IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

Is ABC Family Still Family?

Ashley N. Lewis
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Introduction.
If you were a mother or father of a young child how would you feel if they were
constantly exposed to sex, drugs, STD's, and other adult issues? If you had to worry that when
your child goes to watch TV that one of these will be mentioned and they will be left to you

Comment [A1]: I like the approach you took

with this paper in seeing the controversial topics
that are shown on family networks and how
people blame TV f or the corruption. The
television network is a f orm of communication
and the producers are the ones presenting ideas
and qualities to viewers. If producers were to
make a show that didnt promote pre-marital sex
and the use of drugs then it would have a
different impact on viewers and make family
networks more suitable for f amilies to
watch.(Travis)

asking what the word means, and you're stuck confused and unsure of how to discuss in an age
appropriate manor with them. That is the problem that parents these days now face every time
their children watch TV. This is a something that ten to twenty years ago was never a problem,
even with ABC Family television network that literally has the word family in the network name
are guilty of including these issues in their "family centered" shows.
The ABC Family network was originally launched in the late 1970's.Since the 70's the
network has changed names and owners numerous times, it is now owned by a division of
Disney and has had its name since 2001.Though some of the basics have changed over the years
the basic concept has not, family. It use to air more conservative family sitcoms such as Sabrina
The Teenage Witch, Full House, Step by Step, Family Matters, etc. More recently however the
network has come up with its own original series such as Pretty Little Liars, Fosters, Switched at
Birth, etc. The networks original shows are more focused around problems in society like
premarital sex, drugs, abuse, rape, and murder. Over the years this changing nature of television
sub content is causing both problems and solutions for parents to have to deal with the difficult
subject matter. In this paper I am going to explore the types of problems ABC Family and other

Comment [A2]: Are there any actions

viewers can take in order to change what
networks are broadcasting? How can
someone voice their opinion and get across
to the producers of certain shows that what
they are showing is inappropriate. If so,
what would these actions consist of?
Comment [A3]: Be sure to cite all the
information you found f or your paper. In the
second paragraph, you give good background of
ABC family but it needs to have to source with it.
Just be careful because it could be considered
plagiarism. (Shannon)

Comment [A4]: When you talk about the old

ABC Family shows versus the new ones,
give some brief background about each
show. For example, you could explain how
Full House was a show dedicated family,
and how newer shows are more dedicated to
gossip and drama. By doing this it will help
the reader understand the shows you give
examples of, if by some reason they have
never seen them before. (Gemma)
Comment [A5]: In your introduction, you
say you will talk about TV networks other
than ABC Family. However, you dont really
talk much about other ones, you mainly stay
focused on ABC. Maybe you could give
examples from other networks or even talk
about other movies that bring up such
popular topics such as rape and things like
that. (Shannon)

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

TV networks are causing families to face. In addition I will look at the good it is doing, with
today's fast changing society how they are giving parents to bring up issues and to make their
children understand where they stand and the difference between right and wrong.
Before I review the literature concerning this topic with ABC Family, it is extremely

Comment [A6]: Is there not some sort of

act that states only certain topics can be
discussed or portrayed through different
shows at specific times. Like with the show
Saturday Night Live, which can be vulgar at
some times, but is only shown on NBCs
network at midnight on Saturday nights. If
there are such guidelines and rules, then
how are producers getting around those
guidelines and introducing theses topics
into their shows.

important that I describe my position and how informed I actually am. I grew up watching ABC
Family, I watched it regularly throughout my childhood, I have grown up with the network. I use
to watch Full House every single night during the week, and now as a young adult I continue to
watch their shows. I am an avid watcher of their original series Pretty Little Liars, and in

Comment [A7]: I like how you put yourself

into the paper. The way you described how
you grew up watching shows on ABC
Family, helped me relate to your paper more.
I also like the transition you made and how
you described how ABC Family has
switched its motives in their shows.
(Gemma)

addition to that I use to watch many others such as Secret Life of an American Teenager. As I
grew up with the network I noticed how the content changed and how much they discussed
certain adult issues became more and more common. Since I had a chance to first hand see this
change, it is why I am so personally interested in why and how, and also how in today's world
they continue to try to keep it about family.

Literature Review.
There are seven different ways to write about television now. There is one model in
particular that is the ethical model, and when writing incorporates issues dealing with gender,
race, sexuality, politics, etc. (Holmes 2013). ABC Family has come accustomed to using this
particular writing style in every show on their network now. For my assignment one I went into
detail breaking down the figured world of Pretty Little Liars, which is an ABC Family original
series. I discussed what type of situations are brought up in this figured world, such as rape,
murder, kidnapping. This show is a prime example for how ABC Family has changed and what
exactly they are putting into their shows now (Lewis 2014).

Comment [A8]: Overall, I really enjoyed

reading your paper. You did a great job of
comparing old television to new television. I
also liked how you included excerpts from
professionals and how they themselves feel
about this topic. Great paper! (Gemma)

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

When ABC Family was purchased from Fox by Disney, they demanded that Family stay
in the network name and keep it as the central idea (Ulaby 2012). They didn't want to give up on
family. Another one of ABC Family networks shows that is discussed is Foster. The author
watched it with an actual foster family that was similar to the one on the show, and they
confirmed the similarities to their life experiences (Ulaby 2013). ABC Family has a page on their
website dedicate for kids and young adults where they can go on and submit anonymous letters
they have wrote about real life issues they are facing such as rape or bullying to get it out. They
have their actors from the TV shows perform them, my source is about bullying performed by an
actor from Pretty Little Liars (Allen n.d.).
With today's television you cannot just get the family friendly television programs
without getting the inappropriate ones. There is a proposal for parents to create tools to talk to
their children to shelter them from the certain material they are not prepared for their children to
discover at a specific age. The proposal also suggest that broadcasters create a "family friendly
viewing hour" and that big cable and satellite networks have a family package, that would leave
out the information that wouldn't be acceptable for young children to view (Martin n.d.). There
was a survey done by a handful of doctors to find the relationship in teens with sexual activity
and the amount of sexual depiction they see on TV. In conclusion they found that teens who
watched more TV where either sex was discussed or actually talked about were more likely to
begin sexual activity at a younger age, and end up regretting it (Collins n.d.). In an online
segment an author proposed the idea that TV has a conscience, and that the conscience affects
how society works and how humans feel. She did some research on TV in last fifty years and
showed how in the last twenty years as judgment has increased humor has continued to decrease,

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

less of Friends and Seinfeld and more of reality shows. She showed how popular TV has taken a
huge role in society and affects how we live our lives ( Zalaznick n.d.) .

What's New.
TV is something that has been around for a good amount of time now. For my generation
we grew up watching TV, it has became a part of everyday life. TV Is not the same as it was in
the fifties, in addition to that society is not the same as it was in the fifties either. The content of
TV has developed into much more racy and mature material. One TV Network that has been
affected by this change the most is ABC Family, the network has been faced with the challenge
to keep up with modern society and keep the rating up and viewers interested, but to also keep
family as the main focus which has not been an easy task for them even though they have done
it. Neda Ulaby mentioned in one of her segments how when ABC Family was bought by Disney
from Fo x, the network demanded that they keep the word family in the name and show real life
issues that families are now having to deal with and what happens as a result of these issues.
In older generations they did not have some of the issues that now arise in today's society.
When my grandparents and great grandparents were my age it was normal to get married at the
age of 16 or 18, something now that would be frowned upon or people would automatically
assume that the girl must be pregnant. In today's society it is much more common for young
adults to wait until their mid to late twenties to get married. Casual sex is another issue that is
accepted now, girls use to get shunned for having sex before marriage and would be looked at as
a disgrace and a horrible person, now the majority of the population does it. With casual sex and
people getting married later in life popular some other issues that pop up are teen pregnancy and
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Rape is an issue that use to not be discussed, it happened

Comment [A9]: I like what you talk about in

your whats new section. A lot of people
look down on todays issues but it definitely
needs to be discussed. I think talking about
how these shows are a gateway for parents
to discuss these topics with their children is
really good insight. (Shannon)

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

but women never reported it, and until recently, last 30 years or so, marital rape didn't even exist
to law enforcement. With all of these arising problems parents have to find a way to discuss this
with their kids and to make them aware for prevention, ABC Family has tried to help with this
part.
TV networks have given us viewers all of these shows that discuss the issues such as ,
sex, pregnancy, rape, STDs, drugs, etc. and majority of people see this as a problem. Some
people are claiming TV is all trash now and its morally corrupt, that it is all bad and shouldn't be
watched period. It is difficult to find a show on TV currently if not completely impossible to find
a show that does not address at least one of these issues. Parents are seeing this as a problem,
they do not want their kids to watch these things and learn about them, some parents want TV
networks that don't address any of these issues and our very guarded and reserved that their

Comment [A10]: With your paper you didnt

seem to place blame on any particular
person as to why kids have been affected
the way they have with TV shows. You did
well to introduce things that producers
could change as well as parents. With the
shows you discussed, they seem to be in a
genre that could be labeled drama, which is
the type of shows many teens watch, which
is where most of the impact of these issues
are seen.
Comment [A11]: In the paper you discuss
how many parents are upset at the shows
that ABC Family is showing. To give your
reader a better sense of this, you could add
actual comments made by parents. If you
decide to do this, you could also add what
age their children are and how they feel ABC
should be running things. (Gemma)

children can watch. While that would be nice and it might temporarily solve their issues it is not
reality. Even though most people view this amount of exposure on TV as a problem that needs to
be fixed, I am going to suggest ways that ABC Family views it as a solution to society , and
gives parents tools to talk to their children about these present issues.
ABC Family has stressed its desires to keep families involved and making family the
center of the network, all of their shows center around some type of family and use that as a
strong core for the shows. Even if some of families are less conventional, like their show Fosters
that features a household with two moms and Pretty Little Liars which features a single parent
household, the message of family remains intact. ABC Family does expose issues on their
shows, and at the end of the episodes in which they discussed an issue there is a small segment
on where to go to find out more information on the topic and ways of prevention. After each
episode of their series Secret Life of an American Teenager, which was about a teenage girl who

Comment [A12]: What is the targeted age

group for ABC Family? Since you talk about
how this network can help parents talk to
their children, at what age should these
discussion begin? Obviously, these shows
are not meant for young children so make
sure you talk about when parents should
start using these shows as a gateway for
certain discussions. (Shannon)

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

got pregnant at the beginning of her freshmen year of high school and her life growing up facing
all of these obstacles and how it affected everyone around her, one of the actors from the show
would do a short segment of teen pregnancy and how it is preventable and websites to go to for
more information.
ABC Family's online website offers numerous sources of tools for parents to use when
talking to their children. They have pages on their website devoted to just about every issue you
could imagine coming up and good ice breakers for parents to use when attempting to discuss
them with their children. ABC Family is offering these tools to parents they just need to be
willing to use them and to learn how to. One of the pages on ABC Family's website is dedicated
to bullying, they have an open forum for children to get on and write letters to people who have
hurt them or they have seen hurt others anonymously. They also list tips on how to deal with
bullies and what to do if someone is bullying you. They have another one like I previously
mentioned on teen pregnancy, what to do if your child becomes pregnant. In addition ways to
talk to them about waiting and prevention if they decide to not wait.
It is a proven fact that with most cases of teen pregnancy, STDs, drugs, etc in young
adults is due to the lack of discussion in the household. Parents in today's society never had to
have most of these discussions with their parents growing up because these just weren't big
issues then like they are now. Parents are uncomfortable talking to their kids about it and are
unsure what to say so they just don't say anything or they say very little. ABC Family gives
parents plenty of tools through their shows to use when discussing. These issues are things that
are happening in today's society and whether parents like it or not their children do need to be
aware of these and now how to deal with them. ABC Family's goal is for parents to watch these
shows along with their children and afterwards discuss the issues. ABC Family allows a

Comment [A13]: Under Whats New you

did a great job adding your input.When
talking about the anonymous feedback that
people can give on ABC Familys website,
see if you can find any information online of
people who have used it and if it helped
them or not. Or, see if executives from ABC
Family have mentioned if they have received
any positive or negative feedback about the
ABC Family website. You can then use this
information when you talk about the
website. (Gemma)

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

conversation starter through their shows, after watching parents can take the discussion where
ever they want and reveal as little or as much information to their children as they see fit.
Conclusion.
Society is not the same as it was in the fifties, along with that neither is TV. TV is
something everyone watches now, and it is having an impact. According to my resources the
majority say that this is a problem and it needs to be changed and fixed. I proposed the idea that
it is not an issue, but rather can be a solution to the problem. I suggested that the material
revealed on TV now a days can be used as tools if used correctly by parents to discuss topics
with their children and give them their stance on the subjects.
Using these shows as tools can be very powerful and a major influence in how children
are being raised and the choices that they plan on making. If parents don't agree with the issues
being exposed on TV they can use this to teach their child what not to do. Knowing more
research on this topic could be a positive impact on children's lives. If more parents weren't
afraid to talk to their children about prevention and drugs and etc. then the kids would have a
since of morals from their family to go off of, and not only the popular things they see on TV.
It's not going to remove the threat of teen pregnancy completely and drug abuse in young adults,
some will do it. However it can reduce the percentage and hopefully prevent some kids from
messing up their lives.
After reviewing thus research, I would like you to consider a couple of things. If TV
continues this way, at what point will they stop? What will be too much to show on cable TV?
How is it affecting the kids that parents do use this as a tool to talk to them vs. how it is affecting
the kids who get all of their knowledge about life's issues from a TV?

Comment [A14]: I like the questions you

bring up in the end of your conclusion; they
are insightful and leave room for the readers
to answer them. However, they seem choppy
and then they just cut off at the end. Maybe
add a concluding statement just to make
sure your paper doesnt end abruptly.
(Shannon)
Comment [A15]: In your conclusion when
you introduce the new topics in question
form, it might be best to introduce these
questions in a way that doesnt seem like
you just pasted questions in. Maybe add a
little information with each question and
give a reason as to why someone should
maybe consider those thoughts. Other than
the flow of the questions, they seem to be
good questions that can really get the reader
to think about what they watch and just what
kind of quality TV shows it is they are
interested in.

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

References
Ulaby, Neda . "Ratings Success? It's All in the (ABC) Family." NPR. NPR, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 2
Oct. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/>.

Holmes, Linda. "The Seven Ways to Write About Television." NPR. NPR, 25 June 2013. Web. 2
Oct. 2014. <http://www.npr.org/>.

Allen, Keegan . "You Should Know This About Me." ABC Family. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.
<http://abcfamily.go.com/>.

Ulaby, Neda. " Foster Families Take Center Stage." NPR. NPR, 3 June 2013. Web. 2 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.nrp.org/>.

Martin, Kevin. "Family-Friendly Programming: Providing More Tools For Parents." Google
Scholar - Google+ .N.p., n.d. Web. Oct. 2014
<https://plus.google.com/107845583503985558757>.

IS ABC FAMILY STILL FAMILY?

Collins, Rebecca . "Watching Sex On TV Predicts Adolescent Initiation on Sexual Behavior."

Google Scholar - Google+. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2014.
<https://plus.google.com/107845583503985558757>.

Zalaznick, Lauren. "The Conscience of Television." TED: Ideas worth spreading. N.p., n.d.
Web. 30 Sept. 2014 <http://www.ted.com/>.

Lewis Ashley N. (2014). UWRT: Assignment One. University of North Carolina at

Charlotte, Charlotte