profession of Angie's wealthy father, Vic Palmero?

Doctor. Vic left Cuba and made his fortune as a cardiologist, and at first he makes no secret of thinking George isn't good enough for his daughter.

On George Lopez, what is the first name of George's awkward best friend and co-worker?

Ernie Cardenas has been George's best friend since second grade. Valente Rodriguez played him, and Lopez based the character on one of his own childhood friends.

On George Lopez, which relative moves in with a large trust fund that George has to manage?

Niece Veronica. Angie's spoiled niece arrives after her mother dies, and her inheritance is put in George's care rather than her own.

In the 2015 film Spare Parts, Lopez coaches a team of Latino high-school students in what kind of contest?

Robotics. The film is based on the true story of students from a mostly Latino high school who entered a 2004 underwater-robot competition and won; Lopez also produced it.

On George Lopez, what is George preparing to donate to his father Manny when Manny dies?

A kidney. The storyline came from life: Lopez has a genetic condition that wore down his own kidneys, and he had a transplant himself in 2005.

Which band recorded 'Low Rider', the theme song of the sitcom George Lopez?

War. The bond outlasted the sitcom: when the band got a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2025, Lopez spoke at the ceremony and the musicians arrived in lowriders.

Masiela Lusha, the only non-Latina in George Lopez's main cast, was born in which country?

Albania. Lusha was born in Tirana and played George's daughter Carmen for five seasons, until the character was written out and packed off to college.

When his sitcom was cancelled in 2007, Lopez scoffed at which new comedy the network had just picked up?

Cavemen. 'So a Chicano can't be on TV, but a caveman can?' Lopez asked; the comedy, spun off from insurance commercials, was pulled after only six episodes had aired.

Which studio, rather than the network that aired it, made George Lopez on its Burbank lot?

Warner Bros. Television. Lopez said that was part of why the sitcom was dropped in 2007: the network kept weaker comedies that its own studio owned.

Which cable block began airing reruns of George Lopez in 2007?

Nick at Nite. The reruns arrived within months of the sitcom's cancellation and by 2008 were the block's highest-rated show, as it traded nostalgia like I Love Lucy for newer family comedies.

Which actress played George's wife Angie on George Lopez?

Constance Marie. Fifteen years after the sitcom ended, she and several castmates reunited with Lopez for a Christmas episode of his comedy Lopez vs Lopez.

In 2003, Lopez was among the comedians who shared hosting duties at which awards ceremony?

The Emmy Awards. The show had no single host that year, so the job was split between eleven comics, among them Ellen DeGeneres, Jon Stewart and Wanda Sykes.

George Lopez grew up in which Los Angeles valley?

San Fernando Valley. His hard-up childhood there has supplied material for his stand-up ever since, and his sitcom drew on it too.

Lopez was brought up mainly by which relative after both of his parents left?

His maternal grandmother, a factory worker, raised him with her husband in Mission Hills. Her gruff manner later became the model for his mother on the sitcom.

Lopez was how old when his father walked out on the family?

Two months. His mother stayed until he was ten, then remarried and moved away, and Lopez has wrung stand-up material out of both exits ever since.

Which HBO sports show featured Lopez as a cast member for the 2003–04 season?

Inside the NFL. HBO used Lopez for comedy segments that season, and the league then picked him to host its televised Opening Kickoff show in September 2004.

Lopez Tonight, which George Lopez hosted from 2009 to 2011, aired on which network?

TBS. The programme went out four times a week from November 2009, but its ratings slid after a schedule change and the network cancelled it in August 2011.

Which host's arrival at the network in 2010 pushed Lopez Tonight back to midnight?

Conan O'Brien. He was reluctant to bump another host, so Lopez phoned and urged him to come, then joked on air, 'I was on Team Coco, now I'm on Team Loco!'

Which basketball star was a guest on the very first episode of Lopez Tonight in 2009?

Kobe Bryant. He broke his own rule about turning down such invitations for the premiere, and handed Lopez a pair of his signature shoes on air.

Lopez was the first Mexican-American to host what on English-language US television?

A late-night talk show. Lopez Tonight arrived in November 2009 with a promise to bring change to the format, and it ran for two seasons before falling ratings ended it.

Saint George, Lopez's 2014 sitcom, followed Charlie Sheen's Anger Management onto which network?

FX. Both were made on a '10/90' deal, in which hitting a ratings target over ten episodes triggers an order for ninety more; Saint George missed it and was cancelled after one season.

Lopez, George Lopez's 2016 single-camera sitcom about his own life, debuted on which channel?

TV Land. The series played his real life for laughs, including the end of his 17-year marriage and how awkward it had become to see old friends now that he was rich.

In 2016, Lopez sat in as a guest judge on which TV competition?

America's Got Talent. Guest judges get one golden buzzer each, and Lopez spent his on Malevo, a troupe of malambo dancers from Buenos Aires, sending them straight through to the live shows.

In Lopez vs Lopez, Lopez co-stars with which real-life relative?

His daughter Mayan. The two play versions of themselves, a father and daughter trying to patch things up after barely speaking for most of her teens.

In Lopez vs Lopez, George's character runs what kind of business that went bankrupt?

A moving company. When it goes under, George has to move in with family himself, into a house where he and his host have only just started speaking again.

Which screen legend guest-stars as Dolores on Lopez vs Lopez?

Rita Moreno. Dolores is a ghost: the veteran star plays a sandal-throwing spirit who comes back from the dead to demand a proper burial, forcing George to face his past.

Which 2002 HBO Films drama featuring Lopez won the Audience Award at Sundance?

Real Women Have Curves. Lopez plays the teacher who pushes a gifted student, played by America Ferrera in her first film, to apply to college.

Lopez appeared in which 2005 Robert Rodriguez family film?

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Lopez pulled double duty: he is the young hero's teacher in the real world and the villain Mr Electric on Planet Drool, and he voices other characters too.

In Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Lopez voiced a Chihuahua with what name?

Papi. He is the landscaper's lovestruck Chihuahua who follows the pampered Chloe to Mexico and comes to her rescue, and Lopez voiced him again in two sequels.

In the animated hit Rio, Lopez voiced Rafael, which kind of bird?

Toucan. Rafael takes the film's two chained-together macaws under his wing and tries, without success, to teach the hero to fly; Lopez voiced him again in the 2014 sequel.

Lopez played villain Glaze opposite which action star in 2010's The Spy Next Door?

Jackie Chan plays a spy who is babysitting his girlfriend's children. Lopez's Glaze is his boss at the agency, and turns out to be working for the other side.

In 2023's Blue Beetle, Lopez played Rudy Reyes, who is what relation to the hero?

Uncle. Rudy is the family's conspiracy-minded fixer of anything mechanical: he helps his nephew Jaime break into Kord Tower and drives him into battle in a souped-up pickup he calls 'the Taco'.

What is the title of Lopez's 2004 autobiography, co-written with Armen Keteyian?

Why You Crying? The title is a catchphrase from his rough childhood, the question he'd be asked right after a smack, and Lopez put it on a Showtime stand-up special the same year.

Which cruise line hired Lopez in 2011 as its creative director for comedy?

Carnival. The line billed him as its 'curator of comedy': he helped vet and hire the stand-ups for its shipboard clubs, which became the Punchliner Comedy Clubs Presented by George Lopez.

Who donated an organ to Lopez for his 2005 transplant?

His wife Ann. She offered as soon as he needed a donor and proved a match; five years later the couple announced an amicable end to their 17-year marriage.

In the 2011 film The Smurfs, Lopez voiced which Smurf?

Grouchy. Lopez said he got into character by skipping coffee, turning up at the studio at the busiest hour and making sure he had bad breath.

Which magazine named Lopez one of the '25 Most Influential Hispanics in America' in 2005?

Time. Its profile noted that Lopez had made sure his sitcom's crew included Latinos and other minorities; 'If you come to our stage,' he said, 'it looks like Costco.'

Lopez's elementary school honored him in 2011 by naming what after him?

Its auditorium. At the dedication Lopez told the cheering pupils, 'You can thank me for getting you out of class'; he was also paying for a new lighting and sound system for the hall.

Which candidate did Lopez endorse for president in the 2016 race?

Bernie Sanders. Lopez made it official on Twitter in December 2015 and pointed his followers to the campaign's Latino outreach drive, a week after Ricky Martin had come out for Hillary Clinton.

In 2007 and 2008 Lopez hosted the PGA Tour pro-am named for which late entertainer?

Bob Hope. Lopez fronted the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in the California desert for two years, then organisers asked him to leave and handed the 50th tournament to Arnold Palmer, a five-time winner of it.

Lopez vs Lopez grew out of a video posted on which app?

TikTok. Writer Debby Wolfe was doom-scrolling late one night early in the pandemic when a clip about the Lopez family's troubles stopped her, and she built the sitcom around it.