ABC Family Redefining “Family”

Callie and her younger brother Jude come home from school to greet their lesbian foster moms: Lena, vice principal of the school that her adopted children attend, and Stef, a policewoman who works alongside her ex-husband Mike. Callie walks past Brandon (Stef’s biological son whom Callie is madly in love with) in the hallway, and greets Mariana and Jesus, teenaged twins adopted by Stef and Lena. This is “The Fosters,” an ABC Family show produced by Jennifer Lopez.

ABC Family, you’ve done it again.

All jokes aside, I’ve shamelessly become addicted to a handful of ABC Family shows over the last few years. “Pretty Little Liars,” “Twisted,” “Switched at Birth,” and, more recently, “The Fosters” are a few of my favorites. Most of these shows focus their stories on sparsely represented demographics, including the deaf and disabled, the LGBT community, and even the psychologically unstable.

Every household with basic cable has access to ABC Family, so it’s inevitable that families are increasingly being exposed to more controversial topics such as homosexuality, drug abuse, and teenage pregnancy, which are frequently tied into somewhat cringe-worthy but heartwarming plot lines. These television series reflect the progressive nature of society today by applying previously disregarded topics to mainstream television targeted towards young adults.

Is ABC Family trying too hard? Sometimes it seems as though the channel takes advantage of the under-represented to increase views and bring an interesting marketing angle to the table. And, they tend to do a little too much sometimes – every ABC Family show has at least one teenage pregnancy scare, one abusive set of parents, and one kid addicted to Adderall. Their outlandish story lines have become predictable, if that’s possible.

Nevertheless, these shows sure are entertaining. It’s not just me, the rest of America loves them too – “Switched at Birth” and “The Fosters,” believe it or not, rank as the top scripted cable television telecasts among their target audience of females aged 12-34. Even if the acting is sometimes sub-par (come at me, Maia Mitchell), it is refreshing to see the growing popularity of television series that illustrate the “new normal” or the “modern family.” ABC Family, keep on keepin’ on.