When it debuted in March of 1994, nobody, least of all comedian Ellen DeGeneres herself, thought that her ABC sitcom These Friends of Mine (which became Ellen within a few months) would enter the annals of television history once it had finished its run. But it ended up doing just that, thanks to the star’s decision to dispense with all the safety factors that had made the show look like a dozen others of its ilk for its first three years and get real about just who the character of Ellen Morgan was.

Ellen DeGeneres herself was funny but nobody seemed comfortable with the series otherwise, which received its share of revisions over the years in an effort to make it something more than generic. Ellen Morgan was presented as a tomboy with bad luck at dating, but for those in the know this was clearly a case of a gay entertainer ill-at-ease about passing themselves off as a member of straight society. As a result, Ellen, the character, went from straight to neutral and word began to circulate that the show’s star was about to make a controversial decision to put a stop to all this coy dancing around the issue.

When the 1996–97 season began, the “coming out” of both Ellen Morgan and DeGeneres was hotly anticipated, although the comedian refused to say exactly whether this would happen or how. Family and religious organizations launched the expected onslaught of protests; simply at the very notion of a series lead doing this. The gay community held its breath in hopes that this breakthrough would actually happen and finally pave the way for greater visibility in both Hollywood and the public consciousness in general.

Throughout the entire fourth season increasingly less subtle hints of the inevitable were sprinkled within the dialogue. Come April the public got the verification when DeGeneres appeared on the cover of Time outing herself, and by the month’s end “The Puppy Episode” gave everyone what was long overdue, network television’s first series to have a gay leading character, and the first time an out performer was carrying their own show. America loved it, awards were won; and Ellen carried on with far more suitable, more political and more forthright situations for the follow-up season. Uncharitably, select viewers and executives, both straight and gay, wondered if perhaps the series had now become “too gay,” an insult that seemed to signal a setback of sorts. Regardless, hurdles had been cleared and television now became that much less cautious when it came to dealing with both gay characters (Will & Grace debuted the next season) and out celebrities. Having become an icon of the gay community, Ellen DeGeneres eventually was embraced across the board as one of the most trusted and liked performers in the medium as she moved over to hosting her own daytime talk show, with nary a complaint to be heard.

Bonus Audio: Speakers talk about openly gay performers like Scott Thompson and RuPaul, as well as performers who came out after establishing themselves in the medium, including Dan Butler, Bill Brochtrup, Rosie O’Donnell, and Ellen DeGeneres.  

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