George Lopez: The Complete 3rd Season

Comedian and former talk show host George Lopez is back with this 2003-04 third season of his eponymous sitcom. Starring the Latino funnyman as the patriarch in a family that features his wife Angie (Constance Marie), spirited daughter Carmen (Masiela Lusha), everyboy son Max (Luis Armand Garcia), and live-in busybody mother Benny (Belita Moreno), this set kicks off with the two-part season opener “Dubya, Dad & Dating,” in which airplane parts manager George is embarrassed after President Bush's visit to the plant is disrupted by Carmen's heckling and other comic monkey wrenches. Balancing the silly with the serious, the episodes here revolve around George's work (Benny is also employed at the plant), health (allusions are made to Lopez's real-life issues with kidney problems in “Would You Like a Drumstick or a Kidney?” and “Mementos”), and the domestic dynamic (including the holiday episodes “No One Gets Out Alive” and the laugh-out-loud “Christmas Punch”). Much of the comic fireworks here are between George and the abusive, alcoholic, abrasive Benny, whose bawdy commentary still brings the funny (on Carmen's new boyfriend: “If I was 35 years younger, he would have been your Daddy!”). Also, George and precocious teen Carmen often butt heads and she even runs away in the season finale. Featuring guest appearances by executive producer Sandra Bullock, the Commodores, Jimmie Walker, and Lou Diamond Phillips, this series—while hardly must-see-TV—does boast some good laughs. Compiling all 28 episodes, this is a strong optional purchase. (J. Williams-Wood)