In 2000 following a screening of the new Nickelodeon sitcom "The Brothers García," creator and show runner Jeff Valdez recalled a 13-year-old Latina shouting in front of the studio audience that she finally found a show that confirmed she was "normal."
More than 20 years later, he still lives by those words, Valdez told NBC News.
Valdez and fellow executive producer Sol Trujillo are betting on the success of the story around three boys — Larry, Carlos and George — and their sister, Lorena, growing up in San Antonio, with a series reboot, “The Garcías,” premiering Thursday on HBO Max.
In "The Garcías," the children are grown up and the extended family — including spouses and grandchildren — are on vacation at their beach house in Mexico.
The earlier show ran for four seasons and was groundbreaking as an English-language television sitcom with an all-Latino cast and creative team.
Two decades later, six cast members from the original series have joined the new show: Ada Maris, Carlos Lacámara, Alvin Alvarez, Jeffrey Licon, Bobby Gonzalez and Vaneza Pitynski.
“All my efforts, the 10 years that it took to make this spinoff, I’m just trying to create a sense of normalcy," Valdez said. “The cast is 82 percent Latino, and 18 percent Asian and Pacific Islander — but 100 percent of them are positive characters.”
When discussing the frequently mentioned recent study out of UCLA that found that only 7.7 percent of overall film acting roles went to Latinos, Valdez noted that “what people are not pointing out is that most of those roles are associated with crime, they are either the criminal or the cop. Comedy is almost invisible.”
Bobby Gonzalez, who reprises his role as George García, recounts his audition experiences after "The Brothers García."
“I tried to get work in the film and TV industry, but it was difficult because the only roles I was being sent out for were for convicts, ex-convicts, drug dealers. And I can play those roles, but I’m no one’s first pick because I’m just goofy," he said. "I would be yelling at a guy and doing all sorts of things for these types of roles, and immediately after the scene ended, I would be apologizing, ‘I’m so sorry, that was the part, not me, of course,’ and revert to my goofy self. So, when I would leave the room, they were all like, ‘Oh this guy is not much of a bad guy,' so I wouldn’t book the role.”
Vaneza Pitynski said she returned to the world of the Garcías because she loves “being Lorena."
"Those are the kind of characters I would like to play, as long as they have a strong message about powerful Latinas empowering other women. You get to watch these young women grow into adult women and that is so inspiring," she said. "Now Lorena has a son, and a husband who serves in the Army, which is all very relatable.”
Pitynski would like to stay involved in comedy. “I want to keep making people laugh. I think the world needs more lighthearted shows. After you watch each episode, you’re not riddled with anxiety, you’re not stressed. The show es como un abrazo," like a hug, she said.
Valdez stressed the show strives not only for a positive message around a Latino family, but cultural authenticity, saying all the writers on the show are of Latino heritage.
"Literally, every character in my show was based on somebody I know, they are real, multi-dimensional people," Valdez said. "Basically, every scene in the show is about our lives."
“I just want to make a show that people love and are entertained by, but we also have to address the reality that this should not be the last of these shows. We should be making 20 more shows like these, because guess what, we’ll watch them,” Valdez said emotionally. “Our intention was love, kindness, and joy.”
Valdez has words of advice for up-and-coming writers and filmmakers. “Write what you love and talk about your real life. Don’t make things up. And if you don’t like the word ‘no’ then you are in the absolute wrong business. You are going to get a thousand no's before you get one yes. It’s a very unpredictable business and it’s even harder when you are Latino because people put you in a box. You have to be tenacious.”
Valdez recounted that when they recently screened "The Garcías" for a group of Latino film students at USC and UCLA, one of the young people said that every time he saw a boy "who looked like me" the character was always in distress and the mom just got raped or killed or the father was arrested or shot crossing the border. The young man didn't want to see himself on TV because it was too "painful."
But after watching the screening, the college student's response was that he saw a young man who was funny, charming, and knew how to cook. "'I just started to love that little boy — that was me again,’” the young man said, Valdez shared with a smile.
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