A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

THAT FELT GREAT. THAT FELT SO GREAT. AND IT FELT SO . . . LOUD: Ten years ago tonight, ABC aired the historic "Puppy Episode" of Ellen in which Ellen DeGeneres' character came out of the closet (transcript here), and so this feels like a good moment to note how far the culture has come in terms of portrayals of gay characters on tv, even if we may still have a bit to go in terms of actors and actresses feeling free to say that yes, they are gay.

Television has come a long way since only having Sad Matt on Melrose Place as a representative of gay and lesbian Americans, and much of the credit IMHO goes to reality tv. Between Tim Gunn, Pedro Zamora, and Richard Hatch, from Oswald and Danny to Reichen and Chip to Team Guido to the Queer Eye guys, the gay male experience has been well-represented. Not so much for lesbians on reality tv -- except, of course, for Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres remaining among the most popular hosts on late-night daytime tv.

Scripted tv, not so much. For every stereotype like Lloyd on Entourage, Jack on Will & Grace or Stanford and Anthony on Sex and the City, there aren't enough Willow Rosenbergs and Omar Littles and Davids and Keiths from Six Feet Under to balance them off. Eventually, Dr. Kerry Weaver just got to be happy but, man, was she a walking (assisted) stereotype for a long damn time. Yes, there's The L Word and Queer As Folk, but I don't get the sense that many straight folk like me actually watch them.

How would you grade tv's efforts over the past decade?