It’s official… George Lopez is returning to sitcom television.
The 51-year-old Mexican American comedian and actor will star in the FX series Saint George.
Lopez will be portraying a successful engineer with a demanding ex-wife and an overbearing mother, as well as an 11-year-old son and an uncle.
The “Saint” part of the series’ name stems from his character’s new role as a philanthropist; he likes “giving back” by teaching history weekly at night school.
Saint George was created by Lopez and his producing partners Matt Williams and David McFadzean.
Under the deal, FX has given an initial 10-episode order to the project. If it meets pre-set ratings thresholds over the 10-episode run, the network will order an additional 90-episode pickup, the way it did last year with Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management sitcom.
The new show will reflect Lopez’s “no-holds-barred comedic take on the tensions surrounding race, class, sex and family life in Los Angeles through the eyes of a man straddling two separate cultures,” said Lionsgate Television’s president Kevin Beggs.
It’s Lopez’s first starring role in a sitcom since his ABC series George Lopez, which ended in 2007. It aired for six seasons and 120 episodes; and it has enjoyed a strong afterlife in syndication. A decade after its ABC premiere, the show continues to perform well in primetime on cable, Nick at Nite and a Spanish-language version on MTV Tr3s, as well as the afternoon in broadcast syndication.