Round 2 of Campaign Against Lifetime's 'Deadbeat Dads'--Contact Hearst Corp.

Submitted by Matt on Tue, 2009-05-05 16:03

Action item here. Excerpt:

'Lifetime TV announced the launch of its new, father-bashing reality show Deadbeat Dads last week, and Lifetime received several thousand protest letters, calls and faxes last week. This week we take our protest to the Hearst Corporation, which owns much of Lifetime TV. To email and fax a protest letter to both Hearst and Lifetime Executives, click here. Also, please call Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.’s main switchboard at (212) 887-6800. If you participated in Round 1, we invite you to participate in Round 2.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Deadbeat Dads, originally developed at Fox, follows National Child Support founder Jim Durham as he tracks down and confronts dads who don’t pay child support.” According to Reuters, Durham “functions as a sort of ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ for tracking deadbeats…It’s ambush reality TV.” Durham will target fathers who are behind on their child support by “making their lives miserable — foreclosing on their house, repossessing their car. He will squeeze them.”'

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Comments

I have no sympathy for dead beat dads that abandon their children, however, I assume this show will only deal with the money side of things and I am sure will not reveal the deeper issues.

As it has been pointed out many times at this site, single mothers have many more hand-outs and options available to them so that they always appear to be the workers and the saints when it comes to single parenthood.

On a more personal note, my children's father has always supported his children financially but is not present physically (he has not seen them in more than a year). The door has always been open for him as he and I get along well and he is 'retired' so he has no reason not to come and visit, he could even choose to live in the area. Yesterday was my son's birthday- no card or phone call from dad.

In my opinion, he is far worse than dads that don't give financial support because for him, giving money is the easiest thing for him to do. It is garnished from his check, so he puts no effort towards it.

I think dead beat dads ARE a true problem , but a TV show like this will not solve the real issues. Men need to learn that fatherhood is important and it starts by fathers gaining respect in the courts, paternity issues, etc. Although I am not a fan of government handouts, if they are available it needs to be for both genders as it would show that fathers are important to the development of healthy kids.

I would like to see the show before I form an opinion about it.

I would also rather see a show about full custody fathers doing well.

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Submitted by Kris on Thu, 2009-05-07 16:04