Welcome mat rolled up

It sounded like an intriguing idea on paper.

ABC’s six-episode reality series “Welcome to the Neighborhood” features seven families vying to win a four-bedroom house in a development in Austin, Texas. Given that the neighbors are mostly conservative whites and the contestants come from diverse backgrounds -- including Asian American, African American and gay -- the series was meant, the network says, to highlight issues of cultural biases and tolerance.

“Neighborhood” was supposed to debut July 10, but that was before a civil rights group warned ABC that the program might violate federal housing laws barring discrimination.

The network decided late Wednesday to pull the plug on the show -- which already has completed production -- although executives say they ultimately hope to telecast it in a way that would address concerns raised by the National Fair Housing Alliance and other groups.

In a statement, ABC said: “Our intention with ‘Welcome to the Neighborhood’ was to show the transformative process that takes place when people are forced to confront preconceived notions of what makes a good neighbor, and we believe the series delivers exactly that.

“However, the fact that true change only happens over time made the episodic nature of this series challenging, and given the sensitivity of the subject matter in early episodes we have decided not to air the series at this time.”

The housing alliance first learned about the show on June 22, according to the group’s president and chief executive, Shanna Smith, who added that the network sent her the first two episodes to screen for her staff.

Smith said her African American and Asian American staff members walked out before the first episode was over. The Latino and white workers continued to watch “and we were very disturbed,” she said. Smith sent the show along to the National Assn. of Realtors, and both groups wrote to ABC saying they felt the show violates the National Fair Housing Act.

Smith was not impressed by ABC’s argument that the series shows the white neighbors growing more tolerant of their prospective neighbors’ cultural and racial differences.

“Why should Asians, Africans and Latinos be judged and degraded in order to teach white people not to be bigots?” Smith said. “We believe in free speech, provocative shows and discussions of racism. But this show has no balance. You see the discrimination occurring, and there’s nobody offsetting it. Whoever developed the show developed it from a totally white perspective. Discrimination hurts whether it’s in your face or subtle.”

Damon Romine, the entertainment media director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, had a more mixed reaction to ABC’s decision to shelve “Neighborhood.”

“The first two episodes were problematic in that viewers could come away with the feeling that prejudice and discrimination are not that big a deal, which is not the intent of the show,” Romine said. “As we all know viewers sample programs, don’t necessarily go into something with the commitment of watching the entire six-hour arc. I was able to see where they were going with the series when I watched more episodes.”

On the other hand, Romine believed that the portrayal of the gay couple in the series, Steve and John Wright, who live with their adopted son, was positive for the gay community.

“The intolerance [the Wrights] experienced on this show mirrors the daily reality experienced by millions of gays and lesbians across the country. The Wrights’ unshakable commitment to one another, to their values and to their family makes them the kinds of role models that all Americans -- gay and straight -- need to see more of.”

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Times staff writer Scott Collins contributed to this report.