"George Lopez" vs. "All in the Family"

Not many features have changed about the concepts of comedy family sitcoms since the 70's. Like "All in the Family", contemporary family sitcoms are generally focused on family controversies related to what is going on in society at that point in time. A good example of  a family comedy sitcom that could fairly relate to "All in the Family" is my all time favorite "George Lopez." This contemporary family comedy is about a an over protective and loving father, attempting to deal with his dysfunctional family along with other random mishaps. Like in "All in the Family", "George Lopez" is about a working class family and the protagonist for both is the man of the family, the father. Another similarity they have is the role of the wives, in both shows the wife is portrayed as sweet and supportive women who are by the husband's side and do not have much of an input in conversations. In both shows the men of the family almost never agree with the decisions of some of their family members, which often only gives the family more avidity to do what they want. The setting in both shows is similar, both families live in a spacious two story house and the majority of the scenes take place in either the family room or in the kitchen. I also noticed that both shows consist of a character with a strong personality that often cause disputes withing the family; in "George Lopez" it would be Benny, George's mother and from "All in the family" it would be Michael Stivic (meathead.)

"All in the Family" and "George Lopez" also have many differences, considering "All in the Family" is from the 1970's while "George lopez" is from 2002. First off, in "All in the Family" the only characters are the mother, the father, the daughter, and the son in law; while in "George Lopez" you have the parents, a daugher, a son, the fathers best friend, and a grandmother (fathers mom.) Also the type of humor is quiet different. In the more modern comedy, the humor is not as obvious where as in the older comedy, humor is more appearant and it is more about the actions of a character rather than the words. The way both shows were shot is another difference. In "All in the Family" everything involved with the shooting format was much more simple while in "George Lopez" the camera moves a lot more and captures more angles.

Both shows are based around every day issues but they are not necessarily pertained to the same subject matters; and both families deal with them in a different way. For example, the episode of "All in the Family" we saw focused on homosexuality and how the family had different view points about it. Archie, the father, had a hard time accepting homosexuality while George from "George Lopez" had no problem with it and it was not as big of a deal to his family (maybe because since the 70's there has been some progress in society concerning that subject.) Therefore,  "All in the Family" deals with more intense topics that directly affect society such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, miscarriage, breast cancer, menopause and impotence; where as "George Lopez" is pure comedy and the issues that come up are more family oriented.

The transition from the 70's to 2000 in shows is not quiet as obvious but there are some differences. The issues they dealt with then are issues we still encounter today.