main index




Topical Tropes

Other Categories

TV Tropes Org
Kickstarter Message
TV Tropes is 149% Funded
View Kickstarter Project
Creator: ABC Family
aka: Abc Family
Strange how Pat Robertson hasn't yet complained about this "new kind of family"...

ABC Family is a cable channel owned by The Walt Disney Company. It started in 1977 as CBN Cable ("CBN" standing for "Christian Broadcasting Network"), owned by controversial Right-Wing pastor Pat Robertson. In 1988, the channel was renamed to CBN Family Channel; two years later it was spun off and the name was changed to The Family Channel, as the channel had begun to make too much money for non-profit CBN to keep it around. Through all the CBN/Family Channel years though, outside of the hours devoted to The 700 Club and its surrounding programming it was probably known more for being the place your grandfather got his fix of Westerns with Gunsmoke, The Big Valley and Bonanza. In the early 90's, the network started original programming such as Big Brother Jake (think Charles In Charge, minus the hijinks of teenage hormones), and the television version of Maniac Mansion, which owing to where it aired was severely Bowdlerised. Soon though, most of the network's original efforts devolved to the usual No Budget family Game Shows found on cable at that time.

The Family Channel, which was by this point co-owned with the library of MTM Enterprises, was bought by Fox in 1997, and renamed Fox Family Channel the next year. The channel, along with Fox Kids, was sold to Disney in 2001 because Fox had no idea what to do with a network devoted to families and the restrictions of their contract for the purchase of the network. An attempt to create two spin-off channels with sex-segregated children's programming, the Boyz & Girlz Channels, failed because of a lack of interest and viewers questioning excluding one gender from an entire channel (though it could be said that these days, the Disney Channel and Disney XD have the near-same concept).

That same year, the channel's name settled on the current one, the Fox Kids block met its end the next year, and its programming moved to ABC Family (and Toon Disney) as "Jetix" (the name was introduced in 2004; previous to that the programming had aired on ABCF under the name of "ABC Family Action Block"). The early ABC years were spent converting the network to a place to re-air ABC programs, which was botched by the network realizing that only programs from their internal studio could get a second ABC Family run, with other outside producers heavily objecting to the arrangement. By 2005, it had seemed to become a place for cheap reality programming and non-stop reruns of The Bachelor.

Disney planned to revamp the channel into a young-adult-aimed channel named "XYZ"; a stipulation in their contracts with the cable companies that "Family" remain in the name forever put the brakes on this. The network also has to give up a full day of programming in late January so Robertson can air his annual Telethon, but these days the only thing that's lost is the usual Sunday movie marathon.

The channel eventually abused a loophole and remained ABC Family, but changed their slogan to "A new kind of family", pretty much saying that they may have to keep the name, but that won't stop them from turning it into a not-so-family-friendly channel. Eventually, the network also got actual original programming too, mainly targeting young women. The end result is something akin to being the [adult swim] to Disney Channel... or the channel itself being "Teen Disney", the channel's answer to TeenNick (Minus the old Disney shows in it).

In March 2012, the network gained a Canadian sister network in ABC Spark, which replaced Dusk, a horror film network. ABC Spark is bound by none of Robertson's requirements, and outside of some programs already claimed by other channels (like Pretty Little Liars, which is one of MuchMusic's stalwart shows), carries most of ABC Family's original shows, and even rerun shows.

Original shows airing or about to air on this channel:

Past Shows:

Syndicated shows:

Film Broadcast Rights:

Special events

  • 13 Nights of Halloween: A yearly carry-over from the Fox Family days, playing specials and movies devoted to light horror (and Harry Potter).
  • 25 Days of Christmas: Another yearly tradition since the Fox Family era. Initially playing all-Christmas programming, Disney subsequently phased out some of said specials and has since devoted a lot of airtime to in-house/Pixar animated films, and since almost all of the Harry Potter films have at least one Christmas scene, ABC Family has a legitimate excuse to air them.

Actors/Actresses that show up on the channel:

A new kind of family.
ABCCreator/DisneyThe Disney Afternoon

alternative title(s): The Family Channel; Family Channel; Fox Family; ABC Family
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from
Privacy Policy