{"id":30509,"date":"2023-12-07T10:16:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T15:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=30509"},"modified":"2023-12-07T10:16:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T15:16:29","slug":"great-american-familys-bill-abbott-discusses-why-hollywood-has-underserved-faith-and-family-friendly-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/12\/great-american-familys-bill-abbott-discusses-why-hollywood-has-underserved-faith-and-family-friendly-content.html","title":{"rendered":"Great American Family&#8217;s Bill Abbott Discusses Why Hollywood Has Underserved Faith and Family-Friendly Content"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_30515\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30515\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/12\/bill-abbott-great-american-media-credit-gam-instagram.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30515\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/12\/bill-abbott-great-american-media-credit-gam-instagram.png\" alt=\"bill abbott\" width=\"768\" height=\"457\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30515\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">@billabbotthc\/Instagram.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With family-friendly and faith content increasingly making a more significant splash in TV, theaters, and streaming platforms, Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Great American Media, is enthusiastic about the future of entertainment, and he has many reasons to be excited.<\/p>\n<p>Great American Family has consistently been the fastest-growing channel on cable, and Abbott recently took over as head of Great American Pure Flix, the streaming platform formerly known as Pure Flix, after a highly publicized merger. Abbott, who previously headed the Hallmark Channel, recently told CBN\u2019s \u201cQuick Start\u201d podcast, \u201cIt\u2019s been a great journey, and we\u2019ve had a lot of success so far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Great American Media\u2019s properties offer clean, family-friendly content millions of Americans crave and have been left wanting, with Hollywood creating a plethora of TV shows and movies that relish in sex, violence, and other objectionable content. Abbott was honest when asked why he thinks the family-friendly audience has been overlooked for so long. He said, \u201cIt\u2019s because, quite frankly, the coastal elites have a different sensibility. What is rewarded in Hollywood is being shocked and pushing the envelope as far as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_Dcg2Ul_aVE?si=fMh1UMfvgd5RT5KB\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Abbott said the emphasis is too often on engaging in these antics to get attention or win awards, but he said many Americans want to see more informational content. He said, \u201cI think the majority of the country is looking for something quite different. And you look at the awards show ratings, for example, and how far down they have been over the years, and it\u2019s because they\u2019ve totally gone off the rails in terms of what the offering is, and it\u2019s out of touch with the sensibility of the majority of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He called it a \u201cprivilege\u201d to create content so many Americans sincerely want to watch. Great American Family recently announced a massive Christmas movie lineup, with actress Candace Cameron Bure serving as a prime network voice, elevating the scope of work. And over on the streaming side, Great American Pure Flix is focusing on a different aspect of celebration each week, ranging from \u201cGetting in the Spirit\u201d to \u201cCelebrate Christmas Miracles,\u201d all culminating with \u201cCelebrate Keeping Christ in Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Abbott said he wants the cable channel and streamer to be a \u201cquality, go-to destination\u201d for years to come. \u201cWe really want \u2014 more than anything \u2014 to be a bright light in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cTo positively impact the culture, to be that place that people can come home to and watch and just feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With family-friendly and faith content increasingly making a more significant splash in TV, theaters, and streaming platforms, Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Great American Media, is enthusiastic about the future of entertainment, and he has many reasons to be excited. Great American Family has consistently been the fastest-growing channel on cable, and Abbott recently&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":30515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3388,1],"tags":[16,1523,6029],"class_list":["post-30509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-faith-based","category-television","tag-family-entertainment","tag-family-friendly-television","tag-great-american-family"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Great American Family&#039;s Bill Abbott Discusses Why Hollywood Has Underserved Faith and Family-Friendly Content<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bill Abbott, president and CEO of Great American Media, is enthusiastic 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