The Return of the Family Movie Night

Last Friday night, NBC aired its second family movie, The Jensen Project. NBC is part of a partnership with Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart to produce a total of four family-oriented movies. The first film, Secrets of the Mountain, aired back in April. The next movie, A Walk in My Shoes, is planned for broadcast in the fall. The final project will go into production later in the year. NBC has billed this latest effort to bring back family-friendly entertainment as the return of the family movie night.


All parties involved believe each movie can lead to the development of future TV series. The ultimate vision is to resurrect ABC’s popular TGIF or “Thank God It’s Friday” concept. You might remember starting back in the late 1980s and running through 2000 ABC had a successful lineup of family-friendly shows such as Perfect Strangers, Family Matters, Different Strokes, and Full House. We welcome NBC, Procter & Gamble, and Wal-Mart’s efforts. It will undoubtedly be an uphill battle thanks to a recent court decision where “the FCC's regulations on indecency were struck down by a federal appeals court that termed them "unconstitutionally vague," essentially loosening strictures against profane language on the small screen.”

We all know that the family hour has been virtually dismantled by network television, and if this new ruling stands, network television may join their counterpart cable networks with more content that embraces blatant sexuality, profanity and violence. So The Jensen Project is a welcome relief from what could be coming our way in the near future. Broadcast television networks are under an enormous amount of pressure. They have watched their audience erode over the past years thanks to the fragmentation of the viewing public and the narrowcasting of new cable networks. Most cable networks today offer an abundance of new and original programming. Some of it, in fact, is very good.

My hope is that the networks will not abandon quality programming for the sake of crude, sexually-charged content to attract viewers. Not everyone on cable television resorts to this tactic. I believe audiences are looking for well-made programs that are entertaining and thought-provoking, which brings me back to the producers of The Jensen Project. Hopefully, they can be successful of bringing back family programming. At least it’s worth a try. The original vision for programs like Secrets of the Mountain and The Jensen Project started right here in Cincinnati, Ohio. Brian Wells, who is a former P&G executive and pastor of Crossroads Church, spearheaded the effort to bring family-friendly programming back to network television. It’s quite an accomplishment to bring Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart and NBC together. Most people believe it would be impossible to resurrect the family hour, but Brian Wells believes otherwise. Is there room on network television for family shows? Only time will tell.

A lot has changed on television since the days of the TGIF concept. For one thing, most of the networks have abandoned Friday and Saturday nights. They practically consider it a wasteland. They put little effort, money and resources into reaching Friday and Saturday night audiences. Perhaps Brian Wells and his team can change that.

But they will have to prove their case that the audience is there and wants family-friendly programming. If the family movie night is to become a reality, they will have to make their case in the ratings. The Jensen Project scored a 1 rating with a four share and reached 3.9 million people on its broadcast premier. Even by today’s network standards, those numbers will not cut it. But to be fair, it is a tough sell to find an audience in the middle of summer while most people are either on vacation or involved in outdoor activities. It will take a financial commitment from P&G to provide the resources for production as well as Wal-Mart’s commitment to buy the advertising time necessary to establish a new family movie night on network television.

Brian Wells may be able to win the hearts and minds of the kid audience, but he will have to score with the key 18 to 49 demographic. His biggest competition could be the DVD player and Pixar. I’m not sure that the family night movie has ever gone away. Today, most people have DVD players and a library of family-friendly films. In fact, Pixar has reinvented and defined family entertainment that truly speaks to the entire family, including teens and adults. Who doesn’t have a copy of Toy Story, Cars, Finding Nemo, Wall-e, and Up. Most kids don’t mind watching these over and over and over.

So the bottom line is the programming has to be excellent and intelligent. If this thing is going to work, the adults are going to have to want to watch. However, people have gotten out of the habit of reserving Friday and Saturday nights for family movie time. So Brian Wells and his team have their work cut out for them.