ABC Family network sounds like it should offer Disney-wholesome fare, like the Hallmark Channel. And indeed, it's owned by Disney. But although Disney's contract with the original owners requires that they air the right-wing fundamentalist '700 Club' at least twice a day, the rest of the programming is far more varied. The newest show is a summer series called "The Fosters." In many ways, it sounds like a standard wholesome TV show. A couple, conveniently named the Fosters, is raising a collection of kids--adopted, foster, and in one case the biological son of one of the Fosters. And in its opening episode, it sounds like a Hallmark Channel show: all the kids have various troubles which the parents work hard at helping them solve. The catch--and it's a great one--is that the Fosters are a loving, happy, hard-working lesbian couple. So far, we haven't seen the Foster moms in bed or even in heavy kiss-reasonable for a pair with fulltime jobs and seen always surrounded by a bunch of kids. At the same time, they don't come off as your average straight couple in semi-drag. For one thing, they're biracial as well as gay. For another, there's a slight but definite sexual chemistry between them.
The opening episode plot itself was fairly unoriginal, but the acting was good, and it will be interesting to see how the show plays out over the summer. ABC is predictably getting furious letters from the right-wing groups pushing ''family values,'' which are presumably being destroyed by this pleasant depiction of good, happy lesbians creating family for battered and abandoned kids. I think the rest of us should watch and support the show. It's as good as 90 percent of network television, and certainly there's no other network where the heroes are a biracial lesbian couple. That is very original--and very important.
The opening episode plot itself was fairly unoriginal, but the acting was good, and it will be interesting to see how the show plays out over the summer. ABC is predictably getting furious letters from the right-wing groups pushing ''family values,'' which are presumably being destroyed by this pleasant depiction of good, happy lesbians creating family for battered and abandoned kids. I think the rest of us should watch and support the show. It's as good as 90 percent of network television, and certainly there's no other network where the heroes are a biracial lesbian couple. That is very original--and very important.
1 comment:
Coming from a lesbian I want to note that ABC Family has had many shows with LGB characters - maybe the letters are coming from the standpoint of people (which is becoming a more mainstream belief) that think it is ok for a gay/lesbian/bi sidekick,friend,sibling,etc - just not an actual gay couple, especially as parents - more especially with the "unwanted" kids - those kids most would rather have them continue to be "unwanted" or possibly in homes where they might be physically or sexually abused than in a lovely gay home - because are cultural is getting more accepting of gays as long as we don't let them recruit more. I DO respect ABC Family - for all their shows.
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