Here's what I think: What up ABC Family?

What a great weekend! I've just been enjoying, as I always do, the Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family and as a result have seen about a million commercials featuring the ABC Family original TV shows. Even though I love commercials (seriously, I was an advertising major and I LOVE commercials), I have to admit that it took me several viewings of these ads to pay attention to what some of these shows are about. After processing it I asked my self "What up ABC Family?"

The new show "Baby Daddy" has me a little concerned. While it looks light hearted and funny, I can't help but think it is sending a really disturbing message to the youth of America. I'm not naive. In fact I come from a "non-traditional" family myself, with four loving parents who miraculously all get along like good friends. I've only seen the commercials, and haven't watched the show. However, from what I can tell, it looks like it glorifies un-married (not even dating) parents. I might be off base and maybe I'll try to watch an episode to verify my concerns. If you ask me, the portrait of a single man who becomes the "baby daddy" for someone doesn't seem like a positive family message for young people.

This on top of shows like "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" which is basically a show about a bunch of teens who think it's okay to get knocked up and then have a "pretend" marriage is a strange direction for a family oriented network. I know ABC Family likes to promote it's shows with the tag line "A new kind of family" but shouldn't it be concerned with the kind of message it's putting out there for the young target market that watches these shows?

All that being said, I do love ABC Family and will continue to watch, especially during a good long Harry Potter Weekend!