ABC Family's Curious Origins and Bright Future

This strange legacy is more than just surprising: it actually imposed severe limitations on what ABC could do with the channel after purchasing it. Most importantly, stipulations from the original sale from Robertson required that any subsequent owner of the cable channel keep the word “family” in the network's title. So ABC's plans to rebrand the channel XYZ were dashed, and left them having to pick a name for the network with “family” in it.

But that wasn't the only contractual hog-tie that Robertson's initial sale included. The sale also stipulated that The 700 Club be aired every weekday on the new channel, and on any future incarnation of the channel, regardless of owner. So ABC Family is required by contract to air the Evangelical telethon.

Being contractually obligated to air what is essentially a televised passing of Pat Robertson's collection plate and mouthpiece for an Evangelical monolith could understandably be a huge complication for a network trying to attract a hip younger audience.

Indeed, after Jerry Falwell appeared on the September 13, 2001 broadcast of The 700 Club and blamed the World Trade Center attacks on gays, lesbians, feminists, the ACLU, People for the American Way and pro-choice advocates, Michael Eisner (then-CEO of Disney) was pressured to drop the purchase of Fox Family, which was then in the works. The deal eventually went through, however, and the purchase is considered by some to be one of the greatest mistakes Eisner made in his tenure at Disney, although the network's recent performance may be changing that opinion.

After taking over the channel, ABC Family initially ran a disclaimer with The 700 Club that noted: “The proceeding program was brought to you by CBN.” But after 700 Club host Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on August 22, 2005 , ABC had to re-evaluate. Advocacy groups called on ABC Family to cancel the program, to which the network succinctly responded that ABC Family is "contractually obligated to air The 700 Club and has no editorial control over views expressed by the hosts or guests," adding that the network "strongly rejects the views expressed by Pat Robertson."

By August 29, the disclaimer had been changed to read: "The preceding CBN telecast does not reflect the views of ABC Family.”

Lee is quick to point out the benefits of the channel's legacy and to underplay the impact of The 700 Club on what ABC Family is trying to accomplish, noting, “We treat that very much like paid programming. And like paid programming, it has a very different audience. We don't get any crossover.”

The upside, of course, is that the net has excellent penetration and low channel position in every basic cable home in the country, but that isn't the only positive that Lee sees in the net's curious genealogy. “I think the other legacy, that is a weird thing to say … is the word ‘family'. And what we did that others before us didn't do is that we really embraced the word for what it is — not for what some people have tried to make it, but for what America believes it is. And it's paid off for us. … And I think part of that is because we are relatable, and because we are optimistic.”

Matt Dallas, in the interview quoted earlier, agrees:

“I think the whole network in general is trying to break away from what your typical idea of what a family network is. Because when you say ‘family,' you think Boy Meets World and you think Saturday morning cartoons. It was really them trying to break away from that and become this new network. ... The network is definitely exploring with a lot of different things and directions for the show.”

While Plec may have been ruffled by some of the more conservative, negative responses to Kyle XY 's gay storyline, Lee insists he hasn't seen any negative reactions to the front-and-center gay storyline on Greek. “I've actually not heard anything negative at all about Calvin (Paul James). We're very open about the storylines that we're going to cover, and I think very responsible in the way that we cover all topics, not just “issue” topics. I mean, these kids are at college. There are not just issues of sexuality, but issues of class, issues of alcohol, issues of being away from your parents … We know these are issues that kids, when they go to college, deal with. And we want to deal with them. They're out there, they're important, and we want to do it in the right way.”

The Next Generation

From the ashes of an Evangelical money-making machine and organ-grinder of conservative polemic, a fresh voice celebrating diversity, respect and optimism in the face of life's many challenges has emerged, and it's finding enormous success. Lee points out that ABC Family has been recently rated the number one network in relatability for its core audience age group, beating out peers like VH1 and MTV, as well as majors like ABC and NBC. Apparently today's young people are hearing the network's message about what “family” really means, and they agree.

But television is a notoriously fickle business, and only time will tell how successful the network is with its current philosophy, and how closely that philosophy will be adhered to in execution. We were disappointed to learn that the previously announced television series based on the gay film Quinceañera (2006) was no longer “active” (although we have yet to get final word the series is officially “dead”), and the new animated series Slacker Cats seems thus far to lack the undercurrent of diversity and optimism found in the net's other original programming, choosing to focus instead on gross-out humor and rather thin characterizations and stereotypes.

But Greek has already been picked up for a second season and has thus far handled its gay storyline with an uncommonly even hand (it doesn't hurt that the show's creator, Patrick Sean Smith, is an out gay man). The show has even been purchased by BBC3, to be aired in the UK — something of a turnaround for gay Americans used to clamoring for gay-inclusive programming from more progressive Britain.

And with its current reputation for not shying away from gay themes and characters — and what's more, for treating them with sensitivity and respect — there's no saying that there may not be more gay on the way for the network. Might Slacker Cats have a gay cat in its litter? Says Lee, “I'm scratching my head to see if I can think of a gay cat … not that I can think of, no. But I think you've just introduced a fantastic new storyline.”