The End of an Era
By Josh Aterovis

When the final episode of Will & Grace aired on Thursday, May 18, an era came to an end. I hadn't watched the show in years -- since halfway through the season when Grace and Leo married the first time -- but I tuned in to the finale for sentimental reasons. I was glad I did since I thought it was a really well-written episode, a fitting tribute to a show that, while far from perfect, was certainly groundbreaking. So, how far have we come in the eight years since Will & Grace debuted and became an almost instant hit?
Unfortunately, not far at all.

With the exit of Will Truman and Jack McFarland from our small screens, so goes the only two lead gay characters on network TV. What we're left with is a motley assortment of minor roles, some of whom can barely even be called reoccurring characters. Take Kenny on My Name is Earl, for example. He appeared on a whopping three episodes last season. The last we saw of Andrew Van De Kamp on Desperate Housewives, it was unclear if he would return next season, and if so, how big a role he would play.

The 2005-2006 season started off strong, with the promise of fifteen gay and lesbian characters in primetime on the networks. By the end of the season, only four remained -- and one of them is animated (Patty on The Simpsons). Much of the loss was due to cancellation. The WB/UPN merge left several shows like Half & Half and Girlfriends without a home. Other shows, like Crumbs, Emily's Reasons Why Not, and Book of Daniel never made it off the ground.

Where do we place the blame? In some cases, it was nothing more insidious than bad shows. For instance, Emily's Reasons Why Not suffered from terrible reviews and even worse ratings, and was cancelled after only one airing. Its demise had little to nothing to do with Emily's gay best friend. On the other hand, Book of Daniel was at least partly the victim of a massive boycott campaign by the Christian Right. They attacked the show before it was even aired, largely because of the openly gay son of the Episcopal priest main character. Of course, if the ratings had been there, it's doubtful NBC would have pulled the plug on the series after only three airings, but the conservative outcry no doubt made a difference -- especially with advertisers.

The fall 2006 season isn't promising to improve the desolate landscape much. Only three new shows feature gay content, and while two of the characters seem to be complex and non-stereotypical, the other two sound like pages right out of the gay stereotype handbook.
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