Posted 5/8/2005 10:56 PM

Lopez sitcom to deal with teens, steroids
By Amanda Shank, USA TODAY

Steroids, dominating the sports news, will be addressed seriously this week on George Lopez's sitcom.

Bruce Helford, executive producer of George Lopez, said the story line of high school athletes using steroids is important in light of recent congressional hearings into the use of steroids in Major League Baseball and the NFL.

"My 12-year-old is in Little League, and he is already talking about wanting to work out and build up his body," Helford said. "I think that what is going on is that everyone in football seems to be considerably bigger than they were. Even these quarterbacks today are enormous. So everyone feels they have to up their physical stature. There is a huge demand for young athletes to bulk up."

Tuesday's episode (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC) revolves around Jason, the boyfriend of George's 15-year-old daughter and a three-sport varsity athlete being scouted by colleges for football and baseball. When the boy moves in with the family after his parents move overseas, George discovers he is using steroids. George confronts Jason's father, who says he supplied his son, hoping it would increase his chances of playing at the college level. George takes matters into his own hands and convinces Jason, played by actor Bryan Fisher, that he needs to become a better athlete the "old school" way, by bodybuilding without the aid of supplements.

Helford, who previously worked on Roseanne and The Drew Carey Show, said he doesn't like doing "issue shows," but he hopes this episode will motivate families to discuss steroids.

"If one parent talks to one kid and discusses this intelligently, that's fantastic," he said. "One of the wonderful things about a sitcom is you are laughing along with it. It can be effective without being preachy."