DVD Release Date: April 17, 2007 (Warner Home Video)
Color/2002-03
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 28
Running Time: 584 minutes
Running Time of Special Features: approx. 25 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English &
Spanish; Spanish subtitles; Closed Captioned
Special Features: “Inside the Comic Mind” Featurette
and Gag Reel
Introduction:
Take a working-class guy in a working class job with
working class friends and what you get is comedy that
really works: Seasons One and Two of George Lopez, now
available on DVD for the first time from Warner Home
Video. Whoopaaaa!!! The hilarious sitcom is still
going strong and now it is in its sixth season on ABC,
but not many remember the early seasons, especially
the short first season, which only had four episodes.
The talented comic plays assembly-line worker George
Lopez, who brings a blue-collar outlook (and laughs)
to a white-collar job when he's promoted to
management. Make George's casa su casa and meet his
loving wife (Constance Marie) and kids (Masiela Lusha
and Luis Armand Garcia) and his not-so-loving mom
(Belita Moreno). In addition, George’s clueless friend
Ernie (Valente Rodriguez) is in the cast and this set
features recurring character Accident Amy (played by
executive producer and movie star Sandra Bullock).
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
The first season only had four episodes. I remember
watching only one episode from the first season ever
(“Curious George”) and that is because I was waiting
for the John Ritter guest appearance on the sitcom
Wednesday 9:30/8:30 Central, which got pulled quickly.
That was April 3, 2002. That felt ions ago. The
first season is so different. The music transition
for a start and end of scene has much different music
than we know. It has no Latin feel, so I am sure that
is why they changed it starting in season two. In
addition, George looks very different than he does
now. He looks like that in season two, too. I think
he started losing the weight by the end of season 3 or
the start of season 4, if I recall. Moreover, the font
for the credits is different in season one. Anyway, I
will get to the memorable episodes finally,
“Prototype” is where it starts all and George becomes
the first person to be promoted from the assembly line
to plant manager at a Los Angeles airplane parts
factory. Then we have “Happy Birthdays” where we meet
Accident Amy (Sandra Bullock). Next we have the season
two premiere “Who’s Your Daddy” where George runs into
long lost Aunt Cecilia who informs him that his
father, who his mom has always insisted was dead, is
still alive. Esai Morales guest stars in a great dream
sequence. Then we have the episode “Dyslexic Show
The,” where George refuses to believe Max has
dyslexia. “No Free Launch” has Accident Amy returning
and her bad luck continues. “Love Bites” has Carmen
coming home with a hickey. Does George find his
father in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Honey?”
Cheech Marin guest stars. In the Christmas episode,
“Meet the Cuban Parents,” we meet Angie’s parents, Vic
and Emilina. The Valentine’s Day episode “The
Valentine’s Day Massacre,” has George giving Angie a
disappointing gift for Valentine's Day and Angie has a
flashback to high school in the '80s, when George
painted a great mural of her for the holiday. In the
episode “Girl Fight,” Carmen’s problems start as she
gets in a fight at school after Adam ruins her
reputation saying she is “easy.” Finally, skipping to
the season finale, “Long Time No See,” George finally
meets his dad...but how does it turn out?
Other guest stars include: Lou Diamond Phillips,
Hilary Duff, Rod Carew, Joe Morgan, Steve Garvey, Jim
Palmer, Recurring: Jack Blessing, Mark Tymchyshyn,
Dagney Kerr, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Autumn Reeser, and
Emiliano Diez.
Packaging:
The packaging is an outer box with two slim cases
inside. The outer box is yellow and red in color, with
a mix of white. The show logo and complete 1st and 2nd
seasons mention are on the top. A cool photo of
George in shades along with the rest of the family
(and Ernie) is on the right. The back of the box has
more great photos along with info on the show & set,
with special features details and cast info. The slim
cases are inside the box and each slim case holds two
discs. The cover and back of the slim cases have
episode info for each disc and great photos. The
episode info has episode number and title, writer,
director, original airdate and of course synopsis of
the episode. Inside the slim cases are more photos and
cast names on the left. Disc art are all in the same
style as the color scheme (red, yellow and white).
Disc one has an image of George with episodes 1-7.
Disc two has an image of Angie with episodes 8-14.
Disc three has an image of Carmen & Max with episodes
15-21 and the featurette. Finally, disc four has an
image of Benny & Ernie with episodes 22-28 and the gag
reel.
An old Warner Home Video DVD catalog comes inside the
box, touting other Warner TV DVDs.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu screen has the same color scheme as the
packaging, as you can see on the top. There is a
George Lopez bobble-head image. The new “DVD theme”
is playing in the background (more on that in the
Video/Audio section). The options are Play, Episodes,
and Languages, Features (D3 and D4 only). The
languages menu lets you switch from English to Spanish
audio and you can turn on Spanish subtitles. The
episodes menu has the list of episodes on each disc
and you just choose the one you want to view. It is
easy to navigate and simple.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video and audio are EXCELLENT, as it should be,
since the episodes are from 2002-03. The main title
theme “Low Rider” has been replaced though by a new
theme made especially for the DVD. The producers and
George created it, so it fits the show well. You can
listen to the theme
right here at SitcomsOnline! It has a nice beat with George uttering hilarious phrases
like, “Whoopaaaa!” Oddly enough, “Low Rider” is still
credited in the closing credits, so maybe this was a
last minute change. The season finale of season two
has George and a band playing “Low Rider,” and that is
still intact on the DVD. George can play the drum
well! As I mentioned earlier the first four episodes
are from season one and are so different. The font for
the credits is different and the transition music is
basic and nothing Latin. By season two, we get more
George Lopez style we all know and love. After
watching this show regularly each season on ABC, I
haven’t seen season one and two episodes in quite
awhile and my how Carmen & Max look young, especially
Max. George has longer hair and of course was a bit
heavy back then. Anyway, the episodes are all
unedited. The runtimes range approx. 20-22 minutes.
There are four chapter stops per episode.
The runtimes are as follows:
Disc 1:
1. Prototype (19:56)
2. Curious George (21:16)
3. Happy Birthdays (20:40)
4. Max's Big Adventure (20:49)
5. Who's Your Daddy (21:04)
6. Token of Unappreciation (21:34)
7. The Show of Dyslexic (20:27)
Disc 2:
8. Halloween Cheer (21:28)
9. The Unnatural (20:08)
10. No Free Launch (21:33)
11. The Wedding Dance (21:34)
12. Love Bites (19:54)
13. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (21:34)
14. Charity (21:32)
Disc 3:
15. Meet the Cuban Parents (21:33)
16. This Old Casa (20:48)
17. Super Bowl (20:02)
18. The Valentine's Day Massacre (21:34)
19. Girl Fight (20:24)
20. George vs. George (21:33)
21. A Kiss is Just a Kiss (21:32)
Disc 4:
22. Profiles in Courage (20:41)
23. Secrets and Lies (20:54)
24. Girls Night Out (20:24)
25. I Only Have Eyes for You (20:14)
26. Team Leader (20:18)
27. George Has Two Mommies (19:55)
28. Long Time No See (20:44)
Special Features:
We have two special features on this set. One is on
disc three and is a 14:50 featurette titled “Inside
the Comic Mind of George Lopez.” It is quite an
interesting featurette. Interviewed are Sandra
Bullock, Valente Rodriguez, Belita Moreno, Luis Armand
Garcia, Bruce Helford, George Lopez, Deborah
Oppenheimer, Robert Borden, and Emiliano Diez. They
cover each character in detail and how most of
everything is based on George’s life. It is quite
interesting and Sandra Bullock speaks a lot. Missing
in action here are Masiela Lusha and Constance Marie…I
wonder why they weren’t interviewed? The interviews
were all recent, so I can understand why Masiela is
not interviewed, since she has left the show, but why
no Constance?
Finally, we have a Gag Reel on disc four. It runs
10:04 and is the funniest goof-ups from 2002-03. It
is well designed and has great music. The producers
did a nice job creating this reel and the mess-ups are
hilarious.
Final Comments:
Whoopaaaaa! This is a great set and a great show. I
am sure there are many people who never saw season one
and don’t remember or just watched a few season two
episodes. I think the show really took off in season
two. They had some great stories. George really used
many of his real life stories on the show. As for the
DVD, it is well done and the replaced theme song is
not a big deal really. The producers made a great
replacement. I wish we had some audio commentaries
though. Sandra Bullock and George would have made a
good team in commentaries. I believe Sandra returns
one more time in the series (season 3), so let’s hope
she does commentary for that set. The featurette on
this set was very good and informative. Get your DVD
collection ready for some George Lopez--one of the few
funniest sitcoms still on the air! We know anyone can
just about beat Ernie in a race to a DVD store to
pick-up this set, so don’t even try that, just click
on the ordering link below before George finds out you
are instant messaging!
