ABC Pulls Discriminatory Reality Show Before It Debuts

I guess this is reality show Friday on the blog.

Under pressure from several advocacy groups, ABC announced today that it has pulled the plug on "Welcome to the Neighborhood" even before the first episode aired.

The show seemed to be on the verge of promoting racial and anti-homosexual messages and had drawn criticism from groups claiming it risked fostering prejudice.

ABC acknowledged the delicate nature of the series in which families asked to pick a new neighbor are made to expose and overcome their biases. The six-episode show, which was to debut July 10, follows three families in Austin, Texas, who are given the chance to choose a new neighbor for a house on their street.

Each family initially wants someone similar to them -- white and conservative. Instead, they must choose from families that are black, Hispanic and Asian; two gay white men who've adopted a black child; a couple covered in tattoos and piercings; a couple who met at the woman's initiation as a witch; and a poor white family.