George Lopez: “TV Just Became Really White Again”

17 years ago view-show 603,405

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno

      Chicano comedian George Lopez has been on ABC for the past five season with his sitcom, “The George Lopez Show”, making him the first Latino actor to lead a sit com on network television. But now history is coming to an end as ABC has announced that his show has been cancelled.

      "TV just became really, really white again," Lopez told the LA Times. "I’ll take the good and the bad. I took the five years of good and I did a lot with the good. My popularity, I was involved in charities, I overcame my illness, all on TV. I shared all of that with America—every secret I had. Every personal feeling. Every emotion. Everything was open to the show. And what happens?"

      Lopez said that he was told by ABC President Steve McPherson that they had to cancel the show because the network was losing money producing his show. But according to Lopez, his show outperformed ABC shows like “Notes From the Underbelly” and “Knights of Prosperity”, which were both renewed for next season. Lopez will apparently be replaced by a new comedy, “Cavemen,” which is based upon the characters from the popular Geico commercials.

      "I get kicked out for a…caveman and shows that I out-performed because I’m not owned by [ABC Television Studios]…So a…Chicano can’t be on TV but a…caveman can?" Lopez said. "And a Chicano with an audience already? You know when you get in this that shows do not last forever, but this was an important show and to go unceremoniously like this hurts. One hundred seventy people lost their jobs.”