Channel's new leader sees future in reality TV, movies

LOS ANGELES -- Angela Shapiro had been president of the ABC Family Channel only a few weeks when she approved her first show, a reality program featuring families who think they're funny enough to star in their own sitcom.\n"I did it on two sentences from (producer) Bruce Nash: 'Haven't you always said your life is funnier than a sitcom? Well we're going to find the families whose lives really are,'" Shapiro said Wednesday.\nThe show, "My Life is a Sitcom" premieres Jan. 20 and is the first of several programs ABC Family hopes will boost ratings and advertising dollars at the channel, which The Walt Disney Co. acquired as part of its 2001 purchase of Fox Family Worldwide for $5.2 billion.\nABC Family's ratings grew 14 percent in prime time in 2002 compared to the previous year, but with 1 million viewers, the channel lags far behind rivals.\nShapiro guided ABC Television's popular and profitable daytime lineup before being named ABC Family president last March. Her goal is to remake prime time with new reality shows and made-for-television movies. The channel hopes to have original comedies on air by the end of the year.\nPart of her challenge is to define the term "family" in a way that allows her to offer shows other than those aimed at children. The channel now offers syndicated fare, repeats of ABC shows, movies and children's programming.\nABC Family also is obligated to run evangelist Pat Robertson's "700 Club" several times a day, although not in prime time. Robertson started the Family Channel and made the airing of his show a condition of any future sale.\nOver the coming year, ABC Family will broadcast several reality series, including "The Last Resort," in which nine couples with shaky relationships travel to Hawaii to sort things out. It also will debut its first original movie, "The One" in February.\nShapiro's task is not as daunting as the one ABC Television executives faced; they had the high-profile challenge of rebuilding the network after its dramatic ratings and revenue slump last year.\nBut in part, she'll be expected to produce a lineup strong enough to justify the money Disney paid for the channel.\n"It's another incentive for me to make it better and make it stronger, to prove that the decision to buy this beachfront property was a smart decision," Shapiro said. "I think it was"