User reviews

In the 70s and early 80s, Norman Lear was a sitcom king, producing hit shows such as All in the Family, Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons. But in 1984, he produced a sitcom that missed the mark a.k.a. Pablo.

The show was about a Mexican-American comic Paul (Pablo) Rivera, played by stand up comedian Paul Rodriguez and his large family. His parents, Domingo and Rosa Maria were played by veteran actors Joe Santos and Katy Jurado. Santos, who also appeared on The Rockford Files was very straightforward to his show business son "I don't like jokes about Mexicans." Jurado was in several movies and was rarely seen in sitcoms but she handled the mom role well. Other notable names were Alma Cuervo as his sister Sylvia and Hector Elizondo as Paul's manager Jose.

There was one episode I remember where Paul got in trouble with his family for making jokes about them. A similar plot also turned up almost 30 years later on The Bernie Mac Show when Bernie's family detested his jokes about them. In another episode, there was one scene I remember where the Riveras were listening to Vin Scully call a Dodger game when Fernando Valenzuela was pitching. They were cheering on the Dodger pitcher who was born in their native Mexico.

IMHO, t was one of the few sitcoms before The George Lopez show to have a predominantly Hispanic cast. Unfortunately, the Latin humor in the show was too controversial and ABC said "Adios!" to a.k.a. Pablo after only six episodes. Not one of Lear's successful shows.

As tended to be the case when standups got their own sitcoms, working their old material into storylines suitable for filming just doesn't work out very well and this was no exception. As funny as Paul Rodriguez was at the time, the watered-down prime time version of him fell flat and the networks weren't as desperate for ratings as they were when they decided to give Seinfeld multiple chances to prove itself.

That said, it was still the first time I can remember hearing anyone on television speaking Spanish as a kid and I think it's important not to dismiss it even if it failed utterly. Yeah, we all knew not everyone in the cast was actually Mexican and we all knew this wasn't really an accurate portrayal of anything by a longshot, but when you came from a Spanish speaking household yourself and were sometimes ostracized from grade school society as a result, it still struck a nerve. I'm glad it got made even if it sucked.