ABC Family to debut transgender reality show
Viewer response positive toward series featuring teen’s father in transition
LOS ANGELES— Walt Disney Co.’s ABC Family network will debut its first reality show starring a transgender person, gaining visibility from the widely publicized photos this week of Caitlyn Jenner.
Becoming Us premieres Monday at 9 p.m. on ABC Spark.
It’s an unscripted look at life for Ben Lehwald, an Evanston, Ill., teen whose father Charlie is becoming a woman named Carly. In a preview clip, family members wince at a photo of gender reassignment surgery and Ben meets the parents of his girlfriend, Danielle, whose father is also transitioning.
The show stands to benefit from the surge in publicity surrounding Jenner, the Olympic gold medallist formerly known as Bruce, who appears on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine in a form-fitting corset. ABC Family has committed to 10, one-hour episodes, produced by TV host Ryan Seacrest. Jenner’s own E! network documentary series I Am Cait debuts July 26.
“It’s a moment in our society when the world is focusing on transgender issues,” Tom Ascheim, president of ABC Family, said in an interview. “It only helps us.”
ABC Family has often led other networks in its portrayal of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, characters, according to Matt Kane, director of entertainment media for GLAAD, the New York-based advocacy group.
ABC Family’s most-watched show, Pretty Little Liars, features a lesbian character and teen girls kissing each other.
Its No. 2 performer, The Fosters, is a one-hour drama about the family life of a biracial lesbian couple. Last year, programmers added a story about a teenager in transition.
The potential viewer response to Becoming Us, as judged by online polling, is positive, Ascheim said. With Becoming Us, ABC Family joins a growing list of programmers airing shows featuring transgender characters after Transparent, carried on Amazon.com Inc.’s streaming service and on Shomi in Canada, won a Golden Globe Award in January for Best Comedy.
In April, Discovery Communications’ Discovery Life channel introduced New Girls on the Block, a reality series featuring six transgender women, while TLC has I Am Jazz, starring14-year-old activist Jazz Jennings, coming in July.