Beauty and the Beast and The Family Channel Controversies

Beauty and the Beast and the Family Channel Controversies
The Family Channel, a cable channel, was the first to buy the rights to broadcast the newly syndicated episodes of Beauty and the Beast (TV).
The show aired beginning in September 1990.
==The Official Announcement==
From a March 1990 press release by Republic: 
==Fans Get the News==
Fans got the news in the spring of 1990: 
Many fans expressed happiness that they would be able to see regular reruns, as well as being happy about the show being seen as a money-making operation that could lead to the possibility of a future movie:
==Not Without Strife==
But the Family Channel's deal was not one with controversies.
Controversy One: showing the episodes "out of order," therefore altering continuity and perceived characterization.
Controversy Two: The Family Channel edited, or removed, scenes they considered offensive, non-Christian, and did not portrayal "family values." There was also a proposal to add and/or manipulate original footage in the third season to show Vincent Wells and Catherine Chandler getting married, therefore "legitimizing" the birth of their baby. Another proposal or rumor is that The Family Channel would removed any mention or scene with the baby.
==Some Context: Outside, and Self-Censorship Issues==
The Beauty and the Beast (TV) fandom had many gen zines, fade-to-black het zines, and sexually explicit het zines. It had NO slash zines and, in fact, the topic was barely, barely mentioned, much less discussed. So, while it pushed the boundaries of what was on the screen in some ways, fans were not tolerant of exploring other views.
Another discussion that was playing out at the time as discussion about the zine Black Cover and "acceptability," was the Family Channel's shenanigans regarding airing re-runs of the show, and that network's aggressive editing of the show to make it "family friendly." This was a topic that most fans railed against, and another backdrop of censorship. 
Fans also had a long history, and discussed at GREAT length, the topic of Vincent Wells' genetic make-up, origins, and "otherness": was he a beast with human qualities, or a human with beast qualities. This topic was important for many reason, only one of which was the tension among fans, the show's writers, and the networks about whether the relationship between Catherine Chandler and the beast could/should be consummated, or was this bestiality? See more on this topic at Vincent: The Beast.
In November 1990, a fan, Beth Blighton, wrote a long letter to the letterzine, Once Upon a Time... Is Now #27, encouraging fans to resist censorship in all forms in the broader world and included comments about "The Family Channel's" involvement with Reverend Wildmon. Throughout the late 1970s, Wildmon, a conservative Christian, actively protested television series that he thought promoted immoral lifestyles. Beauty and the Beast fans were specifically affected by Wildmon's crusade as he was a "consultant" on "The Family Channel's" handling of the series. "Mr. Weirich returning my call (my answering machine had been rude to him the day before), was still denying any present day existence as a "Christian Broadcasting Network" though at the same time confiding that the Reverend Wildmon (organizer of the A.F.A., which promotes the boycotting of sponsors based on a program's 'moral' content, see V3#3) had indeed been a "consultant" on their handling of the series." -- from Pipeline v.3 n.11 (November 1990) 
And, of course, the massive topic hanging over all of this fandom was the controversial third season. See The Beauty and the Beast Wars.
==Showing Episodes Out of Order==
Showing syndicated shows out of order was not unusual. This was due for many reasons: carelessness, disinterest in continuity, access to certain episodes and not others, and the belief that order was not essential in non-episodic television.
Shows were often originally shown in an order that was different than when they were filmed. Fans, reliant upon the original airing date, assumed that this order was then the correct one.
====Fan Comments====
Luckily, as Stephanie Wiltse from Pipeline, explained, an intrepid fan set the record straight about The Family Channel's original schedule: 
==The Aggressive Editing of the Rebroadcasts==
Immediately after "The Family Channel" procured the show, fans began speculating. From Stephanie A. Wiltse of Pipeline: 
The Family Channel, of course, did indeed edit the shows, something that raised the topics of canon and reality, of censorship, of moral overreach, of clumsy decision making, and what constituted "family values."
General comments about both the editing and the "marriage scene" rumor, as well as comments about censorship, fan behavior, and morality from Stephanie A. Wiltse: 
===Fan Comments: The Removed Scenes===
===Fan Comments: The Topic of Censorship===
==The Added Wedding and the Baby Erasure Plan==
The Family Channel announced that it was alter the original third season to either portray a wedding between Vincent and Catherine, or the network would delete any scene or mention of Vincent and Catherine's baby. This was due to its refusal to promote the portrayal a child born to unmarried characters.
===Mainstream Press Blurbs===
From Mark Dawidziak from the "Detroit Free Press" (October 18, 1990): 
===What Did Ron Perlman Think of This?===
===Fan Comments===
 
==The Third Season and Fandom Conflict Spills Over to The Family Channel==
===Fan Comments===
==Hypocrisy Regarding "God's Creation," and Not Answering Fan Mail== 
==The Family Channel Wasn't the Only Meddling Culprit==
==The Cease and Desist Letters==
In early 1991, two fans who produced zines were sent cease and desist letters by "Republic Pictures," the entity that owned the rights to Beauty and the Beast (TV).
The letters, of course, caused much consternation and fannish discussion regarding the legality of fanworks, fear of being sued or harassed, questions about why the letters were sent, and future actions.
Some fans heard rumors that fellow fans and/or The Family Channel
See The Beauty and the Beast Cease and Desist Letters.
===Fan Comments===
==References==
Category:Beauty and the Beast