Did you feel a disturbance in the force? That would be ABC Family officially dumping the name today that's been associated with the channel in one form or another for 30 years.
"Family" is out (as well as ABC), replaced by the focus-group tested rebranding moniker of Freeform. It's not that big a deal, the channel has had little to do with traditional "family" programming for some time.
"For us, this doesn't feel like a radical departure, this is an evolution," Freeform president Tom Ascheim told Entertainment Weekly, noting the channel's target audience, millennials, had started growing older.
Solution: Freeform abandoned the aging millennials and decided to concentrate on telling stories aimed at younger viewers "who are navigating the wonderful, fun, exciting and scary time in life when you experience the most firsts -- first car, first apartment, first job, first love, first heartbreak -- all the firsts that exist between who they are and who they want to become."
OK. But why the name Freeform?
"Freeform was a name that simply generated a positive emotion," Ascheim said. "Freeform sounds like fun."
• Shadowhunters, 8 p.m. This is a perfect example of a show aimed at young folks in between who they are and who they want to become.
The ambitious Shadowhunters is full of familiar teen angst and self discovery -- always good for a series that doesn't really re-invent the teen drama wheel. In fact, this will be mostly familiar territory that echoes every demon-hunting fantasy from Buffy, Angel and Charmed to Supernatural and Grimm. Toss in Scooby Doo while you're at it.
Shadowhunters is based on the best-selling young adult fantasy book series The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (real name Judith Rumelt). It follows Clary Fray (Katherine McNamara, Maze Runner), who discovers on her 18th birthday that she is not a regular teen, but one in a long line of human-angel hybrids who hunt demons.
Demon hunters. Again. I was prepared to be bored, but the pilot drew me in. Bonus: Lots of really cool special effects.
Before Clary can get the full Shadowhunter background briefing, her mother (Maxim Roy) is kidnapped by the evil, evil bad guys, so she must rely on the mysterious Jace Wayland (Dominic Sherwood) and his fellow Shadowhunters, siblings Isabelle (Emeraude Toubia) and Alec Lightwood (Matthew Daddario), to get up to speed.
Dragging along her best friend, Simon Lewis (Alberto Rosende), Clary must now navigate the world of faeries, warlocks, vampires, shapeshifters and werewolves to find the answers that will lead her to her mother.
Meanwhile, close (very close) family friend Luke Garroway (Isaiah Mustafa) obviously knows more than he's letting on, and enigmatic warlock Magnus Bane (Harry Shum Jr.) is a deeper mystery unto himself.
• Teachers, 10 p.m. Wednesday, TV Land. This is a new adult comedy about the wacky, desperate world of six elementary school teachers. There's a reason why it's airing at 10 p.m.. That's late enough that, hopefully, impressionable elementary pupils are in bed.
The series comes from the irreverent, inventive minds of the improv group The Katydids -- Caitlin Barlow, Katy Colloton, Cate Freedman, Kate Lambert, Katie O'Brien and Katie Thomas. The ladies also wrote and starred in the Internet series upon which the TV series is based.
You'll either hate this comedy or love it. I'll let two comments from teachers who previewed it on the TV Land website sum up the opposing camps.
Con: "As an educator in today's climate, I'm disgusted with this show. Teachers are disrespected and ridiculed relentlessly and now you make a TV show mocking the profession? You should be ashamed."
Pro: "I am an elementary school teacher and I laughed so hard that I stopped breathing. This will bring some much needed comic relief to a usually difficult and thankless job!"
I tend to side with the teacher with the sense of humor.
• Younger returns. Younger, starring the marvelous two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster, returns at 9 p.m. Wednesday on TV Land. Season 2 opens with back-to-back episodes.
• Obama's last. President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address airs live on a number of channels at 8 p.m. today. They include ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS, CNN, FNC and CSPAN.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 01/12/2016