Last night’s episode of the Disney Channel’s children’s series Good Luck Charlie featured a family with two moms—a first for the channel, and a small but significant step forward.
As I mentioned last June when the episode was first announced, the two-mom plot is part of a secondary storyline where the parents set up a playdate for their preschooler Charlie with a new friend, who has two moms. I love that the two-mom aspect of the couple isn’t an “issue,” although there’s some initial confusion when Charlie’s parents, who have each only met one of the moms, think there’s only one and disagree on whether her name is Cheryl or Susan. Turns out, of course, that there are two: Susan (Desi Lydic) and Cheryl (Lilli Birdsell). The joke is a nice way to keep the tone light without poking fun at the moms. My only quibble is the amount of blonde in the scene. Can we have some diversity, please?
This is unfortunately the last season for Good Luck Charlie—but at least the network is building on the small step they took last year, when they ran a video about a 14-year-old boy who has two moms as part of their “Make Your Mark” social outreach campaign. I’ve said before that I hope Disney, which owns ABC and ABC Family, will build on the success of those networks’ Modern Family and The Fosters and launch LGBT-inclusive programming for younger kids. Let’s send them lots of good feedback to encourage this.
Speaking of which, The Fosters is on tonight at 9 p.m. ET. I’ll be watching and tweeting (@mombian) with the show’s hashtag #thefosters. Please join in the fun!
I was thinking the same thing about the “Blonde Overload”