"Lopez Tonight" debuts on TBS
Juan Cisneros
Issue date: 11/18/09 Section: The Edge
"Lopez Tonight" is the new late night talk show on TBS hosted by George Lopez. The show premiered last week and had impressive ratings, averaging 1.6 million viewers in its first week and peaking on Wednesday with just over two million viewers.
While these numbers are nice, that doesn't answer the question of whether it is worth watching. So I took the liberty of viewing the show's first week to decide for myself.
"Lopez Tonight" has an enormous set with a dance club look to it and has a greater party atmosphere when compared to some other late night talk shows. The band, though, is more on par with what you'd expect from a late-night talk show.
Its first week included high profile guests like Eva Longoria Parker, Kobe Bryant, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah and Larry David. Foxx did a dance contest that he usually does during his concerts and was pretty funny, as was David when he was on the show. David joked about how he didn't want to participate and how he was obligated because Lopez was on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." David also found out he was 37 percent Native American after an entertaining DNA test.
As funny as guests can be, what really makes a show is the person you see every night. Odds are you're only going to like "Lopez Tonight" if you're a fan of Lopez himself. If you're familiar with his standup, you already know what to expect in his monologues. If you expect the family comedy of his sitcom, then you're in for a big surprise.
Lopez is raunchy and pretty offensive. That should be no surprise to anyone since the show is on at 10 p.m. and the fact that it's on cable gives it more leeway than other talk shows.
Some may say this is nitpicking, but I noticed some small mistakes throughout the show, particularly in the editing department. The show is recorded and I noticed some cuts that were a bit jumpy. They also missed explicit words a few times as well.
So the question still remains - is "Lopez Tonight" good? And the answer is yes, it is pretty good. I wouldn't say it's much better than the tonight shows that are already on the air, but it's definitely a nice alternative from the same old David Lettermans and Jay Lenos we've come to expect.
While these numbers are nice, that doesn't answer the question of whether it is worth watching. So I took the liberty of viewing the show's first week to decide for myself.
"Lopez Tonight" has an enormous set with a dance club look to it and has a greater party atmosphere when compared to some other late night talk shows. The band, though, is more on par with what you'd expect from a late-night talk show.
Its first week included high profile guests like Eva Longoria Parker, Kobe Bryant, Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah and Larry David. Foxx did a dance contest that he usually does during his concerts and was pretty funny, as was David when he was on the show. David joked about how he didn't want to participate and how he was obligated because Lopez was on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." David also found out he was 37 percent Native American after an entertaining DNA test.
As funny as guests can be, what really makes a show is the person you see every night. Odds are you're only going to like "Lopez Tonight" if you're a fan of Lopez himself. If you're familiar with his standup, you already know what to expect in his monologues. If you expect the family comedy of his sitcom, then you're in for a big surprise.
Lopez is raunchy and pretty offensive. That should be no surprise to anyone since the show is on at 10 p.m. and the fact that it's on cable gives it more leeway than other talk shows.
Some may say this is nitpicking, but I noticed some small mistakes throughout the show, particularly in the editing department. The show is recorded and I noticed some cuts that were a bit jumpy. They also missed explicit words a few times as well.
So the question still remains - is "Lopez Tonight" good? And the answer is yes, it is pretty good. I wouldn't say it's much better than the tonight shows that are already on the air, but it's definitely a nice alternative from the same old David Lettermans and Jay Lenos we've come to expect.
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