The Year in Queer TV: Eleven Highs and Lows From 2006

9. The return of the closet case and gay guys in love with straight guys.

It would be one thing if network television was filled with gay lead and supporting roles of all stripes (most of the positive examples above were one- or two-episode appearances), but of all the network shows, there is exactly one with a lead gay character. That is Kyle (Sean Maguire) on CBS' The Class, who is getting so little character development that I feel like I know more about my local barrista than Kyle. So it is especially grating that Help Me Help You, Big Day and The Class have all introduced characters who feel like throwbacks to the 1980s. Heck, Jodie Dallas on Soap had it more together than these guys.

On ABC's Help Me Help You, Jonathan (Jim Rash) is the only person who doesn't know he's gay, despite the fact that he all but throws himself at straight guys again and again. Of course, that's about all his character is allowed to do. Also on ABC, Big Day gives us Freddy (Leslie Odom Jr.), who is in love with his best friend and consequently behaves in inappropriate ways that make him seem very creepy. And then we have Perry Pearl (Sam Harris), the very effeminate “straight” guy on The Class. There is nothing wrong at all with being effeminate, but effeminate straight men do not also constantly stare at the tushes of straight men while making double entendres. It's just icky.

10. Gay men come in all different races.

HBO's The Wire has given us four seasons of Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), one of the best gay characters on television, but diversity for queers on television has still been more a dream than a reality. But things did get better this year. Not only did Logo give us a second season of Noah's Arc, but gay African-American men popped up on ER and Will & Grace, and just last month Wayne Brady played Neil Patrick Harris' gay brother. Next year we can add Orlando Jones to that roster on Men in Trees, as well as whatever actor is cast as Turk's father on NBC's Scrubs.

Things improved slightly for gay Middle Eastern men, as Kenny (Rami Malek) on The War at Home is due to finally come out to his parents. Showtime's Sleeper Cell also introduced a gay character. Yes, he was a terrorist prone to chopping off people's arms, but we do come in all shapes and sizes, right?

11. Nip/Tuck takes the “bromance” to its inevitable conclusion.

Scrubs' J.D. and Turk are still the best example of the “bromance” (two straight men in love), but Nip/Tuck's Christian (Julian McMahon) and Sean (Dylan Walsh) took it to a new level this year. The two plastic surgeons have long been all but inseparable, even sharing parenting duties for the same son. But when Christian started wondering just how far he wanted to take things with Sean, things got a whole lot more complicated. Eventually, Christian realized there was nothing sexual between him and Sean, but his questions led the two men to a place where they were very comfortable acknowledging that their bond went considerably past being just friends. And that's a message straight guys can do with hearing as much as possible.

James Withers contributed to this article.