A few weeks ago, my 11 year-old stumbled into a show on Netflix called The Fosters. I’d heard of it before but had never really paid attention. We eased our way into the first episode and by its end, we were completely and utterly hooked. Hence began a week of a total binge fest in our house. My husband was away on business, so we watched two episodes a night.
If you haven’t watched it yet, you should know that the show follows the lives of two two foster mothers (partners) that share a home with their biological son, adopted twins, and two new foster children. It follows the blended families’ ups and downs and romantic entanglements, not to mention touching on serious and controversial topics. I really appreciate watching a show that introduces my daughter to topics that other shows don’t even go near. Here are some of those topics:
– Adoption
– Foster homes
– Gay marriage (the first same-sex marriage post-DOMA on television)
– Transgender identity
– Juvenile prison
– Homophobia
– Gender stereotypes
– Racial issues
I feel so good that my daughter’s being challenged and is finally watching a piece of reality with me. We’re up to episode 12 and Rosie O’Donnell has just been introduced. She’s a source of comfort for me – someone I’ve been following most of my life. After watching the first 10 episodes on Netflix, we have been faced with having to download episodes elsewhere, finally finding them on Amazon. The second season is coming back on ABC Family and we want to be caught up.
Have you watched The Fosters? Thoughts?
Disclosure: I’m a member of the #Netflix #Streamteam and write one post a month about my experience with Netflix but I choose my own topics and all opinions are my own.
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I love this show! I was a little surprised at how many controversial topics they were addressing, but they do it beautifully. It’s great to see such an open-minded show succeed.