Action Needed: Encourage ABC to air "Wife Swap" episode featuring Atheist

[Ian David]

HNN STAFF
Humanist Network News
March 9, 2005

Is ABC stalling in its plans to air an episode of "Wife Swap" featuring an atheist?
http://www.humaniststudies.org/enews/index.html?id=182&lid=1511#n1


According to a March 8 American Atheists Action Alert, the ABC television network was planning to air a segment of its reality show "Wife Swap" on March 16, 2005 featuring Amber Finley, an atheist. Amber Finley and her husband Reginald Finley are co-hosts of the Internet radio program infidelguy.com.

"Wife Swap" showcases wives from diverse families who move into each other’s households. They take on the chores, shopping, meal preparation and interact with their new charges. Finley was to exchange places with a "god fearing" woman married to a Pastor Stonerock.

According to American Atheists, ABC recently announced that this particular episode of "Wife Swap" is now scheduled to be replaced with another installment. The substitute installment does not feature an atheist. The alert also states that an "ABC spokesperson says that the Finley/Stonerock episode 'will air' at some point in the future, but added that future 'Wife Swap' shows will also be preempted by other programs coming out of the ABC network production pipeline."

On March 9, the following message appeared on the infidelguy.com Web site: "Hundreds of you have asked me what is the status of the WifeSwap epsiode. To be honest, I still don't know. I am getting conflicting stories about what happened from 3 sources. 1.) Editing wasn't finished. 2.) It had to be re-edited because it was too controversial. 3.) Scheduling mishap. I have no idea what's going on. :( I can't imagine them demanding a re-edit of a program that airs to adults @ 10PM ET? ."

For more information on how you can act, visit: Action Needed Now: Encourage ABC Network to Air “Wife Swap” Segment Featuring Atheist Amber Finley, (alert from American Atheists, March 8, 2005).
http://www.atheists.org/action/alert-08-mar-2005.html

[Warpy]

1. Unsurprising

You can't take a chance on pissing off all those thin skinned Christian fundies out there by showing an atheist who is a clean, sober, law abiding and compassionate human being.

It just rocks their ugly little world too much.

[Trajan]

2. LATEST News from infidelguy.com

http://infidelguy.com/wifeswap_status.html

03/10/05 - 2:53PM ET

Glenn Davish, liaison between ABC and my family, called my home today. This is the deal. The episode will air. He gives it no more than a few weeks.

I will attempt to explain what's going on to the best of what my memory allows. Glenn has promised to send me an email as well that I can copy and paste that has more details and accurate information. As Glenn finds out, you'll find out.

Here's the deal:

* During this particular time of year, networks will frequently stick in pilot shows to see how their viewers take them. Especially in slots where shows are very popular. "WifeSwap is a very popular show, it's not going anywhere" so it makes sense for ABC to stick in pilots when a fair amount of viewership is expected. Viewership around this time, is a little less than usual however because "people begin vacationing and tend to stay out of the house more." I experience similar effects with my talk program April and May are the months in which my show is of least interest to my listeners. The current family, that is airing March 16th instead of us, was actually bumped out of their slot. They were scheduled to appear 2 weeks prior but was also moved back. RDF Media is still taping episodes for distribution on ABC's Network as I write this. Glenn did mention that certain holidays could delay an airing. :) Well, we know what "holy day" is coming eh?

* Shooting Date: Moving the slot to a future date may actually help increase viewership of the atheist vs christian episode. At this time, we do not know when the episode will air. Glenn said, "no more than a few weeks." That could place it on the 23rd or the 30th. However, Glenn doesn't promise either of these dates. ABC management calls the shots. A pilot for a program called, 'The Eye' is supposed to debut on the 30th, as seen on abcmedianet.com's program calendar. It says 30th here but possibly on the 23rd instead. If it does well, it will more than likely air in a new time slot or maybe perhaps WifeSwap could get moved into a better time slot: which has been a rumor on the net for a few months now. Some critics think WifeSwap is out of the door. Glenn has assured that this will not happen as interest in WifeSwap has increased. Glenn will keep me informed.

* The Editing: The contradictions in editing has been revealed to be a misunderstanding. The actual episode goes through many layers of editing processes. Two of which are of concern. RDF Media finishes it, and then ABC reviews it. They have lawyers that review the footage to make sure logos and products etc are not shown that could cause problems for the network. More than likely, my url: http://www.infidelguy.com will not be shown because quite a number of it's content, may NOT be suitable for all audiences. Glenn didn't say this, it just makes sense. Yes. I know. The program is at 10PM ET, but who knows. ABC is owned by Disney, so I guess they have to be careful. RDF Media has sent their edited copy to ABC. ABC execs still have to review for final editing. To his knowledge, there is nothing wrong with it so far to cause any major red flags. This may be a strategic move to air the episode when they think it will get the most viewship. This cannot be confirmed. I personally think they should make it a two hour special. Like an 'End of the season special' or a 'season opener' myself. :)

-snip-