''All My Babies' Mamas'' is an unaired American
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
special
Special or specials may refer to:
Policing
* Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force
* Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer
Literature
* ''Specia ...
planned for broadcast by
Oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
. A one-hour special was set to premiere in the spring of 2013, although the special was shelved less than a month after its announcement. The special starred rapper
Shawty Lo
Carlos Rico Walker (March 22, 1976 – September 21, 2016), better known as Shawty Lo, was an American rapper from Atlanta, Georgia.
He initially came to prominence as a founding member of the Southern hip hop group D4L, and in 2000 founded D4L ...
, in which he showcased his lifestyle as the father of 11 children fathered by 10 different women.
The special garnered considerable coverage due to its allegedly stereotypical portrayal of black families and glamorizing of premarital sex and sex with multiple partners. ''All My Babies' Mamas'' was cancelled on January 15, 2013, without airing a single episode.
Announcement and reception
On December 26, 2012, Oxygen sent out a
press release
A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...
for ''All My Babies' Mamas''. Set to air in spring 2013, the release described the special as "an intimate look at unconventional families with larger than life personalities".
The release also specified that the special would contain "outrageous and authentic over-the-top moments" that a "young, diverse female audience can
tweet and gossip about."
News of the show's central premise received a mostly negative reaction from critics. A petition sprung up online to cancel the show, while some news commentators, and the conservative advocacy group
Parents Television Council
The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by conservative Christian activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which advocates for what it considers t ...
in conjunction with author Sabrina Lamb, panned the show for perpetuating or glorifying negative stereotypes.
Oxygen's response
Oxygen network executives distanced themselves from the show,
and they canceled it before it aired.
See also
*
Baby mama
A baby mama (also baby mother, or hyphenated baby-mama) is a slang term for a mother who is not marriage, married to her child's father, although the term often carries other connotations as well. This term is associated with African Americans or ...
*
List of television series canceled before airing an episode
This is a list of television series cancelled before airing an episode. While many television shows are produced as pilots that never air on television or in any medium, the scope of this article is to list shows that were officially announced ...
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 8227566, All My Babies' Mamas
2010s American reality television series
African-American reality television series
English-language television shows
Oxygen (TV channel) original programming
Race-related controversies in television
Television controversies in the United States
Unaired television shows