History Series / TheGeorgeLopezShow

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking In one episode, when Max tries to upgrade the computer but breaks it, Angie says that it contained all her business files, photos of their family vacations, and "a journal containing her private thoughts".

--->'''George''': Is that what happened?!
--->'''Benny''': What you wanna hear? That I was drunk and I thought he was one of my house slippers?!

* BigBad: Zack Powers for a critical arc for Carmen. He's a misogynist, sex-crazed {{Jerkass}} who just wants sex from her. What's worse, is she ''refuses'' to believe he's a bad guy despite his criminal history and mistreatment of girls; outright saying her parents just want to ruin her romance and they're "in love." He even convinces her to run away with him when her parents refuse to let her see him. He eventually takes her to a hotel where he tries to convince her to have sex, even trying to get her drunk to make her compliant. When she still refuses, he takes her to a club and dumps her there; leaving her to sob in a bathroom when forced to realize her parents were right.

** Benny. This, along with his father's ParentalAbandonment causes George to have some issues. In her defense, his father walking out on her was a big reason for it and her parents were [[UpToEleven much worse]] than she was. She was also a single teen mom with no family willing to help her and had to raise George entirely on her own. She was also forced to drop out of high school a few years before her pregnancy in order to work in a factory to earn income.

** Zack Powers is an incredibly unpleasant delinquent, but Mel basically neglects Zack while his mother is a bitter old drunk. However, while he may have had a difficult childhood he's done a long list of horrible deeds like: getting the principal's daughter pregnant because he didn't bother to use protection, embezzled company money, vandalized his father's factory just to spite him (which nearly got Benny fired), tried to manipulate Carmen into having sex with him and ditching her in San Francisco when she refused to give it to him, which completely shreds any sympathy. Lampshaded by George, who ''also'' grew up with an absent father and bitter alcoholic mother, yet didn't turn out nearly as bad.
-->'''Carmen:''' You guys don't understand Zack; his dad was never there for him and his mom's a bitter old drunk! [[ComicallyMissingThePoint You have no idea what that's like!]]\\

** Angie has a downplayed version of this trope when she learns about Ricky's unpleasant homelife. Despite pitying Ricky's situation and wanting to help him, it doesn't change that he's a bad influence on Max and done too much damage to their own home to be allowed to stay.

* GrassIsGreener: George applies for another job in a small town in Colorado. He really wants to go, believing that a small town would be a better place to raise his children than LA. However, when they get there, the kids have [[SmallTownBoredom literally nothing else to do]] but steal alcohol to drink, party, have sex and get into much trouble.

** Mentioned every episode. Usually, Benny says something about how much she hugged George, and then George would say something like "That was when you were drunk!"
** Not just his childhood. TheTag for one episode was Benny serving up a plate of ice cream but letting the dog have a shot at it first. "George! Your ice cream is ready!"

* IgnoreTheFanservice: In "Trick or Treat Me Right", Angie wears a sexy police officer costume for Halloween but George is too depressed over his mother's recent insults about his dyslexia as well as her general habit of insulting him. Ernie, on the other hand, is more than happy to show his appreciation.
* IncompatibleOrientation: Subverted in "What George Doesn't Noah". Carmen brings home what seems to be the perfect boyfriend, Noah, after dating bad boy Zack. George and Benny spy on Noah and find him with another man in a movie theater. [[spoiler: Turns out Carmen was using Noah as a cover-up so she could still see Zack.]]

** Everyone gets in a moment or two over the course of the series, but special mention has to go to Benny whose social and child-raising skills border on [[ComedicSociopathy sociopathic]]. Apparently, this is because Benny's parents are even worse, they physically abused her and are strongly implied to be the [[FreudianExcuse main reason for Benny's mistreatment of George]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Zack Powers initally seems like a rebel with the heart of gold, considering his terrible childhood. But it's all an act to convince Carmen to have sex with him. He's probably the closest thing the show has to an actual antagonist. Thankfully, he's not in the series for very long.

* TeensAreMonsters: In season 2 episode 13, Carmen breaks up with her boyfriend, Adam. In revenge, he spreads a rumor that he only wanted sex with her and she easily gave it to him - claiming he dumped her because of so. George and Angie end up getting involved after Carmen is dragged into a fight the ringleader of her bullies and is suspended for defending herself. Despite all their efforts to force the school officials to take action and make Adam confess that he lied, Carmen still ends up having to transfer schools because her classmates continue to bully her just for their own amusement. Carmen is reduced to utter tears due to the relentless bullying, sexual harassment, and being seen as the "the school whore" despite never having did anything.

** Benny. This, along with his father's ParentalAbandonment causes George to have some issues. In her defense, his father walking out on her was a big reason for it and her parents were [[UpToEleven much worse]] than she was. She was also a single teen mom with no family to help her and had to raise George all on her own and had dropped out of high school a few years before that in order to work in a factory.
** Jason's father is revealed to be this in season 4. When Angie tells him his son has been arrested, he reacts to the news with nonchalance and said season's penultimate episode reveals that he forced Jason to take steroids to give him an edge in football.

** Both played straight and viciously subverted - George is impulsive and cynical, but more of a realist, while Angie is more sensible but also very idealistic and naive. When her sensibility goes up against his street smarts, a favorite gag for the show to use is for her to initially win out - only for her reasonable solution to be nowhere near effective and for George to have been right all along.
** The show tried to imply that Angie would ''normally'' be right, like the time they both wanted to get rid of an offensive statue in a neighbor's yard. Her strongly worded letter and petition to the Neighborhood Watch succeeded where George's idea of smashing it to pieces didn't (the neighbor simply bought more). However, the majority of the time that Angie's argument failed was when she tried to get George and his mom to be closer and loving in a more traditional sense. She grew up in a more well-off and close-knit family and had trouble accepting that some families (like George and Benny) were simply screwed-up and not exactly idealistic.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: When Angie discovers that a sexual predator was living in the neighborhood, George riles up the entire neighborhood to confront the predator. The minute they discover the predator is a woman, everyone stops caring and goes home. George even outright says "it's just a woman", dismissing her as a threat and her former criminal actions because she's "hot".

** Averted by Angie herself, who is adamant that what the woman did was wrong and calls out the double standard, stating that the woman took advantage of a kid and nothing makes that okay. Later also averted by George when he sees Max come out of the woman's house shirtless. Max admits he came there to hook up with the woman as he felt that, based on what his dad said, it wouldn't be a big deal. (Luckily, the woman immediately threw him out.) George admits what he said was wrong and he didn't realize the double standard until he saw ''his'' son with the female offender.

** The Palmero family isn't clean either. Angie's mom cheated on Vic after decades of marriage, eventually leaving him. Vic made out with with Benny while drunk, and then also had a fling with George's younger sister, who's in her thirties. Angie's sister Gloria divorced her husband after learning he cheated on her and was desperate enough to kiss George when seeing how good he treats Angie. Angie's brother, Ray, is a manipulative con artist who abandoned his daughter. Her niece Veronica is [[SpoiledBrat completely spoiled]] due to never having to work her whole life. It's implied that the reason Veronica's mother, Claudia, made George the trustee to Veronica's inheritance is that she knew her family were selfish and entitled people, while George was "normal" because he grew up struggling and is hardworking.

** The show tried to imply that Angie would ''normally'' be right, like the time they both wanted to get rid of an offensive statue in a neighbor's yard. Her strongly worded letter and petition to the Neighborhood Watch succeeded where George's idea of smashing it to pieces didn't (the neighbor simply bought more). However, the majority of the time that Angie's argument failed was when she tried to get George and his mom to be closer and more loving. She grew up in a more well-off, traditional family, and had trouble accepting that some families (like George and Benny) were simply screwed-up and less than idealistic.

* DeathEqualsRedemption: Harshly averted in the case of [[spoiler: Manny Lopez. He leaves George with a memento in the form of a watch… but asks him and Benny to not attend his funeral in order to preserve his reputation to those he actually considered family and friends. Any improvement in the relationship he had with his son and ex-wife is immediately thrown out the window, and George and Benny likely will never forgive him.]]

** Also sucks to those who participated in the DisneyLand contest as many of those Mickey symbols were hidden out of the frame.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: When Angie discovers that a sexual predator was living in the neighborhood, George riles up the entire neighborhood to confront the predator. The minute they discover the predator is a woman, everyone stops caring and goes home. George even outright says "it's just a woman".

** Averted by Angie herself, who is adamant that what the woman did was wrong and calls out this mindset, stating that the woman took advantage of a kid and nothing makes that okay. Later also averted by George when he sees Max come out of the woman's house shirtless. Luckily the woman was throwing him out, and Max admits he came there to hook up with the woman as he felt that, based on what his dad said, it wouldn't be a big deal. George admits what he said was wrong and he didn't realize the double standard until he saw it was ''his'' son with the female offender.

* BigBad: Zack Powers for a critical arc for Carmen. He's a misogynist, sex-crazed {{Jerkass}} who just wants to have sex with Carmen. What's worse, is she ''refuses'' to believe he's a bad guy; outright saying her parents just want to ruin her romance and that they're "in love." He even convinces her to run away with him, taking her to a hotel and dumping her at a club when she refuses to sleep with him. It's only after this she realizes her parents were right.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: George, while staying at Ernie's during a feud with Angie, realizes how horrible his situation is when he witnesses how Ernie must spend most of his free time helping care for his morbidly obese mother. Ernie refuses to move out due to feeling guilty about no longer being around to help his mother. George counters that while Ernie is doing good by helping, her condition is still not his responsibility and that professional medical help should be called in for her situation. George also points out that even though Ernie's parents will be mad at him for leaving, Ernie will never be able to fully come into his own as a grown man as long as he stays a glorified live-in nurse for his mother.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: Nick-at-Nite's airings tend to mute certain phrases. For an example, George's "tranny 911" remark is changed to "- 911." They also cut out a scene where George pretends to be Ernie's gay lover in front of a woman he likes for using Max as a way to get dates.

* AesopAmnesia: "George Helps Ernie See the Cellu-light" averts this and plays it straight. Ernie is gaining weight and eating too much so women will reject him before he can say anything, due to his lifelong fear of rejection. Ernie does lose weight throughout the rest of the series and keeps it off so he can keep his job. In the end, he asks a girl out and she says yes. In future episodes, despite the weight loss, Ernie still has a tough time with women.

** Benny says her mom was an abusive tyrant to her. When he finally meet her, she is portrayed a stern woman with understandable reasons to be annoyed with Benny, but is convinced by George to help her in a court case. Then she gets on the stand and cruelly puts Benny down, even admitting to beating her - showing she's as heartless as Benny made her out to be.

** Zack Powers has done a lot of shit over the years, largely because of his apathetic father. After sneaking off with Carmen, then ditching her in San Francisco when she refused to have sex with him, he's attacked by a [[MamaBear very angry Benny]]. While we don't actually see it, we hear him howl in pain and Benny mentions directly after that Zack was "in a terrible accident".

'''George:''' Don't tell me Ernie's dating Tammy. She's a mess.

* DirtyOldMan: Vic's reaction to Benny getting breast implants.

* DumbassTeenageSon: Max.
* DysfunctionalFamily: The Lopez family with George and Benny constant arguing and his father Manny leaving both of them when George was an infant.
** The Palmero family isn't clean either. Angie's mom cheated on Vic after decades of marriage. Vic made out with with Benny while drunk, and then also made out with and dated George's younger sister, who's in her thirties. Angie's sister Gloria divorced her husband after learning he cheated on her and was desperate enough to kiss George when seeing how good he treats Angie. Angie's brother, Ray, is a manipulative con artist who abandoned his daughter. Her niece Veronica is [[SpoiledBrat completely spoiled]] due to never having to work her whole life. It's implied that the reason Veronica's mother, Claudia, made George the trustee to Veronica's inheritance is that she knew her family were selfish and entitled people, while George was "normal" because he grew up struggling and is hardworking.

** Angie treated Jason's wheelchair-bound younger brother like this, even after he humiliated her by passing out photos of her in a wet t-shirt. This was averted at the end of the episode, when Jason called her out for it, saying that she was giving him a sense of entitlement by treating him differently.
** Zigzagged in regards to Ricky. After Ricky destroys George's fence by driving the car through it, George was determined never to let Max see him again. But then he meets Ricky's mom, who was drunk at 10:30 in the ''morning'', and learns he was abandoned by his father. George was willing to forget the damage Ricky did, and let him stay at his house. But then Angie, who was willing to forgive, tells him that while Ricky may have had it worse than George, he is still a bad influence on his son, and can't stay. But then Ernie offered to [[HappilyAdopted help]]...
* FakePregnancy: One episode has Angie discover she's not pregnant, but kept the lie going so George wouldn't be depressed, as Carmen had recently left for college.

* FinalSeasonCasting: George's niece Veronica, who eventually replaced Carmen as she was [[PutOnABus written off the show]] due to her actress, Masiela Lusha, going to college. Like Carmen, she had bratty tendencies, but taken to a higher level.

** George's mother Benny, though she is not rich.

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: In "Profiles In Courage", the Powers Brothers fear that an Arab employee Hosni will jeopardize their chance at a government contract. They order George to demote him. When George protests against this, the brothers inform him that if they lose the contract they will have to lay off twenty people forcing George to make the difficult decision of demoting Hosni.

** Benny threw her gun, "Harriet," off the Hoover dam to get rid of the evidence.

* SheIsAllGrownUp: A major source of frustration for George is the fact that his little girl Carmen has grown into a four-alarm hottie, which has not escaped the notice of the menfolk.

* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: Gina from will sleep with AnythingThatMoves...anything, that is, that can get past initial nausea. At one point, Ernie decides he's finally gotten desperate enough to make a pass at her, which she turns down.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: George's niece Veronica, who eventually replaced Carmen as she was [[PutOnABus written off the show]] due to her actress, Masiela Lusha, going to college. Like Carmen, she had bratty tendencies, but taken to a higher level.

* TeensAreMonsters: In season 2 episode 13, Carmen breaks up with her boyfriend, Adam, and gets slandered by him as a result. George and Angie end up getting involved after Carmen gets dragged into a fight with a group of mean girls and is punished for defending herself. Despite all their efforts to force the school officials to take action and make Adam confess that he lied, Carmen still ends up having to transfer schools because her classmates continue to bully her just for their own amusement.

* UglyGuyHotWife: Subverted in that George often talks about how lucky he is to have gotten Angie. His RealLife (ex-)wife picked the actress, despite being an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] herself.

-->'''George''': Yes! You heard her, Vic! KISS IT!

* WakeupMakeup: "George's Grand Slam" subverts this. With Jason currently staying in the house, Carmen heads down to breakfast all made up--insisting she just rolled out of bed that way. George calls her on this--pointing out that she's actually NotAMorningPerson in the slightest.
* WhamEpisode: The season 5 finale. George sets his mother up on a date with one of her ex-boyfriends only to realize the man is a wanted criminal. As if that isn't bad enough, Benny could go to jail for unintentionally aiding and abetting him 30 years ago. Vic is engaged to a younger woman who is [[GoldDigger quite obviously only interested in him for his money]]. Carmen is nervous about whether or not she will be accepted into any of the colleges she applied to. The factory is moving to Mexico which means George and Ernie might lose their jobs. And Angie might be pregnant with another child.

** Ernie gets engaged to Tammy, his foster child's mother in the fourth season. It's mentioned in the following episode, and after that Ernie's back to being a socially awkward single guy. A little bit later, it's revealed that he and Tammy broke up.

* MamaBear: In one episode, Angie is about to stop Carmen from being bullied by sending the school a "strongly worded letter". She drops that idea and marches ''straight to the school'' to confront the counselor upon learning that Carmen got into a fight.
-->'''Angie''': When my baby's hurt, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome I go medieval!]]
** Toward the end of the "Carmen Runs Away" arc, Benny becomes a Grandmama Bear towards Carmen and attacks Zack powers with a wrench upon seeing him.
-->'''Benny''': George! I just saw Zack and I stopped him ''good!'' (''sees Zack's father'') [[OhCrap OH]]...Mel...your son has been in [[BlatantLies a terrible accident]]. (''drops a wrench'')
** Angie almost strangles her brother while tying his tie for him after learning he planned to steal his daughter's money and even scolds him about it.

* PrisonRape: In "George Watches Out For Jason", Carmen and Jason are arrested when someone at a party they are hosting is in possession of drugs. Carmen is released but learns that Jason won't be since he is a minor and his parents are not in the country and thus there is no one to release him to.
-->'''Carmen''': Jason can't spend the night in jail.
-->'''George''': I spent a night in jail once. Nothing happened to me.
-->'''Carmen''': This is different, dad. Jason's [[PrettyBoy pretty.]]

* ShowerOfAwkward: One episode has George walking into a shower expecting to see Angie and surprise her, only to spot Benny instead!

* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: Gina from will sleep with AnythingThatMoves...anything, that is, that can get past the initial nausea. At one point, Ernie decides he's finally gotten desperate enough to make a pass at her, which she turns down.
-->'''Gina''': I guess I have standards. Hey, I'm as surprised as you!
* SmugSnake: Zack Powers, one of Carmen's (later ex-)boyfriends, is a pretty standard example; bratty, unlikeable, arrogant and entitled, and yet he's convinced everything will work out in his favor. Then, Benny [[LaserGuidedKarma bashes his head in with a wrench]].

* TeensAreMonsters: In season 2 episode 13, Carmen breaks up with her boyfriend Adam and gets slandered by him as a result. George and Angie end up getting involved after Carmen gets dragged into a fight with a group of mean girls and is punished for defending herself. Despite all their efforts to force the school officials to take action and make Adam confess that he lied about her, Carmen still ends up having to transfer schools because her classmates continue to bully her.

* TraumaCongaLine: George once told Max that onetime Benny gotten in trouble at Catholic school and was beaten with a ruler by the nuns, who told her mother, who then beat Benny at home so long she forgot to cook dinner, then [[DomesticAbuse Benny's father beat her mother]] out of anger for not preparing dinner. When Max exclaims "That's terrible! Didn't anyone beat him?" George replied that Benny's Dad got hit by a car while he was drunk.

* TheUnFavorite: Carmen is treated like this from time to time, although George does cop to it. He does love his kids the same, it's just that he finds Carmen harder to handle since she became a teenager.

-->[Vic steps forward]
-->'''Claudia''': Good. [[TakeThat Now bend over and kiss George Lopez's ass]], because I choose him.
** Made even funnier by George's immediate reaction.

** George's fake father, Lalo, only appears in one episode. It ends with George asking him to be an uncle to his kids, which he accepts. He never shows up again after that episode.
** Randy, Benny's love interest played by Nick Offerman, first appeared in the first episode of season 3, and continued to appear regularly until he broke off his marriage with Benny. Randy only appears once more after this, in season 4, and is never seen again. What makes this a jarring example is that the last time we see Randy is during an episode where the factory jobs are in jeopardy and Benny initially takes Randy's offer to move in. After the jobs are saved Benny tells Randy "I can't take this. You're smothering me," and that's the last we ever see of him.

* WhereDidWeGoWrong: George and Angie feel this way about Carmen, especially after she runs away and becomes a groupie for Chingy.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Used InUniverse for laughs in one of the Christmas specials. George takes his family to a rendition of ''A Christmas Carol''... except it turns out to be a {{Grimdark}}, urban version of the story. Scrooge is a drug-dealing pimp and Tiny Tim(oteo) is killed off by a drive-by shooting ''two minutes in''. We don't see much else but according to Angie and Carmen, Santa Claus getting killed for wearing the wrong colors and a pitbull mauling were somehow involved in the play.

* YouAreFat: In "Angie Gets Tanked", George volunteers to work at a dunk tank for Carmen's school's fund raiser. TO get people to participate, he hurls insults at them. Unfortunately, George also does this to an obese kid which results in him being removed from campus since the school has a zero tolerance policy on verbal abuse.

''George Lopez'', aka ''The George Lopez Show'' [[note]]Officially, the title is the former, but we call it the latter to avoid confusion with the comedian himself.[[/note]] is a sitcom that aired on ABC from 2002 to 2007 starring stand-up comedian Creator/GeorgeLopez, not to be confused with ''Lopez Tonight''.

Noteworthy for being the first American {{sitcom}} with a ''mostly'' Hispanic cast, and, in the final season, an ''all''-Hispanic cast. Also the second longest running show with said cast.

Although it originally aired on ABC, it's more closely associated with Creator/NickAtNite, [[VindicatedByReruns where it aired in syndication from 2007 until 2020 as their highest-rated show]]. There were talks to revive the show in 2016, but nothing came of it.

* PaedoHunt: Subverted. See trope entry.
* PapaWolf:
** George may not be the perfect father when it comes to his daughter, but if Carmen is in danger or seeing someone who might take advantage of her, he won't care if the person he kills is his boss' son.
** He also acts as this in regards to Max and his niece Veronica.
--> '''Vic Palmero:''' You are having a hallucinogenic reaction to ''me.'' I'm in your ''belly.'' Watch me dance.

** Max was always a naive kid and - since the second season - known to be dyslexic, but he became increasingly prone to saying flat-out idiotic things as the show went on and he got older. By the final season he had metamorphosed into a ButtMonkey.

** Unlike her siblings, Angie does not con people, doesn't behave impulsively, stays in the same marriage, and raises her children. Vic and George mention it when Vic talks about how he spoiled his kids rotten, with George pointing out that Angie turned out fine and Vic claiming it to be a miracle.
** George can be this to his brother George II (Lou Diamond Phillips), as George was raised by Benny and had to work hard to where he's at while the other George was raised by two doting parents and in a more prosperous upbringing, yet can't keep control of his finances and seeks to borrow money from his brother.

** Zack Powers is an incredibly unpleasant delinquent, but Mel basically neglects Zack while his mother is a bitter old drunk. However, while he may have had a difficult childhood, getting the principal's daughter pregnant because he didn't respect her enough to be safe, embezzlement of company money, vandalizing his father's factory just to spite him (which nearly gets Benny fired), trying to manipulate Carmen into having sex with him and then running away to San Francisco completely shreds any sympathy. Lampshaded by George, who ''also'' grew up with an absent father and bitter alcoholic mother, yet didn't turn out nearly as bad.

''(George and Angie both react with a silent "YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe" while Benny sheepishly tries to hide her beer)''\\

** Angie has a downplayed version of this trope when she learns about Ricky's unpleasant homelife. Despite pitying Ricky's situation and wanting to help him, it doesn't change the fact that he's been a horrible influence on Max and he's done way too much damage to the house to be allowed to stay.

* GoldDigger: George and Angie believe Vic's new fiancée Lindsay is only interested in him because of his money. Their suspicions are proven when Lindsay is caught cheating on Vic.

-->'''Benny''': And every time I cuss in front of those kids, I have to put another dollar in TheSwearJar. Yesterday it cost me twenty flippin' dollars. Listen to me, I sound like a freakin nun.

-->'''Angie''': (''after talking about the possibility that Noah might be in the closet'') Oh I can't imagine what he's feeling!

* GrassIsGreener: George applies for another job in a small town in Colorado. He really wants to go, believing that a small town would be a better place to raise his children than LA. However, when we get there, we see that the kids have [[SmallTownBoredom literally nothing else to do]] but drink underage, have sex and get into trouble.

* HardTruthAesop: The show gives the moral that sometimes bullying can get so bad, you have to get away from the situation. Carmen was called a whore at her first high school, due to her ex-boyfriend telling everyone that they had sex. George and Angie get the leader of the bullies suspended, and get the ex-boyfriend to tell the truth. However, the episode ends with Carmen ''still'' getting bullied (and ''groped''), and George and Angie making the conclusion that Carmen can never get her reputation back, and that she must leave the school. Unfortunately, all of this is TruthInTelevision.

** Mentioned every episode. Usually Benny says something about how much she hugged George and then George would say something like "That was when you were drunk!"
** Not just his childhood. TheTag for one episode was Benny serving up a plate of ice-cream, but letting the dog have a shot at it first. "George! Your ice cream is ready!"
*** This was actually in revenge for George serving her a steak that had fallen on the lawn and been licked by the dog. Though George actually admitted that the dog licked it when asked, to which Benny responded, "I've fed you worse, medium rare."

** In one episode, Max and Carmen anger George when Carmen signs up for an expensive cell phone plan so she could get an advanced phone model and Max carelessly breaks his toy trucks under the assumption his parents will just buy him more. In an effort to show them just how lucky they are to have a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, he forces them to spend the weekend at his mother's house and see what his poverty-stricken childhood was like.
** This is exactly why Veronica's late mother chose George as the executor of her will. She knew all too well that her own wealthy, spoiled family would squander her wealth and be unable to teach Veronica any sort of financial responsibility. That's why she chose middle-class, hardworking George to manage things and teach Veronica responsibility.
** Downplayed with Vic, who openly acknowledges this trope. Having endured an impoverished childhood in Fidel Castro's Cuba, once he made it to America and became wealthy, he gave his kids everything they wanted so they wouldn't have to live the horrible childhood he did. As he puts it, it "destroyed" his son who became rotten, entitled and a complete asshole. Vic admits he has no idea how Angie grew up to be a kind, down-to-earth woman with how he spoiled his children, and for this reason admits George is a better father than him.

* IncompatibleOrientation: Subverted in "What George Doesn't Noah". Carmen brings home what seems to be the perfect boyfriend, Noah, after dating bad boy Zack. George and Benny spy on Noah and find him with another man in a movie theater. [[spoiler: Turns out Carmen was using Noah as a cover up so she could still see Zack.]]
* ImportantHaircut: George between the first and third seasons had long hair until he had to do a speech presentation for then American president George Bush, although it was a minor change. He does get a short hairstyle after that, and kept it for the remainder of the series.

** Everyone gets in a moment or two over the course of the series, but special mention has to go to Benny whose social and child-raising skills border on [[ComedicSociopathy sociopathic]]. Apparently this is because Benny's parents are even worse, they physically abused her and are strongly implied to be the [[FreudianExcuse main reason for Benny's mistreatment of George]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Zack Powers may seem like the rebel with the heart of gold type, considering his terrible childhood. But it is all just an act to make Carmen have sex with him. He is probably the closest thing the show has to an actual antagonist. Thankfully he's not in the series for very long.

** Max continuously tries to flirt with Veronica, who is his first cousin. George himself gets [[{{Squick}} squicked]] out by this even though its pretty much one-sided.
** Also Vic has kissed both Benny and Linda. However, Vic is not blood related to Benny or Linda. Max and Veronica ''are'' blood related.

* LIsForDyslexia: Max. Almost every episode after he is diagnosed talks about it. George allegedly has it too, but his is not as severe as Max's.

** In another episode, Benny considers [[FanDisservice wearing her jeans low like Carmen does]] to attract boys. Then the phone rings.

* DisproportionateRetribution: A joke in one episode has Carmen over hear Angie saying she wants "her" out of the house and think she's talking about her for scratching the car. Subverted in that she was actually talking about Veronica.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: When Angie discovers that a sexual predator was living in the neighborhood, George riles up the entire neighborhood to confront the predator. The minute they discover the predator is a woman, everyone stops caring and goes home.
** In the defense of the mob, the woman A: ''[[TheAtoner Listed herself]]'' on the sexual predator site they found her on and B: had already done her prison time for it.
** Averted by Angie herself, who is adamant about trying to convince everyone that what the woman did was wrong, then later by George, when he becomes frightened when he sees Max come out of the woman's house.

** The Palmero family isn't clean either. Angie's mom cheated on Vic after years of marriage. Vic tongue-wrestled with Benny while drunk, and then tried to enter into a relationship with George's sister, who is in her thirties. Angie's sister Gloria has been very hopeless in finding a relationship, and was desperate enough to kiss George. Angie's brother Ray grew up to be manipulative con artist. Her niece Veronica is completely spoiled. And it's implied that the reason Veronica's mother Claudia made George the trustee to Veronica's inheritance was because she found the rest of the family to be poor role models.

** It's also jarring to see the early episodes where Vic hates George and they have a very strained relationship, when Vic later becomes a regular on the show and he and George, although still snarky at each other, have a much better relationship.

** "Girl Fight": Sometimes the best solution to bullying is to run away from the problem, which doubles as a HardTruthAesop, because your actions have zero effect on [[KidsAreCruel mean kids who won't change]]. Even though George and Angie get the leader of Carmen's tormentors suspended for bullying and have her ex-boyfriend admit she never slept with him, her classmates ''still'' see her as whore, are mad at her for wronging the popular girls, and simply [[KickTheDog enjoy bullying her]]. Their only solution is to send her to a private school for a fresh start. Per this trope, it is, unfortunately, TruthInTelevision for many kids when their bullies simply ''won't'' stop.
** One episode has the moral that{{positive discrimination}} is bad and it's wrong to profit off of it. George is offered a major position at a big company... but only because he's Latino. Where the anvil dropping really comes into play is that the man offering him the position is black and talks about the process with a great deal of familiarity, suggesting he built his career from being a minority and competent at best - ''not'' actually being the most qualified for the job. George realizes they don't actually need him and could replace him with any Latino they wanted.

** In one episode, Angie works a booth for Carmen's school fair as a last-minute fill-in at a dunk tank. After doing the tank, a photo spreads online and at Camen's school of her getting out of the tank in a wet, see-through t-shirt, having been anonymously posted, infuriating her. When the person turns out to be Jason's younger, wheelchair-bound brother, Angie initially pretends to forgive him because he's in a wheelchair. Jason then tells her that just because he can't walk, it doesn't give him a free pass in life, especially given his actions publicly humiliated her.

** Zack Powers is introduced by buying Carmen a necklace and is portrayed as a sympathetic guy. Over several episodes, he's gradually revealed to be a ManipulativeBastard who sees Carmen as a sex object, even bluntly telling George his relationship with his daughter will be over "when Carmen gets out of bed to make [him] a sandwich".

* TheBeard: In "What Goerge Doesn't Noah.." Carmen dates a gay boy named Noah to cover up [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys her real relationship with Zack]]. George and Benny catch Noah at the movies and see him kiss a boy, assuming he's cheating on Carmen while using her as a cover. They ultimately discover he isn't actually dating Carmen and what she was really doing.

* BigBad: Zack Powers for a critical arc for Carmen. He's a misogynist, sex-crazed {{Jerkass}} who just wants to have sex with Carmen. What's worse, is she ''refuses'' to believe he's a bad guy; outright saying her parents just want to ruin her romance and that they're "in love." He even convinces her to run away with him, taking her to a hotel and dumping her a club when she refuses to sleep with him. It's only after this she realizes her parents were right.

** Zack Powers has done a lot of shit over the years, largely because of his apathetic father. After sneaking off with Carmen, then ditching her in San Francisco when she refused to have sex with him, he's attacked by a [[MamaBear very angry Benny]]. While we don't actually see it, we hear him howl in pain and Benny mentions directly after that Zach was "in a terrible accident".
** Vic and the rest of the Palmero family sneer at George and think of him as little more than a low-class cholo who's beneath them. Their jaw-dropping shock when Claudia picks George to be the trustee of Veronica's ''very'' large trust fund (specifically because he's hardworking and "knows the value of money") is ''priceless''.

* BrokenAesop: Subverted in-universe, George decides to show Max why he needs to do well in school by giving him a job in the plant. This backfires, because Max decides that he likes it and thinks that he should just drop out and take the job because he's not smart enough to finish school anyway. George toys with letting him drop out and start working there, but then has a [[FlashForward vision]] showing a 50 year old Max having no other options after the entire plant is replaced by robots. He then decides to show Max how bad working at the plant can be by showing him how much the workers freak out when there is even a [[spoiler:turns out to be actually true]] rumor of the plant closing.

* CallingTheOldManOut: George frequently does this to his mother, but one episode he finally tracks down his long-lost father who abandoned them and punches him out. George's mother is happy at this and even George's boss approves of this action.

** Both played straight and viciously subverted - George is impulsive and cynical, but more of a realist, while Angie was more sensible but idealistic and naive: when her sensibility goes up against his street smarts a favorite gag for the show to use is for her to initially win out, only for her reasonable solution to be nowhere near effective and for George to be right all along.
** The show tried to imply that Angie would ''normally'' be right, like the time they both wanted to get rid of an offensive statue in a neighbor's yard. Her strongly worded letter and petition to the Neighborhood Watch succeeded where George's idea of smashing it to pieces didn't (the neighbor simply bought more.) However, the majority of the time that Angie's argument failed was when she tried to get George and his mom to be closer and more loving. She grew up in a more well-off, traditional family, and had trouble accepting that some families (like George and Benny) were simply screwed-up beyond repair.

* ConflictBall: George briefly moving out of the house in Season 5 is instigated by Benny repeatedly being disrespectful to George after she moves into his home after hers burns down and Angie refusing to believe him as Benny pretends to be a kindly old woman whenever she's around, a concept that only happens in this story arc since Benny is normally just as mean to Angie as she is to George.

** In the episode before the finale, George states that Ernie doesn't know to take care of kids, despite Ernie watched Max in one episode and took care of Ricky in the few. He was even taking care of 3 kids for a woman he was dating.

* CruelToBeKind: One episode features George holding a grudge against Benny for not letting him drive her car when he was a teenager. Benny admits that she did this since she didn't want George wrecking the car. That alone could've screwed them since Benny was already working two jobs at that time. But she was afraid he could potentially drive the wrong way and die because of his dyslexia.

* ADayInTheLimelight: George is TheProtagonist and Benny is arguably the {{Deuteragonist}}, but most episodes focus specifically on one character while the rest of the cast takes a backseat. Thus, every important character has at least a few episodes devoted towards them.

** The show is made in 16:9, but cropped to 4:3 for viewers who don't have widescreen televisions. This is jarring in recent reruns (unless you're watching in HD) still used the 4:3 format. Even the first three seasons on disc still have the fullframe version. Fortunately the Amazon and iTunes versions are in 16:9.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking In one episode, when Max tries to upgrade the computer but breaks it, Angie says that it contained all her business files, photos of the family's vacation, and a journal containing her private thoughts.

* AxesAtSchool: One episode had a student bring a gun to Max's school. The incident occurred offscreen, with the episode instead focusing on the psychological effects that the experience had on Max
* BackToSchool: George goes back to school after there is a PTA meeting specifically targeted at parents who didn't go to college. Max decides he doesn't need to go either so George wants to teach him a lesson. In the next episode, George drops out and tells the teacher he was in the military and got sent to Iraq. HilarityEnsues.

** Zack Powers is introduced buying Carmen a necklace, and is a portrayed a sympathetic, but likable, guy. Over several episodes, he's gradually revealed to be a manipulative brat who sees Carmen as just another sex toy.
** Benny said her mom was an abusive tyrant to her. When he finally meet her, she is portrayed a stern woman with some understandable reasons to be annoyed with Benny, but who is convinced by George to help her. Then when she gets on the stand, she uses it to put Benny down in an epically cruel fashion, showing she is as heartless as Benny made her out to be.

* TheBeard: In "What Goerge Doesn't Noah.." Carmen dates a gay boy named Noah to cover up her actual relationship with troublemaker Zack. George and Benny catch Noah at the movies with a boy and assume he is cheating on Carmen. They ultimately discover he isn't actually dating Carmen.

* BigBad: Zack Powers for a critical arc for Carmen. He's a misogynist, sex-crazed pig who just wants to have sex with Carmen and tries to do so when he convinces her to run away from her.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: George, while staying at Ernie's during a feud with Angie, realizes how horrible his situation is when he witnesses how Ernie must spend most of his free time helping care for his morbidly obese mother. Ernie refuses to move out due to feeling guilty about no longer being around to help his mother. George counters that while Ernie is doing good by helping, her condition is still not his responsibility, and that professional medical help should be called in for her serious situation. George also points out that even though Ernie's parents will be mad at him for leaving, Ernie will never be able to fully come into his own as a grown man as long as he stays a glorified live-in nurse for his mother.

* BreadEggsMilkSquick: In "Curious George". Carmen, Angie and Benny are talking about why men suck. Carmen says that her ex Duncan was a jerk, Angie says that her first boyfriend dumped her for someone with bigger boobs and Benny says that her first boyfriend knifed her and stole her car.
** In one episode where Benny meets Manny's wife, Lydia, she says that Benny was the first person to dance with Manny, the first person he married, the first person to pull a knife on him.

** George when compare to his disappearing father Manny and abusive mother Benny. Many episodes deal with George making the same mistakes his mother made, I.e. not giving Max help with his dyslexia or not believing that Carmen can make it into college, and correcting them in the end.
** Downplayed with Benny. While she was abusive towards George, she does genuinely loves him and did the best at raising him. In contrast, her father was an alcoholic abuser and her mother considers her worthless.

** Zack Powers has done a lot of shit over the years, largely because of his neglectful father. After sneaking off with Carmen, then ditching her in San Francisco, he's attacked by a [[MamaBear very angry Benny]].
** Vic and the rest of the Palmero family sneer at George and think of him as little more than a cholo. Their shock when Claudia picks George to be the trustee of Veronica's trust fund is priceless.

** "Girl Fight": Sometimes the best solution to bullying is to run away from the problem, which doubles as a HardTruthAesop. Even though George and Angie get the leader of Carmen's bullies suspended and get her boyfriend to admit she hadn't slept with him, the people in her class still think she is a whore and are now mad at her for wronging the popular kids. Their only solution is to send her to private school. Per this trope, it is unfortunately TruthInTelevision.
** One episode has the moral that{{positive discrimination}} is bad and it is wrong to profit off of it. George is offered an important position at a company but only because he's Latino. Where the anvil dropping really comes into play is that the man offering him the position is black and talks about the whole process with a great deal of familiarity, suggesting he himself built his entire career out of being a minority and merely competent rather than actually being the best man for the job. George reasons they don't really want or need him and could just replace him with any Latino if they wanted.
** Another episode has George calling out those who commit injustices against Middle Eastern people in America. A Middle Eastern coworker is seen by his other employees as suspicious and untrustworthy simply because of his ethnicity, even by people who have gone through prejudice. And then Powers decides that he should do office work instead of plane construction because he didn't want to lose a deal because of the prejudice of Middle Eastern people being involved with planes.
** One episode has a photo of Angie in a wet, white t-shirt spread online by an unknown person, infuriating her. When the person turns out to be Jason's younger, wheelchair bound brother, Angie initially pretends to forgive him because of him being in a wheelchair. Jason then tells her that just because he can't walk doesn't give a him a free pass to do whatever he wants.
* AesopAmnesia: "George Helps Ernie See the Cellu-light" averts this and plays it straight. Ernie is gaining weight and eating too much so women will reject him before he can say anything, due to his life long fear of rejection. Ernie does lose weight throughout the rest of the series after keeping off the weight he needs to keep his job. At the end, he asks a girl out and she says yes. In future episodes despite the weight loss, Ernie still has a tough time with women.
** George went through this. He didn't learn anything from his time at high school. In college, he continues to try to get by through being the class clown and he never asks the teacher for any help.
* AllAbusersAreMale: Subverted in "George Joins the Neighborhood Wha-tcha and Raises the Vigil-ante". The neighborhood watch learns that a registered sex offender named [[GenderBlenderName Cris Watson]] has moved into the neighborhood. They form a mob outside the person's house and are surprised to discover them as a woman -- not a man.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tropes N-Z]]
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: In "Profiles In Courage", the Powers Brothers fear that an Arab employee Hosni will jeopardize their chance at a government contract. They order George to demote him. When George protests against this, the brothers inform him that if they lose the contract they will have to lay off twenty people forcing George to make the difficult decision of demoting Hosni.

** Angie has a downplayed version of this trope when she learns about Ricky's unpleasant homelife. Despite pitying Ricky's situation and wanting to help him, it doesn't the fact that he's been a horrible influence on Max and has done way too much damage to the house to be allowed to stay.

* RealityEnsues: In season 2 episode 13, Carmen breaks up with her boyfriend Adam and gets slandered by him as a result. George and Angie end up getting involved after Carmen gets dragged into a fight with a group of mean girls and is punished for defending herself. Despite all their efforts to force the school officials to take action and make Adam confess that he lied about her, Carmen still ends up having to transfer schools because [[TeensAreMonsters her classmates continue to bully her]].

Although it originally aired on ABC, it's more closely associated with Creator/NickAtNite, where it aired in syndication for many years as their highest-rated show. There were talks to revive the show in 2016, but nothing came of it.

Although it originally aired on ABC, it's more closely associated with Creator/NickAtNite, where it aired in syndication for many years. There were talks to revive the show in 2016, but nothing came of it.

There were talks to revive the show in 2016, but nothing came of it.

** Zack Powers is an incredibly unpleasant delinquent, but Mel basically neglects Zack while his mother is a bitter old drunk. However, while he may have had a difficult childhood, getting the principal's daughter pregnant because he didn't respect her enough to be safe, embezzlement of company money, vandalizing his father's factory just to spite him (which nearly gets Benny fired), trying to manipulate Carmen into having sex with him and then running away to San Francisco completely shreds any sympathy. Lampshaded by George, who ''also'' [[NotSoDifferent grew up with an absent father and bitter alcoholic mother]], yet didn't turn out nearly as bad.