ABC Feigns Conscience, Pulls Reality Show

The Wrights

Many people may think that reality TV show producers have no limits… but, well, they’re probably right. Pitting families of different ethnicities and religions against one another - and stoking tensions past the point of nasty exchanges - didn’t seem to bother ABC much until the civil rights groups got wind of it. Only pressure group intervention convinced ABC execs to cancel the airing of its six-episode, already fully filmed show, “Welcome to the Neighborhood,” according to The New York Times.

The canned show featured seven prospective families vying for votes from three resident (white) families in a development outside Austin, Texas. The show would have awarded the winning family a biggish house in the fancy neighborhood. The seven prospects included two gay white men with a black child, a Korean family and a white family that practiced Wicca. And early episode showed some not-so-nice comments tossed about.

While a previous press release from ABC hinted that the resident neighbors might eventually learn to see past their own stereotypes and preconceived opinions - the message being that the show would transcend its own nastiness - the National Fair Housing Alliance didn’t see it that way, and led a campaign to ask housing agencies and civil rights groups to urge ABC to cancel the show. In fact, the group said the show itself violated fair housing laws because it allowed factors like religion to be considered.

ABC’s retreat included a press release stating, “The fact that true change only happens over time made the episodic nature of this series challenging, and given the sensitivity of the subject matter in early episodes we have decided not to air the series at this time.”

ABC’s ratings had recovered mightily last season, thanks in large measure to “Desperate Housewives,” which owned the slot “Welcome to the Neighborhood” would have filled. Characters in “Desperate Housewives” weren’t particularly endearing, either - but then, that’s fiction.