The Best Gay Relationship on TV?

Fifteen years after the ABC drama thirtysomething featured two gay men in bed together, ABC is delivering another groundbreaking gay story line via its new drama, Brothers & Sisters. The show, which was picked up for a full season on Oct. 16, revolves around the Walker family, a wealthy California clan forced to come together in the aftermath of their father's death. One of the family members is openly gay Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys), who in the series' first six episodes has begun to develop a relationship with Scotty Wandell (Luke MacFarlane). The series has gone so far as to show the men kissing each other not once, but twice in the same episode — an unprecedented move for a prime-time drama.

In 1991, when thirtysomething showed two gay male characters in bed together, the scene resulted in a sponsor boycott, costing the network an estimated $1 million in lost ad revenue. In addition, ABC claimed to have received over 400 written complaints from outraged viewers. The negative reaction was so pronounced that ABC even pulled the episode from repeats. And the two gay characters featured in the scene? They were promptly written off the show.

Controversy surrounding the thirtysomething episode no doubt had a deterrent effect, making broadcast networks skittish of gay subject matter. The following year, FOX edited out a gay kiss from a Melrose Place episode before it could be aired, and cited ABC's ad revenue losses on the thirtysomething episode when asked to explain their decision.

Thankfully, things have now changed. The Brothers & Sisters episode “Date Night,” which aired on Oct. 22, included gay male characters kissing in two scenes. No advertisers threatened to pull out; no conservative groups launched a letter-writing campaign. Even gay publications took little notice (though the kiss was much discussed in the gay blogosphere).

The show's producers might have used the occasion to create some buzz for their show. They might have tipped everyone off with a press release. At the very least, they could have offered preview clips of the same-sex lip-locking on abc.com or hyped it in the previous week's trailer: “Next Week — on a very special episode of Brothers & Sisters …”

But the producers of Brothers & Sisters chose instead to treat the gay kissing scenes as no big deal — a nonevent in the context of a network drama. The episode “For the Children,” which aired on Oct. 29, included yet another gay kiss, demonstrating the show's ongoing willingness to incorporate mature, gay subject matter in the show. Again, no one in the press took much notice.