Wolfe vs Creative Limitations

Trouble is brewing in the Lopez household. Again. 

Patriarch George is wrestling with the pitfalls of aging and eternally driving his daughter Mayan nuts. Rosie—Mayan’s mom and George’s ex-wife—sticks her nose into everything. Mayan’s precocious son Chance charms—or manipulates—parents and grandparents alike. Amidst all the usual family zaniness, there’s a wedding to plan, which will inevitably lead to more mayhem. 

Of course, to Lopez vs Lopez creator and showrunner Debby Wolfe, the on-screen chaos that audiences witness is an indication that this “well-oiled machine” of a network comedy is both attracting audiences and resonating with them. The third season of Lopez vs Lopez airs in October on NBC while episodes from seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Netflix. 

Lopez vs Lopez co-creator and showrunner Debby Wolfe and Co-EP Marcos Luevanos. Photo by Nicole Weingart/NBC.

“It’s an overwhelming feeling to know that we’re doing this work that really connects with others,” said Wolfe who created the show with George Lopez and Mayan Lopez. “This show is about a father and daughter—a real father and daughter—that are connecting and healing and growing. Our show is actually opening up conversations in homes where a lot of these topics we’re covering, like sobriety and mental health, are still taboo in our community.”

She points to an upcoming story line about gender bias, the coddling of boys and the marginalization of girls within Latine families and the effect it has on George and Rosie. In its comedic way, the series makes a practice of unpacking George Lopez’s generational trauma. 

“So, we’re telling these stories, and we’re showing a 62-year-old Mexican man who is in therapy,” Wolfe said. “TV is culture-changing and that’s kind of our goal: to open up conversations that need to be had in Latine homes that haven’t been had yet.”

During a recent interview with Written by, Wolfe and series co-EP Marcos Luevanos reflected on the significance of Lopez reaching its third season and on the importance of telling diverse stories. Latine-centered shows have been casualties of studio contraction. That Lopez vs Lopez is still standing and thriving is significant as is Wolfe’s status as the first Latina to create and run a network comedy. 

“I think that there’s a huge lack of representation,” Wolfe said. “Even though we’re a huge percentage of the population, we don’t see that reflected on screen.” 

“You can do everything right like Debby is doing,” agreed Lueavnos. “You can hire a mostly Latino room. You can, against all odds, sell a Latino show and get it on network TV. You can stack your crew with Latino people. You can do everything right and at the end of the day, why is this still the only Latino show on network TV?”

Wolfe has long been searching for an answer to that question. Apart from Que pasa, USA?, a late 1970s series about a Cuban American family, she had never had a show with which she could identify while growing up. Professionally, she worked on a range of Latine series including One Day at a Time and Primo before “making my dream show” with Lopez vs Lopez.

The daughter of a Jewish father and a Salvadoran mother, Wolfe is also pleased that Lopez vs Lopez includes the depiction of a blended family. She also notes that the series’ fans—Latines and non-Latines alike—have grown as they have stuck with the series. 

“It’s like dating when you watch a show. You’re ‘dating’ the show. You want to get to know these characters. ‘Do I like this person or not?’ You need time to figure out if you want to go long-term with them,” Wolfe said. “It’s unfortunate that shows get canceled after one or two seasons before they really have a chance to build their audience.”

Luevanos’s working relationship with Wolfe dates back nearly 15 years. In the early 2010s as she was preparing to enter NBC’s Writers of the Verge TV writers program, Wolfe was looking to connect with Latine comedy writers. She was put in touch with Luevanos who had graduated from the program the previous year. The two hit it off and have been friends ever since. Now on Lopez vs Lopez, Wolfe works alongside the man she calls “my comedy soul mate.”

“We had a similar upbringing, similar trauma,” Wolfe said with a laugh. “I think we really understand each other’s humor. Sometimes Marcos knows what I’m thinking before I say it out loud and vice-versa.”

Lopez vs Lopez co-creator George Lopez and Mayan Lopez at the Latinas Acting Up picket at Warner Bros. on September 15, 2023. Photo by Brittany Woodside.

Like Wolfe, Luevanos had also worked on several Latine-centered shows, but none that had been led by a Latine showrunner.

“It’s always extra special and extra important to have someone like Debby who has the same cultural touchstones that I do, who I don’t have to explain certain things to or try to convince, ‘Hey, this is how we are in our culture,’” said Luevanos. “She just knows.” 

Wolfe very much wants to see the ranks expand. She praises the members of Lopez’s mostly Latine writers’ room, whose careers she makes a point of championing.

“I really want there to be more Latino showrunners. There aren’t a lot, especially in comedy,” she said. “There’s a lack of representation, but there’s also a lack of training. So every writer that I hire on my staff, when it’s their episode, I take them through the entire process with me. I’ll have them go through props and costumes and editing. All the way to the final sound mix, they’re along with me for the ride so they can really produce their own episode.”

“I really don’t want people to stay with me forever,” she added. “I want them to grow and create their own Latino shows.”

It was during her time working on One Day at a Time that Wolfe learned from the series’ co-creators Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce that producing a series “didn’t have to be difficult.” 

“Even the way I watched Gloria and Mike interact with the crew, it was a big family,” Wolfe said. “I’ve tried to recreate that here as best I can. I learned how a show can be run smoothly and how you don’t have to work crazy hours and everyone could be treated with respect.”

Kellett said Wolfe was a “star writer” on One Day at a Time, and the two women developed a couple of unproduced projects after that series ended. Wolfe has brought Kellett to direct several episodes of Lopez vs Lopez. 

“It’s a joy to see her now taking over the world,” Kellett said of Wolfe. “Latinos are 20 percent of this country, and obviously we have an enormous reach and want to see ourselves represented again and again. Hollywood seems to ignore the Latino community, so it makes me really happy that Debby is out there with a show on network TV that’s about a family that happens to be Latino. And I want more.”