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Airdate: Switched at Birth

This drama series has been commended for being the first US TV show to feature multiple deaf characters and deaf actors in lead roles.

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2013-04-23_1634Next month FOX8 screens Switched at Birth, ABC Family’s drama series that revolves around two teenagers who were switched at birth and grew up in very different homes.

This stars stars hearing impaired actress Katie Leclerc as Daphne Vasquez. The series has been commended for being the first American television show to feature multiple deaf characters and deaf actors in lead roles.

It was also ABC Family’s number one series debut of all time.

Switched at Birth, the groundbreaking drama series that tells the story of two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched as newborns in the hospital, will premiere exclusively on FOX8 on Monday May 20 at 8.30pm.

John and Kathryn Kennish have led the “perfect” life – he a retired professional athlete and she a stay-at-home mum, having raised their two children, Bay and Toby, in an idyllic neighbourhood. But their world is turned upside down when they learn there was a mistake at the hospital and Bay is not their birth child.

The family meets Regina Vasquez and her daughter, Daphne. A single mum, Regina has worked hard to take care of Daphne, a member of her school’s basketball team, and a typical teenager in every way except that she is deaf. Daphne lives with her mother and grandmother, and attends her deaf and hard of hearing school with her best friend, Emmett.

The girls struggle to keep their footing in the world they know and the new one into which they have both been thrown. When financial difficulties arise for Regina, she accepts the Kennishes’ offer that she, Daphne and Daphne’s grandmother all live in the Kennishes’ guest house, giving everyone a chance to get to know each another.

The drama also stars Vanessa Marano as Bay Kennish; Constance Marie as Regina Vasquez; D.W. Moffett as John Kennish; Lea Thompson as Kathryn Kennish; Lucas Grabeel as Toby Kennish; and newcomer Sean Berdy as Emmett.

Monday May 20 at 8.30pm on FOX8.

7 Responses

  1. Didn’t Pretty Little Liars air on GO! for a season before migration to FOX8? That would be the only ABC Family show that aired on FTA… but also, isn’t it the studio who produces the series itself that an output deal is struck with, and not the network? Quite a few of ABC Family’s original series are actually produced by Warner and not ABC.

  2. Finally! I’ve been a fan of this show for a while and it’s fantastic. I recently got my sister in law into this show and she’s loving it so far. It’s just a shame it’s not on any FTA channel.

  3. @Josh777 – Thanks for the update, it’s a good show, just a shame its taken so long to get here and now many will never see it. But on the upside at least it’s not likely to be pulled after a few eps if it doesn’t perform.

  6. @ Craig – to my knowledge no Australian FTA network has broadcast any ABC Family series. However, I think FOX8 were holding off on buying too many series from them till they had come to the output deal (which was made the other month) which would have a huge cost saving. Will be interesting to see how many ABC Family series we see on FOX8 this year.

  7. This is well over due, a nice show it’s already in it’s 2nd season with some 40 episodes already aired in the US.

    I do wonder if a FTA channel had the rights to this one and only just now on sold the show to Foxtel?

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