The CEO of Great American Channels (GAC), a conservative-leaning network, is working on developing a line-up of traditional family-friendly content in response to other major networks like Disney and Hallmark turning more to “woke” left-wing programming.
“After some families found the Hallmark Channel’s pro-LGBT shift to be disheartening, sister networks GAC Family and GAC Living are now poised to be major Hallmark competitors,” CBN News reported Friday.
During an interview this week on “Up Next with John Contratti,” GAC Media CEO Bill Abbott detailed his plans to provide high-quality original content that whole families can view and enjoy.
“There’s so much need for family content and the market in this space. It’s pretty scary, quite frankly, the amount of content that’s out there, the vast majority of content is salacious and is not appropriate for any member of the family, really,” he said.
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The native of Oyster Bay, Long Island, said creating family programming is “something he’s passionate about and wanted to do.”
One of the company’s biggest moves appears to be hiring Candace Cameron Bure for a leading role in the organization.
The GAC Family network has already been hard at work on its goal, airing 12 original Christmas movies during the last Christmas season. The company has also hired Hallmark actors and actresses to appear in movies and programs for its channels. Danica McKellar, Jen Lilley, Daniel Lissing, and Jessica Lowndes are just a few of the performer’s GAC audiences will recognize.
The GAC Living network is also airing original movies as well as several classic TV series which are among family favorites, including Bewitched, Full House, and Who’s The Boss.
“Those shows are funny. They are very well-written. They are well-cast,” Abbott explained. “And while they are retro in many ways, people really do long for nostalgia and long for that type of content that they spent a lot of time with growing up. And so, we focused on those that were family-friendly.”
He also said he has been scouting locations in the U.S. to produce new films instead of Canada.
“We’re looking at Oklahoma, Kentucky, Texas, really anywhere that might offer some advantages to shoot movies,” he said.
McKellar was a co-star of “The Wonder Years” from 1988-93, playing the character Winnie Cooper.
Bure starred in “Full House” and its reprise, “Fuller House.” In a regarding the 46-year-old actress joining GAC Media to produce, develop and star, Abbott discussed how excited he is about bringing on the star who’s been adored by “generations of fans as one of family entertainment’s most cherished and relatable stars,” People magazine noted in a Tuesday report.
“She has helped build this genre into the mainstream success it is today, and I look forward to working together at GAC Media as we further establish our brands as leaders in quality family programming,” he added. “I am truly honored that she has chosen to be a part of and help curate her special brand of family entertainment here at Great American Channels.”
The “Fuller House” star also announced she would be creating “wholesome content” for “an audience” that wants programming for the “whole family.”
“I’m very excited to develop heartwarming family and faith-filled programming and make the kind of stories my family and I love to watch,” the actress noted in a statement. “I am constantly looking for ways that I can inspire people to live life with purpose.”
“GAC fits my brand perfectly,” she went on to say. “We share a vision of creating compelling wholesome content for an audience who wants to watch programming for and with the whole family. Great, quality entertainment with a positive message is what my partnership with GAC is all about.”
Previously, in response to Disney and other entertainment companies taking on non-traditional ‘woke’ content, The Daily Caller’s co-founder Jeremy Boreing announced the outlet — which has begun to produce its own films — will also create more traditional content, a move that was praised recently by former Fox News host and current SiriusXM podcaster Megyn Kelly.
“You know, we’ve been working on kids’ content over here at The Daily Wire for the last three months. We’ve been developing a couple of animated shows. We weren’t going to announce them until, you know, the end of the year and we get passed the election and all of the politics of the moment, but Chris Rufo leaked those unbelievable tapes from Disney of people saying, yeah, we have a not-so-secret gay agenda, and, you know, we’re going to put many, many, many more examples of content aimed at incredibly small children,” Boreing explained to Kelly during an appearance last week.
“We thought, welp, we can’t sit on this anymore. Somebody’s got to get out there and say something, and we are doing something so let’s announce it,” he continued. “We announced that we were starting our DW Kids program to sort of coinciding with all the entertainment we’ve been making since 2020. And the reception is unbelievable.”
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