ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAWRIE MIFFLIN THE NEW YORK TIMES
Producers of the ABC sitcom ``Ellen'' are discussing plans to have the main character disclose that she is a lesbian during the 1996-97 television season, several reports and a person familiar with the production say.
No one involved with the show would comment on the reports, which appeared last week.
An article in The Hollywood Reporter and a news release issued by TV Guide describing an article that will appear in its Sept. 28 issue say that Ellen DeGeneres, the comedian who plays the lead character in ``Ellen,'' wants to have the character become gay.
There are a handful of openly gay characters on other television shows, and gay weddings have been portrayed twice in sitcoms (between two women on NBC's ``Friends'' and between two men on ABC's ``Roseanne''). But there has never been a gay lead character.
``If you look hard at the whole series, there are a lot of elements over the years that could be laying the groundwork for that story line,'' Arthur Imparato, DeGeneres' manager, told TV Guide, its news release said.
The release added that Imparato pointed out that those elements did not add up to anything at the moment.
``We don't comment on rumors and speculation,'' said Heidi Trotta, a spokeswoman for Disney Television, whose Touchstone Television division produces the show.
Assorted other spokesmen - for DeGeneres, for ABC and its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co. - referred calls to Trotta and refused to comment further.
``Ellen,'' which began its third season on Wednesday night and has had an up-and-down ratings history, is facing a more competitive situation this fall. Its time slot at 8 p.m.
Wednesday includes two other established comedies, ``Wings'' on NBC and ``The Nanny'' on CBS.
The Hollywood Reporter and the person familiar with the show, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the producers were discussing whether making the character Ellen a lesbian would be a wise move creatively, as well as whether it would hurt or help the show commercially.
DeGeneres' character is a single woman in Los Angeles who owns a small bookstore.
In the new season, she will sell the bookstore to a large chain in order to buy a house, and she will have to deal with an unpleasant new boss and with her parents' decision to divorce, a Touchstone spokesman said.
The episode when the parents tell her of their plan to divorce includes a possible hint of a later lesbian story line, says the TV Guide report, which is based on drafts of the script that TV Guide said it had obtained.
``Put yourself in my place,'' the character Ellen tells her parents.
``How do you think I feel? What if I said something shocking to you. Like my whole life has been a lie, and I'm really ... left-handed.''
Alan Klein, the communications director for the national Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said on Friday, ``If the character Ellen does come out, it would be a milestone for network television because never before has a lead character been out of the closet.''
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Ellen DeGeneresby CNB