"Welcome to the Neighborhood": Just show it

Steve McPherson, the head of ABC entertainment, isn't happy that his cancellation last summer of "Welcome to the Neighborhood," a reality series that challenged racial and sexual stereotypes, 10 days before it was set to air has suddenly become a news story again. A New York Times front-page piece today floats the idea that ABC killed the show, and its ultimately pro-gay message, to appease Christian groups who were being wooed by parent company Disney as part of the "Chronicles of Narnia" marketing campaign.

The ABC entertainment president told TV critics today that notion was "ludicrous." Later, in an interview, he told me that the theory was being propounded by "idiots," including two producers who were "tangential" to the show.

Duly noted. And regarding the Times story, maybe it was over the top. Regardless, the Times has cast a light on a forgotten bit of video with a remarkable backstory, one that critics like me -- and the millions of TV viewers whose tastes we reflect -- would now like very, very much to see, even though we know the ending (as will you, if you read on or follow the links).

***

"Welcome to the Neighborhood" is a competition reality series, pitched to ABC by a father-and-son production team, Bill and Eric Kennedy. During the taping of the contest, three conservative white families living in a cul-de-sac in Austin, Texas, decided which of seven diverse families, including a Korean family, a gay couple, and two Wiccans, would get to be their neighbors.  The winning family would be awarded an unoccupied house on the Circle C cul-de-sac that ABC had bought for the competition.

What is so strange about the odyssey of this program is that it was initially thought to be hostile to gays. In one of the promos, Jim Stewart, a homeowner living next to the prize house says, "I would not tolerate living next door to homosexuals." Viewers seeing only the promo ... or the first two episodes sent to critics ... might have gained the impression that the show has a homophobic tone that does unrebutted. In response, anti-gay-defamation groups spoke out. Some advocates, though, got to see the entire six-episode run of the series, and said that it wound up telling a far different story than the promos and early episodes.

Speaking in July to TV critics, McPherson endorsed this point of view. The decision to yank the series, he said, had to do with "the episodic nature (in which) it was scheduled to air," though he denied that he had reacted to pressure groups who noted the same thing. He said it was "the responsible thing" not to air the series, and hinted that if the show were recut to make clear that participants in the show did have a change of heart, he might put it on TV -- eventually.

Of course, "Welcome to the Neighborhood" never aired, and the matter died. Or rather, was trampled under the feet of another contretemps -- which I'm embarrassed to admit, I helped stir up -- over another ABC reality contest, "Dancing with the Stars."

***

But as it turns out, far from being a show that offended gays, "Welcome to the Neighborhood" was a show whose outcome GLAAD could not have scripted more brilliantly. This became clear in September, when a new family moved into the cul-de-sac ... and as Diane Holloway revealed in the Austin American-Statesman, it was the gay white couple with the black adopted son that had won the house. That in the course of the six episodes, they had made a stronger case than all the other families ... and had even won over Jim Stewart, that old homophobe, who transformed into a welcoming, tolerant neighbor.

But wait, there's more. Turns out Jim Stewart's grown son had told his father he was gay three years earlier. Jim dealt him a crushing rejection, telling Jason Stewart to "check that gay stuff at the door. Don't bring it into the house."

The producers making the show were unaware that, while participating in a real-life dramatic series, Jim Stewart was going through an even more turbulent personal drama.

Holloway's story didn't land on the national radar, perhaps because America hadn't seen the show, perhaps because of all the hoops the Statesman's web site makes you jump through to read its stories. So outside of the gay press (The Advocate did a story just before Christmas), the cancellation of "Welcome to the Neighborhood" was a non-story, until Jacques Steinberg stirred the pot in the Times.

Bill Kennedy, who helped create "Welcome to the Neighborhood" with his son Eric (they are co-executive producers of the show), suggested to Steinberg that ABC killed the show because it had just started to make inroads with Christian groups that had long boycotted Disney theme parks and other products. Specifically, he suggests that the objections of GLAAD et al. to the show's promos and early episodes

might have been most significant as a diversion that allowed the Walt Disney Company, ABC's owner, to pre-empt a show that could have interfered with a much bigger enterprise: the courting of evangelical Christian audiences for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Disney hoped that the film, widely viewed as a parable of the Resurrection, would be the first in a profitable movie franchise.

Steinberg continues:

In the months and weeks before "Welcome to the Neighborhood" was to have its premiere, as Disney sought to build church support for "Narnia," four religious groups lifted longtime boycotts of the company that had been largely prompted by Disney's tolerance of periodic gatherings by gay tourists at its theme parks. Representatives for two of those groups now say that broadcasting "Neighborhood" could have complicated their support for "Narnia." One, the Southern Baptist Convention, with more than 16 million members, lifted the last of the boycotts against Disney on June 22, a week before ABC announced it was pulling the series.

Some people who read the Times story have objected to me, pointing out that the movie aired "months" after the show was pulled. I'm not sure this is a strong argument. After all,most movie campaigns are a year or more in the making. And winning back James Dobson and Jerry Falwell is obviously a long-term initiative. As the intelligence experts say about Osama, they think in terms of years and decades, not months and weeks. I'm not saying this strengthens the credibility of the producers' theory. I'm just saying it doesn't weaken it, either.

That said, is the Kennedys' assertion provable? Of course not. Front-page news? Eh, I think not.  Intriguing? Absolutely. Makes me want to see the show? You bet.

As someone who has consistently praised change-of-life documentaries like "Country Boys" and "Frontier House," there's nothing I enjoy more than seeing people grow up before our eyes. Nothing. "Frontier House" was my number one program of 2002.  "Country Boys" is the early favorite to top my list in 2006. What's more, as a Christian who is appalled at the ongoing attempts to anathematize other Christians just because they're gay, I think a show like "Welcome to the Neighborhood," even if it was poorly made, casts an interesting light on the contradictions that go on among homophobic Americans. Not everyone has a closeted family member. Not everyone would turn over a new leaf like Jim Stewart if given regular exposure to a loving gay family. But those scenarios seem to play out quite a lot. And they are undeniably compelling stories just dying to be told.

***

So why not tell this story?

Well, listen for yourself. Here's part one (mp3) and part two (mp3) of an interview this afternoon with Steve McPherson.  I didn't edit it, the audio's not great, and it's in two parts because he asked to go off-the-record at one point to clarify something. But the message is clear: He thinks the Narnia theory is preposterous, that the "tangential" producers who advanced it are "idiots," and that if there is a future for "Welcome to the Neighborhood," he's not saying what it is.

I wrote back to Bill Kennedy for a response. ABC owns a stake in A&E, which would seem a natural home for a six-episode marathon of "Welcome to the Neighborhood." I wanted to make sure Kennedy wasn't lobbying for that because it would make him money. And I relayed McPherson's remarks to him. Kennedy's response:

Eric and I have already been paid for the first season, so we get nothing more if these episodes run on cable or anywhere else.  We would, however, be paid again if the series is picked up for any additional cycles and new episodes are shot.

As for being "tangential."   We created the original concept for the show, sold it to MGM-TV, who then took it to ABC.  There would be no "Welcome to the Neighborhood" without us.  I'm surprised that McPherson would be so dismissive of our role.  And it still doesn't answer the question about exactly why ABC cancelled the show.

We have no control over the show's future, that's in ABC's hands.  We just hope that it airs somewhere, and to the largest audience possible.

***

I'm struck by something that John Wright -- one half of the gay couple that won the house on "Welcome to the Neighborhood" -- told Diane Holloway when she asked him why, why, why he and Steve would subject themselves to potential hurt and humiliation on national TV when they already lived in a perfectly nice house and had a happy life?

"We don't see families like ours on TV, and we wanted to see one in a positive portrayal," said John.

He's still waiting. So am I.

***

There's a wonderful fable that was written in postwar England, modeled on Dante's "Divine Comedy," about the divide between Heaven and Hell. In this fable, people are free to take the bus ride to Heaven ... but only if they discard their petty hatreds, addictions, and resentments and grow, literally, into saints. Presented with the choice, many shrink from Heaven and choose to take the bus back to perdition.

The fable was called "The Great Divorce," and it was written by C.S. Lewis, author of the "Narnia Chronicles." I don't know about the movie rights.