On the April 1 elimination show of ABC’s blockbuster reality competition, Dancing with the Stars, the judges chose Steve Guttenberg, star of Police Academy and Three Men and a Baby, for a repeat dance. But Guttenberg wasn’t partnered with Anna Trebunskaya, his teammate for the season. Instead he danced a cheek-to-cheek tango with her husband, DWTS dancer Jonathan Roberts – a tango they had briefly practiced earlier in the week when Trebunskaya fell too ill to rehearse.

Was the televised “Mango” a trial balloon being sent up by DWTS executive producer Conrad Green? Are Green and ABC contemplating a same-sex dance team for a season of DWTS? Was this an opportunity to judge audience response? (For the record: the audience LOVED it.)

Cut to late January, and AfterElton.com’s interview with Green for our insanely informative (if we don't say so ourselves) 2-part investigative report, "Gays in Primetime". At the time, we asked Green: Would they consider a same-sex partner dance team for DWTS? Green found the idea “interesting,” saying he was “open to it.” And straight-shooting ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson responded affirmatively to the notion, as well: “Yeah. I think there’s no reason not to.”

In fact, Green seemed to be working through the idea for the first time in our interview:

“I wouldn’t be against it (same-sex partners on the show) in principle. But I think where the difficulty comes, is we try to duplicate the real competition rules. … However we are an entertainment show so we are not necessarily bound by that. It’s not something we’d have to adhere to; it’s something we tend to adhere to. The other thing is you’d have to make sure that the dancer felt comfortable with it. And what I wouldn’t want to do is let it turn into a circus, if you see what I mean. If it would just look silly and feel like a stunt.”

Ruminating on the concept, Green continued, “But having said all that: it’s an interesting thought. It would make quite a statement in a way. I’m sort of open to it, but curious about the implications of it.” Green twice repeated the phrase “it’s interesting” as he turned the idea over.