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Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes) got the big laughs on this top-rated NBC sitcom, but Will Truman (Eric McCormack) was the grounded counterpoint to Jack’s flamboyance. “It was very offensive,” DeGeneres told Entertainment Weekly, “You don't think that's going to affect ratings?” DeGeneres’s brave move cost her career-wise, and it wasn’t until her 2003 talk show that she emerged back on top. It didn’t help that it began airing a parental warning after Ellen came out. After floundering through another season, Ellen was canceled. An ABC affiliate in Alabama refused to air “The Puppy Episode” and several advertisers pulled out of the show. And though the storyline drew critical acclaim and awards, it earned criticism from conservatives, as well. It’s a feat that’s never really been repeated since. Ellen Morgan was the first gay lead character in a prime-time series, and audiences followed her journey of self-acceptance, disclosure, and romantic relationships. The CW rebooted Dynasty in 2017, and James Mackay took on the mantle of Steven Carrington but was abruptly written out in season 2.Įvery gay person of a certain age remembers where they were when Ellen’s “The Puppy Episode” aired in 1997-the two-parter that saw Ellen DeGeneres’s character come out as a lesbian, coinciding with the comedian’s own real-life coming out. When the show was revived for the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion, Steven was portrayed as openly gay and in a stable relationship. Corley once told Interview he was eager to play a a gay character, but that Steven ”has no humor" and suffers from “ever-shifting sexual preferences.” In later years, Dynasty’s producers admitted interference from ABC and protests by conservative religious groups made it nearly impossible to evolve the character. Like Dallas, he had relationships with both men and women-most famously Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear). But like Soap’s Jodie Dallas, he was largely defined by his struggles with his sexuality. First played by actor Al Corley and, later, Jack Coleman, Steven was blond and hunky, with a stronger moral center than his conniving family. Dynasty helped launch the glitzy nighttime soap era of the 1980s, and Steve Carrington was one of prime time’s first major gay characters as the son of tycoon Blake Carrington.