Secrets of the Movie
Some say life imitates art. The folks who made Secrets of the Mountain sure hope so.
Secrets, a made-for-TV film airing on NBC April 16 (then moving to DVD on April 17), focuses on a busy, semi-fractured family longing for some all-too-rare bonding time—not unlike, perhaps, many of the families who will watch it. But while the film's family winds up spelunking in ancient caverns to solve a centuries-old mystery, fending off evildoers and perhaps finding a bit of buried treasure to boot, the film's makers hope to send viewers on a more sedentary adventure: one they can share together, as a family, on the living room couch.
"It's important, now more than ever, to offer family-friendly programming on television," said Secrets actress Paige Turco in a recent press release. "As a parent, I don't want to constantly worry about diving for the remote control to change the channel when I am watching a show with my son, so I'm really excited by the idea of entertaining options for families to watch together."
The Movie
Turco plays Dana James, a successful public defender struggling to find time for her three children—teen twins Jake and Jade, and CSI-smart youngster Maddie. The teens excel at sports (Jake), music (Jade) and bickering. They argue so much with their mother and each other that one suspects they may major in snippinomics in college.
But when Dana gets a buyer for a mountain retreat bequeathed to her by her dear, departed Uncle Henry, she asks everyone to put their churlishness aside so they can check out the place one last time before signing it away. Everything goes as planned until Dana runs into Uncle Henry—still dear, not so departed. He suspects the property may hide a cache of ancient Aztec treasure so, naturally, he's a little disappointed Dana opted to sell the place. Even worse, it appears that the duplicitous Nigel Fowler—the man who thought he killed Henry years ago and might be eager to give it another crack—is the buyer.
That's the setup for this rollicking adventure filled with dark caverns, scary skeletons, buried treasure—and a family that grows ever closer under the most perilous of circumstances. Secrets skews younger than perhaps its creators hoped it would, feeling more like a fun after-school special than a prime-time centerpiece. And so it's unlikely that anyone will walk away with an Emmy for their efforts. Still, it's a fanciful diversion, and it trumpets imagination, courage and most especially family, while almost completely sidestepping the problems that often bury movies and television shows today—even those written with families in mind.
Though Dana is divorced and develops feelings for a down-home real estate lawyer, there is no sexual content to speak of, not even a smooch on the lips. Language is sequestered to one misuse of God's name. And while there is a bit of violence—Uncle Henry hits someone in the face and appears to die in a fiery accident, and the James family is imperiled by all manner of mysterious traps—Secrets presents its action sequences much like those old-fashioned serials did. Had it been destined for theaters, it would've earned a rare G rating, almost without question.
Not that anyone ever considered making Secrets a cinematic happening. And that's the rest of this story.
The Secret
Secrets of the Mountain is the first film in a planned series of family movie nights on TV—if all goes well. And Walmart and Procter & Gamble definitely want it to go well. Because for these two companies, family entertainment is a big issue—and big business.
"If you look hard, you can still find family programming out there," Walmart's director of family entertainment marketing Ben Simon told Plugged In in an e-mail interview. "But the idea of families coming together to watch a TV show that everyone loves has mostly become a thing of the past. … But ironically, the demand for this entertainment has not gone away. If anything, there is more interest than ever before, and research has shown that."
Neither Walmart nor P&G are, technically, in the entertainment business. P&G is the company behind many of America's best-known health, household and beauty products, ranging from Old Spice to Pepto Bismol. And Walmart—well, everyone knows what Walmart does. But they were both heavily involved in making this film a reality, largely because these behemoths are in the business of "serving moms," according to Simon. And it's these moms who drive the typical family economy. They decide what or what not to buy—whether it's toothpaste or paper towels or tapioca pudding—and they're making these decisions week after week after week. "So it just makes sense for us to pay attention and serve our most important consumers," Simon says.
So when moms told the folks at Walmart and P&G that they'd love opportunities to spend more time with their families, they and others (FedEx, ConAgra's Orville Redenbacher, Pepsi, Hasbro and AT&T among them) listened. More than just another opportunity to insert products into a movie (which is most certainly done in Secrets), Simon wants viewers to know that the film is funded by businesses that believe supporting family-friendly programming will make a big difference in how they interact with their customers.
"In today's busy culture, having great family entertainment is a strong way to help today's moms connect with their families," Simon says. "And when this is done right, we're hopeful that moms will reward us with their business."
The Future
It's not the first time Walmart and P&G have been involved with pushing family entertainment. Both are members of the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment, which lists 25 associated businesses on its website. It's an organization once known as the Family Friendly Programming Forum, which helped fund the creation of such shows as Gilmore Girls, Chuck and Friday Night Lights.
None of those shows have been uniformly family friendly. They've certainly not matched Secrets in terms of squeaky cleanliness. And that's a sticking point which illustrates one of the biggest challenges content creators have when crafting "family friendly" shows: How can anything be hip enough to get big ratings and stay relevant to the shifting culture around it while remaining truly family friendly?
And there are other issues, too. Critics argue that in today's fragmented entertainment marketplace, there's no such thing as a real "family hour" anymore—a time when everyone can sit down and enjoy a television program like they used to. Many families have two or three TVs blaring at any given time—tuned to Nickelodeon, to ESPN, to Lifetime—and we've not mentioned the myriad other electronic distractions pulling us away from each other. Family television? Some cynics would say that's just as old fashioned as pulling taffy or singing 'round the piano.
But Simon remains hopeful.
"There's no doubt that today's TV programming environment is more defined by specific categories of shows," he says. "But our research shows that there is still a strong desire for programming that the whole family can watch together … there's simply a lack of good options out there.
"If families respond positively to what we are doing to better serve their unmet needs," Simon adds, "I believe we can spark a true renaissance in family entertainment."
Plans are already underway for a second film, scheduled to air July 16. The Jensen Project, Simon says, is a "high-tech thriller that centers on a secret society of geniuses engaged in a frantic pursuit to recover a potentially dangerous piece of technology that has gotten into the wrong hands." So, should Secrets of the Mountain be a success, future films might be backed by even more family-conscious businesses. Success wins over all critics, and if this venture scores strong ratings, there's little question we'll see more family-centric entertainment in the future.
"All our research points to this being a success," says Simon. "We've screened this movie with thousands of moms and kids and it definitely delivers on exciting action while meeting Mom's criteria for good family entertainment."
Will moms who say they want more family entertainment end up following through by tuning in? People say they want less sensationalism or celebrity coverage in their news outlets, too—yet television ratings and newsstand sales are always higher if there's prominent coverage of a Tiger Woods or Sandra Bullock or Kate Gosselin. People say they want healthier food choices at fast-food restaurants—yet sales of French fries far outstrip salads.
So call Secrets of the Mountain a test of will or even a clash of cultures. It's the skeptics against the optimists. Busy schedules against a few hours of family time at home. Walmart and P&G against the trend of piling all your advertising dollars in the slimiest pools of programming. Who knows, maybe there's more treasure buried in this mountain than the James family realizes.
Download Focus on the Family's "Family Discussion Guide" based on the themes and issues at work in Secrets of the Mountain.