Abstract
"Family is the one experience to which virtually all viewers can relate" Kutulas states (2005, p. 49). For this reason, family is omnipresent in the current televisual landscape. But this is not any family. For many decades, television has broadcasted a certain type of family: the nuclear family, which is defined as a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children, who share living quarters (with contrast to an extended family). Thus, the nuclear family has formed the ideological framework of television. However, today's society is characterized by the rise of divorce and subsequent blended families. Social changes have fostered an evolution in the representation of family in television. Disorganised families where the structures of authorities and the usually clearly defined roles are contested. But despite these new challenging views, the hegemonic ideology of the nuclear family is still very important and present in TV. So why is the dominant model of the nuclear family challenged in today's TV and how is the critic of this model performed? What kinds of shows intervene in this process?
