Switched at Birth is an American teen/family drama television series that premiered on ABC Family on June 6, 2011, at 9:00 ET/PT. The one-hour scripted drama is set in the Kansas City metropolitan area, and revolves around two teenagers who were switched at birth and grew up in very different environments: one in an affluent suburb, and the other in working-class areas. According to ABC Family, it is "the first mainstream television series to have multiple deaf and hard-of-hearing series regulars and scenes shot entirely in American Sign Language (ASL)".
The show's debut was ABC Family's highest-rated series debut to date. The series won an honorary Peabody Award in 2013, and on July 30, ABC Family ordered a third season which premiered on January 13, 2014. On August 13, 2014, ABC Family renewed the series for a fourth season, which premiered on January 6, 2015.
On October 21, 2015, ABC Family (now rebranded as Freeform) confirmed the series had been renewed for its fifth season, which was later confirmed to be the final season. On March 19, 2016, it was announced that the fifth season was bumped from a March 2016 to a January 2017 premiere date. In October 2016, the network announced that the final season would premiere on January 31, 2017.
Bay Kennish is a teenager who grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother. Fellow teen Daphne Vasquez, who lost her hearing at an early age, was raised by a single mother in a working-class neighborhood. One day in her high-school chemistry class, Bay discovers that her blood type doesn't match either of her parents'. Official tests confirm that Bay is not her parents' birth child. When the Kennish family meets Daphne and her mom, Regina, they realize that the girls were switched at birth. The news prompts the Kennishes to allow Regina -- who is experiencing financial difficulties -- Daphne and Daphne's grandmother to live in their guest house. The two polar-opposite families struggle to learn how to live together for the sake of the girls, who try to keep their footing in both the world they know and the new one into which they are thrown.
YOU ARE READING
Those TV Series
Non-FictionYou know those tv series you loved and those you loved enough that ended up being canceled for more seasons. Which made you mad, and wishing it had been renewed for more seasons, maybe because of the plot, characters, celebrities starring in the sho...
