From thirtysomething to Brothers & Sisters

A few years later, in 1992, Olin kicked the gay television ball a little farther down the field in an angsty, but influential and Emmy-nominated FOX TV family drama, Doing Time on Maple Drive, starring a then-relatively unknown Jim Carrey as an alcoholic man and William McNamara as his gay younger brother who attempts suicide before finally coming out.

“The gay storyline was the story driver,” Olin says. “The entire dynamic of the family shifted because of it.”

But Olin is quick to point out that there was no interference from FOX, then a fledging network. “We were left alone for the most part,” he says. “I don’t think anybody anticipated that [the movie] would be impactful in the way that it was. This wasn’t the gay character on Dynasty. [It was] the real exploration of family, and the mythology behind the family, and the price that is paid to perpetuate that mythology.”

Still, Olin admits, part of the reason why there was no network interference in the film might have been because there were no scenes of same-sex affection. “There was no physicality in that way,” he says.

By contrast, Brothers & Sisters included scenes of same-sex physical affection right from the start. Unlike Melrose Place and, more recently, the daytime soap opera As the World Turns, which have both been criticized for censoring same-sex affection, Brothers & Sisters seemed determined to treat its gay characters exactly the same as all its other characters.

“There’s a huge difference,” David Marshall Grant says, comparing his stint on thirtysomething to his time with Brothers & Sisters. “It goes seismic, and it involves everything about the experience, from the crew, to the executives at ABC, to the writers, to the actors. The world has changed. I think what we’re doing, strangely enough, would have been impossible back then. What I’m so proud of is how completely matter-of-factly we deal with Kevin’s sexuality.

“Ironically, that normalcy is what was so impossible when we were doing thirtysomething,” Grant continues. “When I was brought on [thirtysomething], the character had to deal with coming out, he had to deal with HIV. Now these are very important topics, and I was proud of the show, but Kevin’s journey [on Brothers & Sisters] is much more a universal human journey, and I don’t think that was possible before. He’s treated just like everyone else. Which is, of course, the finish line in terms of how I wanted gays to be treated on television: just like everybody else. That’s all anybody wanted, and I’m so proud to have a small part in it.”

Olin couldn’t agree more, and he gives most of the credit to co-creator Jon Robin Baitz and co-executive producer Greg Berlanti, both out gay men.

Greg Berlanti (left) & Jon Robin Baitz

Photo credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

“It’s the most unique aspect of the show,” Olin says flatly. “Its most distinguishing aspect is that we’ve explored [gay themes and characters] in a way that’s honest and sophisticated and mature. We’ve pushed as far as any network show ever has in terms of just being honest and truthful and not prejudiced and not apologetic.”

Olin says he’s constantly reminded just how revolutionary the show is when it comes to its gay characters. For example, the show’s the most recent episode (that aired on May 4) was originally supposed to end with a scene of Sally Field as matriarch Nora Walker. But when episode director Michael Morris was editing the scenes, he decided the scene with Kevin proposing to Scotty was more powerful, so he switched the last two scenes, resulting in the proposal being the last thing the viewer sees before the end credits.

“It’s an extraordinary scene,” Olin says, “the most romantic scene we’ve ever done on the show.”

After it was edited, he called Berlanti’s attention to the scene switch. “I said, ‘I just want you to know, Greg, from a very mercenary point-of-view, we are ending the episode on a very romantic moment between these two men.’ And Greg said, ‘You know what? If it were a man and a woman, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.’ And I said, ‘No, we wouldn’t.’ And we both said, ‘That’s the way we’re going to keep it.’”

David Marshall Grant also gives credit for the revolutionary nature of the show’s gay storylines to Berlanti. “He’s been responsible for the vast majority of the stories on Brothers & Sisters,” he says. “He’s just brilliant at organizing and structuring story.”

Once Berlanti outlines the storylines, two writers are assigned per episode. “But we have very empowering showrunners, and so you really get a sense that it was your script when all is said and done.”