The winter season of The Fosters premiered last night, and for me, the first few minutes were the best. I’ll take two moms snuggling in bed anytime. Apparently, so will many others — but creator and producer Bradley Bredeweg is trying to keep a dose of reality in his two-mom romance.
In an interview in the New York Times, Bredeweg observed “We’re dealing with two women who are raising five kids!” in explaining why there isn’t more sex on the show. Word. (And we only have one kid.)
Go read the rest of the interview for more insight into the show, including Bredeweg’s admission that he and co-creator Peter Paige, who are both gay men, sometimes look to co-executive producer Joanna Johnson, a lesbian mom, for guidance on how two women would handle things.
As great as the opening scene was last night, the scenes in which moms Stef and Lena argue and then make up were equally powerful and well acted. I’m guessing Johnson may have had a hand in those. As the NYT notes, their foster daughter’s running away “throws the mothers back into their customary role of crisis management, something that, unlike many heterosexual TV parents, they share equally, getting testy with each other but muddling through to a happy conclusion.”
What did you think of the episode? What are your predictions (real or fanciful) for the rest of the season?
Tune in next week when real-life lesbian foster mom Rosie O’Donnell guest stars as Rita Hendricks, “a tough yet compassionate woman who works for the foster care system and becomes a mentor to a member of the Foster family,” according to publicity materials. Sneak peek images below.
