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After a decade of increasingly raucous, hip, edgy, sometimes even cynical kids programming, there are signs that producers and broadcasters across the board are launching into a chorus of "You've Gotta Have Heart" in the key of for Family
"Families are playing a much more important role, and I think that is making it seem that programming may be getting softer," says Cyma.Zarghami, executive veep and general manager of Nickelodeon.
Nick (which inaugurated the era of kid hipness with "The Ren and Stimpy Show" in 1991) has already gained a lot of attention for its Latino family sitcom "The Brothers Garcia," but the traditional, nuclear unit presented in the series is only one definition of family in today's world, which is increasingly being reflected in new shows.
Nick's recently launched series "Taina," for example, is about a young girl from an extended Puerto Rican family, while the animated series "As Told by Ginger" features a lead character living in a single-parent home.
Time together
While such primetime shows as WB's "Seventh Heaven" and "The Gilmore Girls," and Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle" may be having an upward effect on their respective dayparts, this new emphasis on family appears to be coming straight from the target audience.
"When you talk with kids, they talk a lot about wanting to spend more time with their families, so we've reflected a lot...