THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 68 lines
SHOULD ELLEN DeGeneres stop teasing and reveal her character to be a lesbian on the ABC Wednesday night sitcom ``Ellen''?
Or should DeGeneres forget the whole thing and do something else to punch up her series, an unspectacular No. 45 in the Nielsens against competition that includes three other sitcoms?
If you want to vote, be my guest.
Ring me up on Infoline (640-5555, press 2486) and say what you think about ABC's airing an 8 p.m. network sitcom in which an openly gay character stars.
Some members of the local homosexual community, including two who work at the Norfolk publication Our Own, think it's time DeGeneres stopped being her ``coy self,'' to use the words of president and publisher Alicia Herr, and brought her character out of the closet.
``She started the game, and now it's time to end it,'' said Herr, the Our Own publisher since 1990.
The ``game'' she refers to is how DeGeneres has dropped hints all over the TV talk-show circuit that some time soon - perhaps during the November sweeps - the Ellen Morgan in ``Ellen'' will embrace the ``L'' word.
DeGeneres is also using her own show to play the game. Emerging from a closet in one recent episode, she said, ``There's plenty of room in there, but it's not comfortable.''
In another episode, she made wearing a dress sound like a federal offense with no chance for parole. When ``Ellen'' began as ``These Friends of Mine,'' the main character was man-crazy. Two years ago, the dating stuff was junked, and today Ellen Morgan is sort of asexual, vaguely hinting about her homosexuality.
``This is a playful gambit that could hurt people who look up to her for guidance and support,'' said Herr.
Our Own's managing editor, Kathleen Vickery, also wishes the teasing would end soon. Should DeGeneres declare her homosexuality, it would create a positive image in primetime for gays, said Vickery.
DeGeneres, in the meantime, will say nothing definite. She'll likely go on wearing baggy clothes, refusing makeup and playing word games when the subject of her lesbianism comes up.
Talking to TV writers in Los Angeles last July, DeGeneres would say only that her character on ``Ellen'' may stretch a little this year.
The folks at the Media Research Center in Alexandria, who have spoken out against what they call the decline of the TV family hour, and the Parents TV Council in Los Angeles, who also push for responsible programming between 8 and 9 p.m., ask DeGeneres to keep her sexuality to herself.
``We believe it would be inappropriate for her to exploit her sexuality at that hour, just as we believe it's inappropriate for heterosexuals to do the same,'' said Parents TV Council executive director Mark Honig.
Honig said there is already too much sexual innuendo on the air between 8 and 9 p.m., when children watch in great numbers. On ``Friends,'' the cast has graduated from sexual innuendo to all-out butt-grabbing.
(``Friends,'' says the Media Research Center, is No. 2 among the least family-friendly shows on TV. ``Married With Children'' is No. 1).
Network programmers introduced homosexuality to primetime as far back as 1977 with Billy Crystal's Jodie character in ``Soap.'' Today, a number of shows, including ``Friends,'' ``Mad About You,'' ``Spin City,'' ``Melrose Place'' and ``Relativity,'' have homosexual story lines for supporting players. There are ``lesbian life partners'' on ``Friends.''
More than 20 homosexuals have appeared in primetime series programming this season.
But there has yet to be a primetime network series built around an openly homosexual character. Will ``Ellen'' be the first? Should ``Ellen'' be the first?
You tell me. by CNB