ABC
Kids' sitcoms have strayed far from the classic nuclear family formula. Some of the most popular shows on Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel feature kids parented by older siblings (iCarly), dads by themselves (Hannah Montana, Corey in the House), and moms by themselves (Sonny With a Chance, The Suite Life on Deck). What's curious, though, is that with all of this unorthodox parenting, divorce is very rarely offered as the reason for these arrangements.
The divorce rate in America hovers around 50%, directly affecting over a million children each year, but TV producers would apparently prefer to kill off a parent, send her to a far-off place, or just ignore parentage altogether than consider divorce.
While Zack and Cody's parents are divorced on Suite Life (a point rarely addressed on the show), Hannah Montana's mother -- played three times by Brooke Shields -- died in a plane crash. Corey's mother, Tanya, is supposedly attending law school in England, and there's no word on the whereabouts of Sonny Monroe's father in Sonny With a Chance (her mother is played by Nancy McKeon). Meanwhile, even my good Nickelodeon contacts couldn't shed light on the whereabouts or whatabouts of Carly Shay's mother in iCarly. She apparently doesn't exist.
No one ever said kids' TV was a mirror of modern society. In these fictional worlds, kids are generally cuter, more attractive, more successful, more talented, more stylish, and more successful than your average Junior Joe. But with so many kids of divorce tuning in, I'm surprised producers still apparently won't touch it with a ten-foot pole.
Seeing divorce on TV from time to time won't make kids from traditional homes fear for their families. But it may just let the multitude of kids with divorced parents know that their particular family situation is okay.
Is it appropriate to feature divorced parents in kids' TV? Chime in now!
PLUS: Why Must Kid Films Demonize Divorce?
