A scene from The Parker Andersons, which is produced by Marblemedia and BYUtv.
BYUtv will start including LGBTQ characters on its TV shows after Canadian writers and producers voiced concerns over exclusionary “unwritten” rules on the Mormon church-affiliated broadcaster’s productions.
“Our upcoming series Overlord And The Underwoods will have LGBTQ characters,” BYUtv’s Canadian producing partner Marblemedia said in an email to NOW on April 8. “We have been having conversations with BYUtv about LGBTQ representation in future seasons of The Parker Andersons/Amelia Parker.”
Showrunner Anthony Q. Farrell and members from his writing team from made-in-Canada shows The Parker Andersons and Amelia Parker told NOW they could not include clearly identified queer characters in the shows since BYUtv is owned by U.S.-based college Brigham Young University, the flagship educational institution of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), aka the Mormon church.
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The Parker Andersons cast poses for a behind the scenes photo.
A blended family comedy series about a Black man marrying a white woman produced by a conservative, Mormon television studio sounds like a recipe for drama. And there was plenty of that behind the scenes on The Parker Andersons and Amelia Parker, two interconnected sitcoms about a chocolate-and-vanilla Brady Bunch.
The show is produced by Canada’s Marblemedia and Utah’s BYUtv. The latter is the television arm of Brigham Young University, a college sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Here’s a quick history lesson: Brigham Young was a Mormon leader who deemed Black skin a curse and Black-white intermarriage so sinful that the only way to cleanse the offence was with a beheading.