WRAZ-50, the local FOX affiliate in Raleigh, NC, announced over the holiday weekend that it will not air the network's Who's Your Daddy reality special that is scheduled for broadcast on the network this evening.

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Who's Your Daddy, a series that features an adopted young woman attempting to win $100,000 by determining which of eight men professing to be her father is actually her biological dad, has raised the ire of adoption advocacy groups since Fox first announced its plans to air the special.

Instead of airing Daddy, WRAZ will instead air I Have Roots and Branches: Personal Reflections on Adoption, a documentary film produced by Flory G. Herman, an adoptive mother who interviewed other adoptive families about their experiences.

In a statement posted on the station's website, FOX 50 VP and General Manager Tommy Schenck stated, "we are proud to share this enlightening and heartwarming program, both as informative, appropriate family viewing, and as a public service as well."

So far, WRAZ-TV is the only one of Fox's 182 affiliates to respond to National Council for Adoption request that stations not air the reality special.

Both Fox representatives and the program's producers have continued to insist that despite the provocative title, Who's Your Daddy? is an emotionally uplifting show -- and that not only were both the father and daughters completely willing participants, but the cash prize is merely intended to motive the imposters to try their best and keep the legitimate father from immediately revealing his identity.

"The special was thoroughly vetted by our standards and practices department to ensure that it was appropriate for broadcast," stated Fox spokesperson Scott Grogin in a statement released by the network. "However, any network affiliate that feels the programming may be inappropriate for their individual market has the right to preempt the schedule."

This is not the first time that WRAZ has chosen to preempt a reality TV show on moral grounds. In 2003, it pulled Fox's Married In America series from its airwaves, stating that the series "demeaned and exploited the institution of marriage." In 2001, it replaced Temptation Island with alternative programs, citing similar concerns about damage to the institution of marriage. A year earlier, it dropped the FOX telecast of Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire, which featured Darva Conger tying the knot with Rick Rockwell.

Also in 2003, WRAZ corporate parent Capital Broadcasting refused to air CBS's Cupid series on its Raleigh, NC WRAL CBS affiliate. The company also cited Cupid as "demeaning to marriage" and instead ran reruns of The Andy Griffith Show during Cupid's weekly time period.

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