September 9, 1999, LOS ANGELES: The first annual Family Program Awards today honored four winners that represent excellence in family friendly television programming: WB’s 7th Heaven, ABC’s TGIF Line-up, CBS’ Touched by an Angel and The Discovery Channel. Also honored for lifetime achievement was The Cosby Show, aired by NBC from 1984-1992.

The Family Program Awards are an initiative of The Family Friendly Programming Forum, a group of more than 30 major companies – all members of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) – that seek to encourage the TV networks, studios and production community to produce more programs during prime time that are relevant and interesting to a broad audience and that the average parent would enjoy viewing together with a child.

"The winners of the Family Program Awards deserve exceptional credit," said Robert L. Wehling, co-chair of the Forum and Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble. "In different ways, each has met the difficult challenge of creating quality television programming that appeals to large multi-generational audiences."

"These are the shows parents and children not only can watch together, but want to watch together," said Andrea Alstrup, co-chair of the Forum and Vice President, Advertising, Johnson & Johnson. "They also are excellent examples of what creative people can do with unusual themes to attract a broad audience. It’s a testament to the ingenuity of the creators and producers, and the foresight of network executives that they are on the air."

The winners:

• 7th Heaven, WB’s hit created by Brenda Hampton and produced by Spelling Productions, is a one-hour drama about a family headed by a minister. Entering its fourth season, it has struck a chord with teenage audiences and is also a program that parents can comfortably watch with their 10 year olds.

• For more than 10 years ABC has programmed its Friday night TGIF prime time schedule with shows that kids, teens and their parents enjoy viewing together. The most recent TGIF line-up included Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Boy Meets World among others.

• Touched by an Angel, CBS’ enormously popular drama by producer Martha Williamson, is a tale about angels coming to earth to counsel troubled souls. The show has demonstrated for five years that religious themes can be sensitively and entertainingly handled in a way that appeals to huge family audiences.

• The Discovery Channel, brainchild of founder John Hendricks, has a remarkable 15-year track record of bringing high quality non-fiction programming to television viewing families. The Network has a huge commitment to original documentary programming, imaginatively produced with a great sense of storytelling. It uniquely demonstrates that quality non-fiction television can reach and satisfy large audiences of parents and children.

The Lifetime Achievement Award:

• The Cosby Show, produced by Carsey-Werner, profiled a close-knit family with strong, loving parents who disciplined their children. Portraying the joys and frustrations of parenthood with humor, sensitivity and insight, the series ran for 198 episodes and was number one in the prime time Nielsens for five consecutive seasons.

In accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award, producer Tom Werner said, "Producing The Cosby Show was the highlight of a lifetime. We have learned so much from Bill Cosby – who we feel is a genius – and are enormously pleased to see the show recognized by The Family Program Awards."

Academic Partnerships Announced

In addition to bestowing its Awards at the Los Angeles luncheon, the Family Friendly Programming Forum announced partnerships with two academic institutions, New York University (NYU) and the University of Southern California (USC), to foster student interest in family friendly television programming.

Under the NYU program, the university will establish a new interdisciplinary family friendly script competition. Entitled the Michelle Cousin Screenwriting Contest, it will provide cash awards to students in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies who submit the most outstanding, original family friendly television scripts, as judged by the faculty. The Forum also will provide scholarships to five NYU students with superior grades who commit to producing family friendly projects as part of their screenwriting certificate program. And the Forum will provide speakers from member companies to address NYU students and explain the opportunities associated with careers in family friendly programming.

At USC, the Forum’s initiative will be tied to an extremely selective interdisciplinary program that links the university’s prestigious Marshall School of Business with its highly regarded School of Cinema-Television. Under the program, two Marshall undergraduate students will have the option to either write a family friendly script for television or complete an internship focused on family friendly programming with a university partner company in the entertainment industry. At the graduate level, the Marshall School will establish a special fellowship program enabling an MBA student to have an extensive internship experience with an industry partner company on a project directly related to quality family television programming.

Last month, members of the Family Friendly Programming Forum launched a special initiative aimed at experienced screenwriters. In conjunction with The WB Network, 11 members of the Forum will underwrite development of scripts for new family friendly TV shows.

The Family Friendly Programming Forum comprises these companies: Ace Hardware Corporation, American Airlines, Ameritech Corporation, AT&T, Bell Atlantic Corporation, BellSouth Corporation, Bestfoods, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Federal Express Corporation, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation, Gillette Company, Hallmark Cards, Inc., Hershey Foods Corporation, Hunt Wesson, Inc., IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg Company, McCormick & Company, Inc., McDonalds Corporation, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Nestlé USA, Inc., The Pillsbury Company, Pfizer Incorporated, The Procter & Gamble Company, Sears, Roebuck and Co., SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare, State Farm Insurance Companies, Unilever, Warner-Lambert Company, Welch Food Inc., Wendy’s International, Inc.