Martha Stewart Show: Features Entire Show With Dads + Kids

You might have heard the news this week that The Martha Stewart Show will go off the air following broadcasting season in April, after suffering from bad ratings on the Hallmark Channel. “According to the NY Post, the channel has informed Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia that it no longer makes financial sense to produce the show in its current form.”

Upon hearing this news, it blasted me into immediate reflection about how groundbreaking Martha Stewart was this season.  About a year ago, 15 members of the NYC Dads Group sat in the studio audience of the Martha Stewart Pre-Superbowl themed show – football, ribs, nachos, and fun were on the docket. After the show was taped, they did a brief, in person, Q&A with Martha. Active and humorous NYC Dads Group member, Patrick Spillman, stood up and asked a thought provoking foodie question and plugged that their were a bunch of at-home and other involved dads on-hand…that is part of the reasoning behind Martha & team designing a unique stay-at-home dads themed show where the entire studio audience was only DADS + KIDS.

On October 12, over thirty members of our dads community with kids in tow marched into the Martha Stewart Show studio.  The NYC Dads Group was over 1/3 of the entire studio audience!  We had work from home dads, teachers, stay at home dads, and even a few working dads who took a few hours off to bond with their children and participate in this unique show.  A few things to note: the producer often shouted “quiet on the set.”  Pretty comical when you consider that half the audience were children under seven years old…so of course his requests went unnoticed.  For me, I had to keep my son in the vicinity of our seats for close to 2 1/2 hours during the taping which was no easy feat.  I relate it to keeping your child occupied in a small and cramped space like on an airplane.
The show aired on the Hallmark Channel on November 29.  Overall, Martha & team put together an outstanding show that really respected the at-home dad community. They deserve a lot of credit.  As you probably know, at-home dads have had a tough go of it in the media over the last several decades, and this show is the first that we’ve seen that really recognizes that dads can be just as nurturing, competent, and confident as moms. The dads they chose to feature were an excellent representation of the thousands of us that have joyfully made the choice to provide for our families in this way. We hope Martha Stewart realizes the contribution this kind of show makes to the overall parenting conversation– for moms and for dads.

STAY AT HOME DADS SHOW -Step into the world of household fatherhood with dad-friendly recipes and an audience full of stay-at-home dads with their children. Make savory minestrone-Parmesan potpie with super-dad Benjamin Frank; get a man-sized lesson in leftover lunches with Associated Press food editor J.M. Hirsch; and craft a simple wood dollhouse with blogger Joel Henriques

Wouldn’t it be amazing to see other notable talk shows devote a little more time catering to the other parenting partner – Dad?