According to a recent New York Times article ["Television Cul-de-Sac Mystery: Why Was Reality Show Killed?" by Jacques Steinberg, January 21, 2006), the reality of a show originally scheduled to air last summer proved to be too sensitive to some people.

Choreograph a TV series wherein families â??cast, at least partly, for being African-American, Hispanic, Korean, tattooed or even Wiccanâ? enter a contest to see who can win a big house in a Texas neighborhood of primarily Christian, Republican residents, and what do you get?

Canceled.

Ten days before the first episode was to be shown, ABC executives canceled "Welcome to the Neighborhood," saying that they were concerned that viewers who might have been appalled at some early statements made in the show - including homophobic barbs - might not hang in for the sixth episode, when several of those same neighbors pronounced themselves newly open-minded about gays and other groups.

GLAAD responded with mixed feelings about ABCâ??s decision. A gay couple, Stephen and John Wright, and their adopted son, Eli, had won the contest.

The New York Times also quoted representatives from two religious groups, including the Southern Baptist Convention, who now state that broadcasting â??Neighborhoodâ? might have complicated their support for the movie, â??Narnia.â? (ABC is owned by Walt Disney Company.)

Marketing maneuvers aside, there was a successful story behind the scenes. The Wrights won a new house and have standing dinners two nights of the week with two different neighborhood families. And neighbor Jim Stewart, an early antagonist, made a turnaround, not only by becoming a supporter of the Wrights, but also broaching his own sonâ??s sexuality with him for the first time. No one involved in the show initially knew that Mr. Stewart had a 25-year-old gay son.

Score a big one for a positive outcome in the real world.