The Fosters is an American family drama television series created by Peter Paige and Bradley Bredeweg for ABC Family (renamed Freeform channel). It follows the lives of the title Foster family led by lesbian couple Stef and Lena, a cop and school administrator respectively, who raise a multi-ethnic blended family that consists of one biological and four adopted children in San Diego, California.
The series first aired in the United States on the network on June 3, 2013, and its first season received generally favorable reviews from critics which garnered particular acclaim for its portrayal of LGBT themes. It also earned two GLAAD Media Awards and one Teen Choice Award.
The series tells of police officer Stef Foster and her wife Lena Adams, a school vice principal, and their multi-ethnic, blended family. Stef and Lena are the parents of Brandon, who is Stef’s biological son, and the twins, Jesus and Mariana who were adopted as small children. At the outset of the series, the couple take in two foster children: Callie and Jude, who had been removed from an abusive home. Also part of their lives is Mike Foster, Stef’s patrol partner and ex-husband as well as Brandon’s father.
Most of the show takes place in their quiet San Diego suburb and at Anchor Beach Community Charter School, where Lena works and the Foster children go to school.
Conception
The Fosters was originally conceived by openly gay creators Bradley Bredeweg and Peter Paige[10] who wanted to write a drama that reflected the “modern American family”. After originally considering a story about two gay fathers, the pair decided the subject of two men raising a family had already been done on television and began to instead consider a story about two women. When asked about the concept of two lesbian mothers raising a blended family, Bredeweg stated, “We realized that there was a kind of a vacuum when it came to stories about women raising families. So we set off in that direction. Many of our own friends are moms raising biological kids. Some of them have fostered and adopted. Suddenly, we realized that we had a story here that hadn’t been told on television before.” Additionally, certain elements of the series which deal with the foster care system are said to have been inspired by a troubled childhood friend of Bredeweg, who struggled in the foster system before eventually being adopted in her senior year of high school.
Executive producer Jennifer Lopez
Development
When developing the concept, Bredeweg and Paige were initially met with some resistance from Hollywood, with Bredeweg recounting, There were some people around us, some people in town who said, ‘You know, it is just not going to happen. You are never going to sell this show.'” After completing the first draft of the pilot script, the team was introduced to Jennifer Lopez through a friend who worked at her production company Nuyorican Productions, which was looking to branch out into scripted television. When describing their initial pitch to Lopez, Bredeweg stated, “When we met with Jennifer, she really fell in love with it. The moment we had her, we knew that we had a force behind us.”
Lopez’s decision to become involved in the project is said to have been largely inspired by her late Aunt Marisa, Lopez’s mother’s gay elder sister who had faced discrimination during her lifetime due to her sexual orientation and was unable to have a family of her own. When discussing the show’s concept, Lopez stated, “Although [the script] was about a non-traditional family and had some newer themes, it had some really basic themes as well about family and love and what’s really important. And life can be complicated and messy sometimes and not simple. It gives a really good depiction of family in this day and age.”
With Lopez on board, the team took the concept to several networks, including ABC Family, with Bredeweg recalling, “ABC Family was really receptive from the very beginning. Strangely, it felt a little like a match made in heaven. I mean, their slogan is ‘A new kind of family.’ We had a new kind of modern family, and it took off from there.”On July 6, 2012, The Hollywood Reporter, among other sources, reported that Jennifer Lopez and her production company, Nuyorican Productions, were developing the yet-to-be-titled hour-long drama for ABC Family, with Lopez set to executive produce alongside Simon Fields and Greg Gugliotta, as well as showrunners and head writers Peter Paige and Brad Bredeweg.
Finally, the first televised promo appeared on ABC Family on April 19, 2013.
Casting
On August 23, 2012, sources reported that ABC Family had ordered a pilot for The Fosters, a series which would tell the story of a lesbian couple raising a “21st-century” multi-ethnic mix of foster and biological children. On September 24, 2012, it was reported that Teri Polo and Sherri Saum had been cast to star in the pilot as the two leads, Stef Adams Foster and Lena Adams Foster respectively.
On February 6, 2013, it was reported that ABC Family had picked up the show, with production set to begin that spring for a summer 2013 premiere. The rest of the principal cast was also announced at that time, including Danny Nucci as Stef’s ex-husband Mike Foster, David Lambert as their biological son Brandon Foster, Jake T. Austin and Cierra Ramirez as Stef and Lena’s adopted twins Jesus and Mariana Foster, and Maia Mitchell and Hayden Byerly as their foster children Callie and Jude Jacob.
When recounting the casting process, Bredeweg explained, “[W]e spent tireless hours trying to find the right person for each role. Then they all began to line up—it was like dominos—the moment we found our Lena, the moment we found our Callie, the moment we found our Stef, it sort of all started to line up perfectly for us.”On April 11, 2013, TV Guide unveiled the first official cast photo of The Fosters.
In March 2015, it was announced that Jake T. Austin would be leaving the show. He tweeted: “I’m honored to have been a part of such a groundbreaking series, but I personally want to let you know that my time on the show has come to an end. Thank you for letting me be a part of your family, it’s been a pleasure.” It was announced three months later that Noah Centineo would replace Austin in the role of Jesus.
Broadcast
The Fosters premiered on June 3, 2013 and ran for ten episodes. On July 30, 2013, the series was picked up for a full season[24] and an additional eleven episodes were produced,with the first season returning on January 13, 2014 before concluding on March 24. On October 11, 2013, ABC Family renewed The Fosters for a second season that premiered on June 16, 2014. The summer finale premiered on August 18, 2014. In July, ABC Family announced a Christmas special to premiere in December with the second half of season 2 to premiere in January 2015. The third season premiered on June 8, 2015.
On January 13, 2015, ABC Family renewed the series for a third season which premiered on June 8, with the second half set to premiere on January 18, 2016 on Freeform. On November 24, 2015, the premiere date was pushed to a week later on January 25, 2016.On November 30, 2015, ABC Family announced that The Fosters was renewed for a fourth season and began airing on June 20, 2016.
While Canada broadcasts the series on ABC Spark, it airs on Fox8 in Australia where its second season premiered on February 3, 2015. In Turkey, the series airs on Dizimax Drama.
On January 10th, 2017, The Fosters was renewed for a fifth season, which will include the series 100th episode.
Ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of The Fosters.
Controversy
On October 8, 2012, more than seven months prior to the series debut, the socially conservative One Million Moms organization, a division of the American Family Association, which has been classified as a hate and extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center,condemned Lopez and the show, encouraging audiences to boycott it. The group, which has routinely advocated against the depiction of same-sex couples in the media, stated: “While foster care and adoption is a wonderful thing and the Bible does teach us to help orphans, this program is attempting to redefine marriage and family by having two moms raise these children together.”They issued the following statement:
“Obviously, ABC has lost their minds. They haven’t let up so neither will we. ABC’s Family Channel has several anti-family programs, and they are planning on adding to that growing list. ABC Family has approved a series pilot from Jennifer Lopez’s production company, Nuyorican, about a lesbian couple and their diverse family”.
In response, ABC defended the television show, with ABC Family President Michael Riley countering that The Fosters merges perfectly with the network’s “groundbreaking storytelling and iconic characters” and will feature “the same depth, heart, close relationships and authenticity that our viewers have come to expect”.
Other sources have also defended the show. Josh Middleton, a writer from Philadelphia magazine, called One Million Moms’ statement “silliness” as well as “ridiculous” and said, “They obviously missed the boat on shows like Modern Family and The New Normal, which have been on air — and killing it in the ratings game — for a while now”
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