Tonight at 8p on ABC Family’s Switched at Birth, it is time for Toby (Lucas Grabeel) and Lily (Rachel Shenton) to make a decision on whether or not to abort their baby with Down Syndrome.
Toby is 21 and he is barely making enough to pay his rent as he works as a DJ. Lily, his neighbor with benefits is pregnant with their child and it has tested positive for Down Syndrome. She is a teacher and is also barely making ends meet. The reason why she got the test is that her brother has it, so she knows what it will be like to raise a child with it. Now the two of them have to decide what to do.
On tonight’s episode, Toby tells his parents about the baby. His dad (DW Moffett) freaks out and tells him to have an abortion. His mom (Lea Thompson) on the other hand is supportive. Bay (Vanessa Marano), his sister thinks he should also terminate the pregnancy, but he should do his research before he makes a decision he can’t reverse. Bay takes him to a school with children, who have Down Syndrome, and he gets to see kids like his future child for himself. After the visit, he makes his decision.
Now it is time for Lily and Toby to decide what to do. By the end of the episode, we will know what choice they make. There will be tears from them and from us during this well played out episode that explores both sides of the emotionally charged topic. I can’t praise them enough for how well done this episode is and I think everyone should watch it.
A few months ago, I started talking to a cousin I didn’t really know I have. She told me she teaches kids with Special Needs. Her classroom used to be filled with children with Down Syndrome, but as time has gone on there are less of them in her classroom. When I asked her why, she explained to me that because of genetic testing a lot of them are being aborted. When she told me that, it made me sad because I want to someday adopt a child with Down Syndrome. They are beautiful human beings that are full of love and joy. It saddens me that families are opting not to have them (I just need to say, I am pro-choice), but I can understand why they wouldn’t. Tonight’s episode shows both sides and why their decision is right for them and only them. A choice you want to see them make for themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sil2xc_dO90
Last week, America fell in love with Monica the Medium and tonight at 8p on ABC Family Monica Ten-Kate continues to share her amazing gift with us. If you missed what that is, you can watch the series premiere above or I can tell you that 21 year old is a Medium and helps to connect loved ones with their lost ones.
Since she is 21, that means that she probably has known since she was a kid that she can talk to dead people. Believe it or not, she told me she didn’t realize that she has this special ability until she was in high school. Here she is going through the normal struggles of being a teenager, and then she starts hearing voices. What was she thinking? She said, “At the time I wasn’t even sure what it was and then I realized what it was. ” Then she added, “It was people’s deceased loved ones.”
Did she tell people as soon as she realized what it was? She explained, “I suppressed my gifts for a long time. Really, it’s the fear of saying, I might be talking to the dead and what people would think about that?”
When did she know she wasn’t going crazy? She answered that question by saying, “I think there is a difference between just hearing random voices and hearing voices and seeing things and feeling things when it pertains to a particular person you are with. Then when you repeat it and everything is connecting with them and they are crying.” She elaborated, “It’s not that I am crazy. There is a reason why this is coming through because it is there loved ones and they are supposed to hear a message and receive that healing.”
Then when she was in college, she came out of the closet and told people that she is a Medium. Before then, she was afraid what people would think. When she told most people about her gift, they told her it makes sense.
So she took their reactions and said, “I don’t care what people think or say, there’s a reason why I was given this gift and I want to start sharing it with more and more people.”
Now, just a few years later, she is sharing it with millions of people on the ABC Family Docuseries about her gift and the people she is sharing it with. You get to see her in action and people reacting to the marvelous way she gets to heal them by letting them get a message from a loved one that they never thought they would hear from again.
But Monica the Medium isn’t only about her being a Medium, it is about her searching for a man she can love and the people around her that she loves even when they are driving her a little crazy. That is what the living do after all!
So watch her tonight and every Tuesday at 8p on ABC Family as tries to deal with the living and the dead at the same time. Not an easy task, but she makes it enjoyable to watch.
Tim Draper really wants a million people to watch StartupU on ABC Family tonight at 10p, that he is willing to donate a million of his own dollars to charity if that happens. That’s right, all you have to do is watch the show from the comfort of your own bed and several charities will benefit from it.
What is StartupU? It is like being on Shark Tank, without just having the money thrown into your lap. Draper is the founder of Draper University and he offers courses to people who want to be Entrepreneurs. The seven-week program teaches the fundamentals of launching a startup company under the mentorship of America’s business leaders. Then when they are done, they pitch their ideas. So far 150 past students have seen $15 million invested into their ideas.
Tonight, you can watch as one class hopes that not only will they graduate with plans on how to make their good idea work, but also some funding to make that great idea a reality.
So do some good and learn a little bit tonight at 10p and watch StartupU on ABC Family. I know I will be watching.
Monica Ten-Kate is just your normal 21-year-old college student, but there is something different about her. She can talk to the dead and share their messages with their loved ones. Tonight and every Tuesday at 8p for the next 10 weeks on ABC Family, you can watch Monica the Medium try to date as a departed soul wants to use her to connect with a loved one. If that is not enough for her to handle her Catholic mom is trying to understand her gift, her sisters and her are close but sometimes they bicker and she has the typical fights that roommates have when they live together. It is a lot for anyone to handle, but somehow she makes it work.
On tonight’s season premiere, you will not only get to know Monica, her friends and her family you will get to see her at work. She can be shopping at a store getting ready to buy a dress when someone will come through with a message for a loved one. One loved one can turn into multiple ones and a quick trip to the store can turn into a long one. Or she can be at a party and a father wants to tell his son that he knows he did everything he could to save him but there was nothing he could’ve done. It is so special to watch her share her gift with strangers because you can tell she is doing it from the heart.
Something I can tell she does from experience. About two weeks ago, I interview her about her docuseries and my mother came through. She knew stuff about how my mom died that I haven’t told anyone. She was also able to share some information about my mom and me after she passed away. It wasn’t only these things that made her gift so special to me, it was how she relayed the information with such warmth and care. It made her gift so much more special to me and watching her share her gift weekly will do the same for you.
A gift that is so special, it seems like the spirits were at work to make her share it on television. She wasn’t looking to be on TV, but then about a year and a half ago, a few producers and production companies contacted her all during the same week. In fact, they all found her in different ways. One of the producers went to Penn State and he read about her in the school newspaper. They all asked for interviews on the same day and she did them back to back on Skype. With all of those coincidences, she took it as sign as maybe it something she should do. After 13 meetings here in Los Angeles, she knew it was something that was right for her to do.
Now that she decided she wanted to do the show, she wanted to make sure it was going to air on the right network. It was important for to do it on ABC Family, not only because she grew up watching it, she also knew they would make her docuseries something she could be proud to be part of.
The lighthearted show gives the Medium a larger medium that she can share her gift with. Instead of just helping people locally, she can now help people all over the country. She is also hoping that some of the skeptics, who will tune into the show, will change their minds about Mediums. Maybe by seeing her in action, they will realize that there truly are people who can communicate with the dead.
Don’t expect all of those communications to be depressing. She told me, “I always say a spirit comes through for whoever needs it the most, not necessarily, who wants it the most.†Some of those spirits who come through will be just funny as when they were when they were alive and others will have a serious message to share.
She promises that during each of the 10 one-hour episodes that there will be laughs and there will be tears, but most importantly, it will be an hour of television that people of all ages can watch together as a family and enjoy it all the same.
Not only is she relatable, she is also very likable. How many times can you say that about a person’s who real story is being shared on television every week? Not that often. Monica is pure joy and her show captures that essence.
Monica the Medium is the story of girl who is trying to go to college, hang with her friends and family, try to meet a guy and help people who lost someone very special to them. Since she is not your typical college student, Monica the Medium is not your typical show. It is better than that. Out of all the reality shows I’ve seen that are about and/or have Mediums in them, this one is by far the best. If you’ve ever been curious about Mediums, then I promise you will enjoy this docuseries.
Switched at Birth is back on ABC Family tonight at 8p for the second part of its fourth season and there is a lot of change going on. As you have seen in the promos, there is surprise pregnancy coming up. That isn’t the only thing that is happening, Lea Thompson previewed what is coming up for her character Kathryn Kennish.
The Kennishes have always been wealthy and lived a lavish lifestyle, but they will be having some financial difficulties this season. John has always been the breadwinner in the family, but that is all about to change. That role reversal is going to put a strain on their marriage. That isn’t the only problem they are going to have because of their money issues. Thompson explained, “I think it’s going to be a real strain on our marriage because Kathryn and especially John are used to kind of being mama and papa bear, so kind of just like throwing money at problems and we’re not going to be able to do that anymore.”
The role reversal is because Kathryn has gone through a metamorphous since the show debuted. She went from being a stay at home mom to a successful author. Thompson explained, “My character ends up being as kind of awesome surprising Renaissance woman. You think she’s kind of shallow at first and she doesn’t seem that complicated.” Then she added, “She’s a woman of great perseverance and talent.”
A talent she learned for the role is Sign Language. Anyone who has learned a language later in life (as in after you graduate), knows it is a talent. She told me what it was like to learn to talk with her hands. She said, “It’s really difficult in a lot of ways but really beautiful because you realize like in any language there’s a lot of ways to say one thing.” Even though it is difficult to learn, she finds it exciting and wishes she knew it better.
She told me that she thinks people tune in every week to see the cast talk in this beautiful language. As an actress, she enjoys being able to talk with her hands for once. She explained, “When you’re acting, you’re told to kind of keep your arms down which actually feels really handicap because a lot of time when you’re excited, you want someone to understand, you use your hands to help them understand.” Then she elaborated, “So it’s fun to have that freedom to use your hands.”
Not only did she learn the language, she learned about their culture. What surprised her most is, “there’s a whole bunch of deaf people that, if today, a fairy godmother could give them hearing, they wouldn’t do it, but they appreciate being deaf.” Sharing that, “They see it as not a handicap but an actual blessing, virtue. That never would have occurred to me, not in a hundred years.”
As of now that is something that the drama has not touched upon, but there is so much more that it has. It has helped us to hear what it is like to be deaf, and they are just like you and me. Deafness is just one aspect of this show, and there is always a reason to tune it. There are laughs, there are tears, and there is always something entertaining about Switched at Birth. So make it appointment viewing because it has definitely earned that title.
