In an era where Will & Grace and Modern Family have made gay characters commonplace among the leads in television sitcoms, it is often hard to remember when television was apprehensive about including them. One of the first was Billy Crystal’s portrayal of Jodie Campbell on Soap. Though this was groundbreaking at the time, Jodie was often a stereotype, playing into the homophobia humor of the time. It was until April 30, 1997 when Ellen Degeneres, four seasons into her five-season sitcom Ellen decided to have her character come out of the closet.