Towers Backs ‘Parent’ Series

By Sergio Ibarra

Chicago-based Towers Productions is developing reality TV program “It Takes a Parent” with radio talk show host and syndicated columnist Betsy Hart.

The half-hour series is inspired by Ms. Hart’s Chicago-based radio program of the same name, where she takes calls from parents with questions and concerns about their children. Cameras will follow her as she visits troubled families.

“[Ms. Hart] is a font of old-fashioned wisdom and a lightning rod for conflict with New Age thinking,” Towers Productions CEO William Fisher said. “Putting her together with fawning parents and coddled children in front of a camera represents reality television at its finest.”

“I see my job not as being yet another parenting expert, but to encourage parents to be their own experts, to trust their instincts, to dare to parent in a culture that tells them not to,” Ms. Hart said.

The show is expected to address issues including children’s privacy in the Internet age, corporal punishment and interaction with peers.

Ms. Hart’s book “It Takes a Parent: How the Culture of Pushover Parenting Is Hurting Our Kids” was released by Putnam Books in September 2005. Her syndicated column “From the Hart” is distributed through the Scripps Howard News Service. Ms. Hart has made appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Politically Incorrect” with Bill Maher.

Towers produces series including the Weather Channel’s “Storm Stories” and A&E’s “Biography.”