The Fosters is a 104-episode series, created by Bradley Bredeweg and Peter Paige of California's Blazing Elm Entertainment, for Freeform (originally ABC Family), an American pay television channel that is owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company.

The Fosters complete 5-season series currently streams on Netflix and is also available for download from iTunes.

The spoken language is English, and I am personally unaware of any alternate language options available (there is, however, English closed-captioning)

The Fosters is rated TV-14. As with any program with this rating, there are situations and themes that may need an (uncomfortable?) explanation to your kids who are under 13(ish). But The Fosters is a Disney owned property, so consider the series (forward-thinking) family entertainment.

The Fosters, in short, is about a bi-racial lesbian couple, San Diego cop Stef Foster and charter school VP Lena Adams (together, Adams Foster) who foster children with equally diverse and complicated backgrounds. Stef also has a bilogical son, Brandon, from her previous marriage to fellow cop, Mike Foster. Brandon lives with his moms. (for more, see our cast and crew page HERE)

The Fosters is no longer in production (cancelled in 2018), but there is a spin-off series with two of the main characters from The Fosters (Callie and Mariana). Good Trouble, produced by the same show-runners, will premiere in January 2019. (visit the FB page for the new series)

The Fosters is not your typical family TV show. To put it bluntly, and in a way many North Americans will understand, if you are conservative or even a little-more-than-right-of-center, there is a 100% chance you will find something offensive.

Consider the content: 1) Feminist, lesbian women who eventually marry; 2) One is black, the other white; 3) Two of their children are Mexican; 4) Another child they adopt is outspoken and supportive of immigration, children's rights, and many other issues; 5) Another child the couple adopts is gay, and has many-on-screen kisses with his boyfriend(s) starting age 14; 6) One of the characters has a continuing intimate relationship with a trans man; 7) Characters from different ethnic backgrounds, many of whom hold positions of power. So yeah, prudes need not watch.

Contemplate for a moment, how far Disney has come since the 1980's. This is a company that didn't want anything to do with the classic film, Back to the Future. Why? Well, at the time Disney execs were concerned with the movie's implied incestuous mother-son relationship. Now here are (in the future!) and Disney considers The Fosters family entertainment (whose main audience were/are teenagers, by the way). For the record, The Fosters does have an implied incestuous relationship between (adopted) brother and sister.

The Fosters is a major watching experience. It will take you nearly two-months to complete the series while watching 2, 40-minutes episodes each day. It's doable.

There are laughs, gasps, lessons learned and, yes, plenty of tears.

If you are a teen questioning your sexuality, this series is a mandatory binge. If you are a parent with a teen who is LGBTQ, The Fosters is mandatory viewing.

Starting around season 4, things start to get a little repetitive and a little dry. I suspect the writers thought that too. At one point, Jude says to Callie, "Why do bad things keep happening (to us)?"  I agree, but for me it's more of a statement. Seems a little unrealistic after a while, which seems to go against the point of the show.

The performances, however, improve greatly as the series moves forward. You will begin to believe the actors are who they portray (and in some cases, that's the truth).

Veterans like Teri Polo, Sherri Saum, Annie Potts, Rob Morrow (to name a few) are consistently awesome. But, the real joy to watch are the younger, less experienced actors playing off the veterans. You witness them grow, literally, not only as humans but as actors. They shine as they mature like a fine wine. It's cynical of me to say, but it will be a damn shame if The Fosters will be the only highlight of these young actors' respective careers.

I did The Fosters binge in less than one month, watching 4 - 5 episodes a day. Excluding some of season 4 and most of season 5, The Fosters was able to hold my attention and motivate me to push ahead with further binging. Bravo.