Pop Culture Planet Podcast: The Brothers Garcia Continue To Break Down Latino Stereotypes In New HBO Max Series
The Pop Culture Planet podcast is back for season 3 — with a full house!
The cast of the groundbreaking Nickelodeon show The Brothers Garcia join Kristen Maldonado on the Pop Culture Planet season 3 premiere to discuss their new HBO Max reboot The Garcias and how they continue to spread Latino joy.
Episode Quotes
Bobby Gonzalez on reuniting with the original cast: “When we did the original series, we really did just feel like family. I call Carlos Lacámara ‘fake dad’ or ‘dad’ depending on the circumstance. I still call Vaneza [Pitynski] ‘sis’ and she calls me ‘brother bear.’ We had that sense of family and so coming back it just felt like we had a long vacation and then the family's back together — and then the family got bigger.”
Trinity Jo-Li Bliss on narrating the new series: “I really enjoyed being the narrator and I think it fits Alexa's character. When she narrates you feel like she's talking to you while she paints the picture. [I was] also very lucky to have one of my songs in the series. It's called “Paradise” and [it’s] about being with the person you love […] which I think really fits with what drives The Garcias.”
Nitzia Chamo on celebrating her heritage: “We shot in Mexico so finally I'm embracing the fact that I'm Mexican, Mexican-American. That's a superpower. We speak two languages or more and we have the honor to share everything that make us unique.”
Bobby Gonzalez on Latino identity: “I constantly have had to struggle my entire life [with] am I Cuban, am I Cuban-American, or am I American? I don't know because depending on who I ask, depending on where I am in the country, where I am in the world that answer might change for people. Identity is something that's really important for us. I feel like as a child of immigrants identity is something that we struggle with. Something that we really wanted to push forward in the show is you're all of it. You're everything, you're everything under the sun. You get to claim all of that and that's who you are. You are whatever you want to be.”
Jeffrey Licon looks back at his audition for The Brothers Garcia: “I remember walking into the audition originally and asking, ‘Would you like an accent with my reading?’ [Showrunner] Jeff [Valdez] asked, ‘Do you have an accent?’ and I said, ‘No, but, you know, he's a Hispanic character. He was like, ‘Well, then no. I don't want an accent then if you don't have one.’ From that point on I just knew this was going to be different.”
Vaneza Pitynski on how the show celebrates Latino joy: “It's a loving show with a very positive Hispanic portrayal. Nobody is being deported. There's not anything that is triggering for people. It's just about a family that loves each other, works really hard, and wants to be successful. That is something that we all need, especially [in] the Latino community right now.”
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Hosted by TV and film critic Kristen Maldonado, Pop Culture Planet is a video podcast featuring analytical pop culture discussions and interviews with diverse voices in the entertainment space. Watch episodes on youtube.com/kaymaldo or listen on your favorite podcast platforms, from Spotify to Apple Podcasts and beyond.
