ABC Family has renamed the network and rebranded as Freeform to reflect the channel’s ongoing priority to serve fans on that epic adventure of becoming an adult – from first kiss to first kid.
Network President Tom Ascheim said the network wants to keep up with the Becomer audience – a phrase they coined meaning millennials who are growing up.
“The most important question that young people ask themselves as they’re going from high school to their thirties is, ‘Who am I becoming?’ So we call the life stage ‘becoming’ and the people going through it Becomers,” he explained.
“Freeform evokes the spirit and adventure of our audience and Becomers,” Ascheim said. “Freeform will deliver new, exciting original content as well as all the favorite shows our viewers already love.”
The launch of the Freeform name will coincide with the winter premieres of Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, Young and Hungry and Baby Daddy.
Freeform will also have the world premiere of two new original series, Shadowhunters and Recovery Road.
Shadowhunters is based on the bestselling young adult fantasy book series The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare and follows 18-year-old Clary Fray, who finds out on her birthday that she is not who she thinks she is but rather comes from a long line of Shadowhunters – human-angel hybrids who hunt down demons. When her mother, Jocelyn, is kidnapped, Clary is thrown into the world of demon hunting with mysterious Shadowhunter Jace and her best friend, Simon. Now living among faeries, warlocks, vampires and werewolves, Clary begins a journey of self-discovery as she learns more about her past and what her future may hold.
Recovery Road is based on the popular young adult novel of the same name by Blake Nelson and focuses on Maddie, a teenage girl dealing with addiction. Maddie has a reputation as a party girl who doesn’t think she has a problem, until she’s confronted one day by her school guidance counselor and is forced to choose between expulsion and rehab. Maddie makes the difficult decision to live with other recovering addicts at a sober living facility while facing the daily pressures of her teenage life.
