From Televangelists to Transgender TV
The Family Channel ain't what it used to be.
You young'uns might not remember this, but the cable channel now known as ABC Family used to be called the CBN Family Channel, with CBN standing for "Christian Broadcasting Network." Pat Robertson had launched CBN after he bought a Virginia TV station in the early '60s; when he moved into cable in 1977 the new channel's schedule was initially dominated by religious shows, with Robertson's The 700 Club as its featured attraction. As the outlet's execs started adding old sitcoms, westerns, and other programming they deemed family friendly, they were choosy about what they would or wouldn't broadcast—Bewitched wasn't allowed, for example, on the grounds that it promoted witchcraft.
That was then, this is now. The Christian Broadcasting Network still exists, but it spun off the Family Channel as an independent company in 1990; the operation was eventually sold to Fox and then ABC. The channel still broadcasts The 700 Club—that was required by the sales agreements—but it now airs the show with disclaimers, and the rest of the schedule has changed rather drastically. We passed a cultural milestone of sorts when the outlet that once had refused to show Bewitched started transmitting Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
Since then, it's gone a lot further into territories that Robertson probably didn't envision when he went into the cable business four decades ago. Like The Fosters, its weekly drama about a lesbian couple. And, as of this month, the reality show Becoming Us:
Robertson, for the record, is more progressive than you might expect on trans issues, declaring on-air two years ago that he doesn't "think there's any sin associated with" sex-change operations. So it's possible that he wouldn't object to Becoming Us. Either way, I suppose it's appropriate to have a show about gender transitions on a channel that's gone through such a transition itself.
