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It wasn't supposed to be this way. It has been almost ten years since Ellen DeGeneres outed both herself and her character to the world. And less than three months after Ellen ended in July 1998, Will & Grace hit the air waves as a bona fide hit. We had arrived! The gates had been stormed! There was no going back.

So what happened? As is often the case, blame is difficult to apportion, and there is no definitive answer. Over the past twenty plus years, the broadcast networks have been under steady assault from an ever-widening array of entertainment choices. Led by HBO, cable providers have bled the major networks of viewers for years. DVDs have made in-home movie viewing an ever more popular choice.

In response, the networks have tended for safer fare which appeals to the masses. Then there is the rise of “reality” television that has drastically cut the number of scripted characters of all stripes. (Ironically, reality television has also done a much better job of showcasing gays and lesbians.) And that was before the internet began to steal eyeballs as well.

Then there is what can be called the Book of Daniel factor. Daniel was the hour-long drama that debuted back in January on NBC and exited after only three episodes. The show featured Christian Campbell as the openly gay son of an Episcopal minister. Daniel received a great deal of artistic criticism, but the assault launched by elements of the Religious Right (angered in part by the show's acceptance of homosexuality) almost certainly played a role in its demise.

Indeed, network television has increasingly been under assault by the Religious Right, the FCC and pandering Republican politicians decrying GLBT representation on television.

Those kinds of attacks don't go unnoticed by Hollywood executives who often sink millions of dollars into developing new shows. Controversy can be good if it draws attention to a show, but it's bad if it drives advertisers away. And nothing makes advertisers skittish like “hot button” cultural issues like homosexuality.

Indeed, when conservatives attack gay programs, they're really pressuring the advertisers, not the networks themselves directly. Yes, conservatives are happy to see a show like Book of Daniel canceled, but their real goal is to make advertisers shy away from these shows, making the networks less likely to develop them in the first place.

There are countervailing forces. As gay people come out in greater numbers and achieve greater acceptance, there is also a greater expectation that we see ourselves reflected in popular culture. And with the success of Brokeback Mountain came raised hopes of a new era in acceptance of gay themes in Hollywood. After all, the movie showed that a gay-themed project can have wide-spread appeal. And if a television show is a massive break-out hit, advertisers will support it, no matter how “scandalous” the content (witness Desperate Housewives).

That being said, most pilots were already well under development by the time Brokeback became such a huge hit. Perhaps the unprecedented upset of Brokeback Mountain for the Best Picture Academy Award points to an underlying homophobia in Hollywood, or at least a fear of being perceived as too liberal—a state of affairs that does not bode well for future gay inclusion.

Only time will tell if the television networks are truly backpedaling on gay content. Given that network TV is increasingly driven by female viewers, and since much of Brokeback Mountain's success was due to straight female filmgoers, it's not a stretch to think they would be interested in also watching more gay men on television, especially if a show finally centered on two men in love.

Gay and bisexual characters have fared much better on cable, with diverse and complex roles on The Sopranos, Dr. Who, Big Love, Summerland, So noTorious, The Real World, Rome, The Shield, and Rescue Me just to name a few. And of course there is the growing influence of Logo and here! as alternatives for gay men to see themselves on television. (Sadly, the situation for lesbians is bad no matter where one looks.)

It's possible that next fall one or more prominent broadcast shows might add a gay character to their cast. Lost seems an obvious choice or one of the half-dozen iterations of CSI or Law and Order. But it's just as likely that we may lose even more of what little representation we have. Indeed, Desperate Housewives' Andrew Van De Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom) was last seen standing in the middle of the nowhere far from Wisteria Lane. It's not hard to envision a scenario where he doesn't return for some time, if at all. Who knows if Kenny on My Name is Earl will ever appear again.

Network television lies at the heart of much of our culture. Water cooler talk often centers on what happened on last night's Grey's Anatomy or The Office. Indeed, since television drives much of our national conversation, gay visibility there is essential. After all, how many straight people are likely to be watching Logo? If gays vanish from the television screens of the average American, we could run the risk of fading from the national consciousness as well.

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