Latino comedian George Lopez's self-entitled sitcom is leading primetime ratings while bringing Latino culture and humor to U.S. television. 'George Lopez' is the first comedy featuring Latino characters in the U.S. to enjoy success since Freddie Prinze's 1970s sitcom 'Chico and the Man.'

In the show Lopez plays an assembly line worker at an airplane parts plant in Los Angeles. At home Lopez and his wife Angie (Constance Marie), children (Luis Armand García, Masiela Lusha) and mother, Benny (Belita Moreno) deal with life situations familiar to Latinos and non-Latinos alike.

Los Angeles native and Los Angeles Unified School District teacher Tania María Lopez (no relation) teaches Algebra at a junior high school where many of the students are Latino. "I discuss the 'George Lopez' show with my students often," says Lopez. "I think my students enjoy the show because they can relate to the characters and the familiar setting. We live in Silverlake, not Beverly Hills 90210."

Last November, Lynn Elber, AP Television Writer, wrote an article describing the success of the sitcom, financially and culturally. Here are a few paragraphs from Elber's article describing Lopez's accomplishments:

"Beyond obvious beneficiaries ABC, Disney and Lopez himself, the sitcom has brought satisfaction to a wider circle - especially critics of network TV's diversity in programming.

"I guarantee you that there are a lot of people at ABC and the other networks that are pretty astonished viewers are willing to watch 'George Lopez,"' said Lisa Navarrete, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza in Washington.

The networks' belief that programs with predominantly Hispanic casts won't play with non-Hispanic audiences is misguided, Navarrete said. "What 'George Lopez' and other shows like it needed was more than one episode or a couple episodes to get through to the American public," she said.

"People are ready" for ethnic diversity, said Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition in Los Angeles. And broadcast networks were finally able to get Hispanic comedy right, he added. Two failed efforts with Paul Rodriguez, "A.K.A. Pablo" in 1984 and "Trial and Error" in 1988, didn't allow him an authentic voice, Nogales said. "With this one, I recognize George very easily. He speaks from the heart."

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