The show highlighted RuPaul's strong sense of camp, biting humor, and open expressions of his sexual orientation, but a 1998 episode entitled "The Family Show" was especially memorable. It contained touching footage of his family's reunion, as well as compassionate interviews with his three sisters.

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Later that same year, the episode was nominated for a GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Award in the Outstanding TV Talk category. Despite this nomination, however, VH1 opted not to renew the show for its next season, and it left the air in September 1998.

Less Talk

The cancellation of the shows hosted by Perez, Bullock, and RuPaul were part of a concerted decision by network executives to clear the airwaves of so much talk. From a mid-1990s high of over thirty talk shows, the number has dwindled to fewer than ten major venues.

Even so, in 2000 controversial radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger attempted to cross over into television. Schlessinger, whose moralistic and judgmental rhetoric angered many people, especially gays and lesbians (whom she labeled "biological errors"), appeared briefly on the Paramount network. However, due in no small part to furious protests and boycott threats from the glbt and women's communities, over 95 advertisers withdrew their sponsorships from the show, and Paramount's affiliate stations either cancelled the show outright or relegated it to late-night slots until the plug was finally pulled.

Oprah, Rosie, and Ellen

Television, it seems, has come full circle. Since 1998 Oprah Winfrey has been actively participating in an effort to clean up daytime talk shows. Her show now focuses on healing relationships, promoting books, making over wardrobes, and a strange, almost New Age mantra called "finding your spirit." Her core audience has also changed, and is now composed primarily of white heterosexual housewives.

Another show that has renewed interest in conversation and variety is The Rosie O'Donnell Show, which aired from 1996 until 2002. O'Donnell's infectious humor, exhaustive knowledge of celebrity and showbiz trivia, and likeability made her show a runaway success and re-emphasized the clean side of television. At the same time, her role as an icon among lesbians and her status as a single mother adoptive parent made her show especially popular in the glbt community.

Although O'Donnell was frequently criticized by gay and lesbian activists for failing to acknowledge her homosexuality publicly, she refused to act until she was ready. In March 2002, on a widely hyped appearance on ABC's Primetime Thursday, she told Diane Sawyer, "I don't think America knows what a gay parent looks like: I am a gay parent."

While some critics have speculated that her decision to come out was predicated on her prior decision to leave her show and on the promotion of her autobiography Find Me (2002), her own explanation is that she needed a political reason to motivate her to come out publicly, and she found that reason in the discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the adoption policies of many states, especially Florida.

O'Donnell helped rehabilitate the talk show as a respectable form of entertainment. For her efforts, she won a total of ten Emmys in six years.

In 2003, comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, who came out in a 1997 episode of her sitcom Ellen, debuted in a syndicated talk show. Eschewing controversial issues, including her lesbianism, and relying largely on her charm and comic riffs, DeGeneres scored a somewhat surprising hit. The show features a mix of celebrity interviews, musical performances, "real people" segments, and audience participation games, as well as DeGeneres's monologues. Having earned critical praise and solid ratings, the show was also honored with a daytime Emmy Award as "Outstanding Talk Show" in its first season.

Future Talk

Somewhat surprisingly, even the remaining trash television shows have begun to de-emphasize what Gamson, quoting former television producer Martin Calder, terms anything that looks "unclean." Although this attribute was applied initially to gay people, black people, drag queens, and risqué dressers, shows such as The Ricki Lake Show, The Jenny Jones Show, and The Jerry Springer Show no longer apply it to gay men and lesbians. They still strive to include blacks, drag queens, and especially risqué dressers. But now gay people are considered too normal (or boring) to fit easily within the ranks of trash television.

Gay and lesbian couples are more likely be seen on HGTV home renovation and decorating shows than on trash television these days.

American television has made significant strides in its portrayal of homosexuals in dramatic series and movies, but cable networks have been more daring than the "big three" broadcast networks.

Although glbtq people and issues have been inadequately covered by American television news, there have recently been signs of improvement.

Reality television viewers have come increasingly to expect the appearance of gay men and lesbians on these shows because their presence helps further underscore the "reality" in Reality TV.

American television sitcoms have consistently reflected the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, often in distorted and stereotyped ways, but occasionally in ways that acknowledge our humanity and complexity.

Treatments of gay relationships on network soap operas have always been limited; recently, however, gays and lesbians have created their own soap operas to tell the convoluted stories of lesbian and gay entanglements.

No matter how great her contribution to the world of comedy, Ellen DeGeneres will probably be best remembered as the first lesbian to star as a lesbian on her own network television show.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is a watchdog group dedicated to promoting accurate representations of the glbtq community in the media.

Long before she came out, lesbians had made singer k.d. lang their own.

A smash hit on British television, comedian and talk-show host Graham Norton has been out, proud, and outrageous from the beginning of his career.

Comedian, actress, television talk show host, and openly gay mom, Rosie O'Donnell has achieved remarkable success in her relatively short career.

A six-foot five-inch tall African-American drag queen who usually performs in a blonde wig, RuPaul has given drag a new visibility by infusing it with gentleness and warmth.