Will & Grace ends May 18th, and by that point, I will be more than ready to see it go. The show's been on life support for years—ever since it turned into prime-time's preeminent showcase for publicity-hungry celebrity guest stars.

But before any discussion of Will & Grace's merits, we must put it in historical perspective.

You may not remember the series Espionage, but, in 1964, it featured what is thought to be one of TV's first queer storylines: A married diplomat was suspected of being gay. One character remarked that “people of [his] particular persuasion are a notoriously bad security risk.” This wasn't exactly an auspicious start for queer visibility.

In the ‘70s, the comedy series Soap featured Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal), a “gay” character who dated a man and then slept with two women. (Bob Smith wrote in The Advocate “To me, one out of three didn't even qualify Jodie as a Hollywood bisexual, who at least has to strike a balance between the women he appears with at awards shows and the men he sleeps with in private.”) Another show from that era, Police Woman, had an episode called “Flowers of Evil,” about lesbian murderers. (Apparently, lesbians were to the ‘70s what bisexual girls are to the ‘00s.)

In 1980, we seemed to be taking a step forward when Tony Randall starred as a gay man in the TV movie Love, Sidney. But when it became a weekly series in 1981, Sidney's homosexuality (if it even still existed) was no longer apparent.

By the ‘90s, TV was less uptight, but there were still ridiculous limits on same-sex affection. Roseanne obscured a kiss between Roseanne Conner (played by Roseanne) and another woman (played by lesbian icon Mariel Hemingway). And even Melrose Place—a risqué show on a progressive network—cut away from a kiss between Matt Fielding (Doug Savant) and another man (Ty Miller).

In a move that suggested the tide might (yet again) be turning, Ellen DeGeneres announced in 1997 she was a lesbian around the same time her TV character did. Ellen's famous coming-out episode was the top-rated show of that week, but it also elicited major controversy. Ellen's last episode aired on ABC in July 1998.

The official reason for the cancellation was low ratings, but most likely, those ratings were at least partly caused by America 's discomfort with seeing their first openly gay lead character on a TV series.

Then, on the heels of Ellen's cancellation, Will & Grace premiered in September 1998.

Amazingly, there were never any major protests.

Page 1 / 2 / 3 - Next