CNN —For months before the 1997 premiere of “The Puppy Episode,” the groundbreaking episode of Ellen DeGeneres’ hit sitcom “Ellen,” rumors swirled that the comedian and her fictional counterpart would come out as gay.
Until “The Puppy Episode,” the character had rarely dated and mostly resisted romance, deviating from sitcom conventions of the time and frustrating network executives.
Ellen Morgan never did get that puppy, but the episode made history as Ellen became one of the first out gay lead characters on TV.
“That’s why it worked — because it was real.”How ‘The Puppy Episode’ got madeThe making of “The Puppy Episode” started with DeGeneres.
Gay innuendos abound from the first episode of Season 4: A microwave or doorbell dings when a character says the word “gay,” Savel said.
Persons:
Ellen DeGeneres, “ Ellen, DeGeneres, Ellen Morgan, jerking, Ellen, I’ve, Michael Eisner, Ellen wouldn’t, “ Ellen ”, Grace ”, Dava Savel, “ Ellen’s, She’s, ”, “, ’, ” Savel, who’s, Dean Valentine, Savel, Ellen ”, couldn’t, Susan, Laura Dern, Oprah —, she’s, ” Ellen, “ Susan, Tracy Newman, Jonathan Stark, Ron Galella, ” Rachel Loewen Walker, didn’t, Ellen Degeneres, ” Loewen Walker, Ellen ’, DeGeneres ’, Loewen Walker, who’ve, “ Will, Will, Jack didn’t, Mitchell, Cameron, Lily, Eric Stonestreet, Jesse Ferguson, Richard Cartwright, Arizona Robbins, ” DeGeneres, Savel hasn’t, It’s
Organizations:
CNN, Disney, ABC, University of Saskatchewan, CBS, Netflix, Getty, Peabody
Locations:
“, Galella, Alabama, Canada