From Realtybaron:
Fair Housing Spoils Reality Debut
ABC’s plans for a reality program were promptly killed once civil rights advocates caught wind of it. The show’s format had non-traditional families and families of color competing to move into a white, suburban neighborhood in Texas. The obvious conflict with the Fair Housing Act apparently went unnoticed (or ignored) by both ABC and MGM management, who produced the program for ABC.

In the shows–all of them have been completed–seven diverse families seek votes from three white families in a development called Circle C Ranch, outside Austin. The white families, through a series of interviews, competitions and social interactions, award a 3,300-square-foot, four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bathroom home to the winner–a neighbor, the families say, who will fit in with the community’s mostly Christian and Republican values.As for the show, “It’s hilarious and had me in stitches,” said John C. Brittain, chief counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonprofit civil rights organization. “If it weren’t so discriminatory, it would be great.”Discrimination: unlawful and always a buzz-kill. ABC Drops Show After Complaints [NY Times]

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