Top 10 Moments in Sweeps Lesbianism (page 2)
by Christie Keith, November 14, 2006

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5. Roseanne Barr and Mariel Hemingway on Roseanne — Some lesbians weren't wild about the Roseanne/Mariel Hemingway kiss on the sitcom Roseanne in 1994. And in fact, the best part of that episode was probably the final scene, where Roseanne's husband Dan pretends to sympathize with her over the indignity of being kissed by a woman at a lesbian club, while obviously finding it a big turn-on. Roseanne killed the moment by recounting a story about watching two guys making out on the dance floor. Still, Roseanne went to the wall with the network to keep the kiss in the episode, and consistently included gay characters on the show.

The scene where a very pregnant Jackie, left at the bar while Roseanne dances with Mariel, chases women off when they hit on her by invoking the rage of her butch girlfriend, Roseanne, didn't hurt, either.

4. Marissa and Alex on The O.C. — The Marissa (Mischa Barton)/Alex (Olivia Wilde) relationship on The O.C. had a lot of problems. The women were — like everyone else on the show — unrealistically, plastically perfect. The relationship bombed out in a completely out-of-character way, leaving viewers going, “Huh?” But the early days of their affair were really sweet, and their first kiss, despite its Playboy Channel aesthetic, was hot. And not coincidentally, it took place during sweeps, where it sent the show's ratings soaring.

3. Xena and Gabrielle on Xena: Warrior Princess — During February 1999 sweeps, Xena and Gabrielle took a bath together.

OK, Xena and Gabrielle took lots of baths together. But this particular episode, “Paradise Lost,” was singled out by GistTV.com as a sweeps month lesbian moment way back in 1999, when they wrote, “(T)here's a scene where Xena and Gabrielle bathe together, and Xena gets up naked (discreetly), and another scene where Xena gives Gab a massage and … well, it all sounds less like Alice in Wonderland than the Playboy Channel. Must be Sweeps month.”

2. Dr. Kerry Weaver and Dr. Kim Legaspi on ER — The November 2000 sweeps were livened considerably by the coming-out of ER's Dr. Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes). Dr. Weaver was a longtime regular character who fell in love with a woman, beautiful psychiatrist Dr. Kim Legaspi (Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell).

While her first kiss with Kim was a sweeps ratings booster, Kerry actually remained a lesbian even after sweeps were over, and loved and lost Kim to her own fear of coming out. Unfortunately, she then loved and lost hot butch firefighter Sandy Lopez (Lisa Vidal), too, and got embroiled in the obligatory lesbian mommy story line followed by a custody battle with Sandy's parents over her and Sandy's son after Sandy died.

All of which can really make a girl miss Dr. Maggie Doyle (Jorja Fox), ER's original dyke, a cop's daughter and vegetarian who took her dates to the shooting range, but never had any hot sweeps month lesbian kisses.

1. Ellen DeGeneres and “The Puppy Episode” — It's been analyzed and recapped and critiqued to death, but the famous “Puppy Episode” of Ellen wasn't just the biggest lesbian sweeps moment. It was the biggest lesbian moment in television history. Airing on April 30, 1997, it featured a galaxy of lesbian and lesbian-friendly guest stars including k.d. lang, Melissa Etheridge, Laura Dern, and Oprah Winfrey as Ellen's shrink. The show didn't survive another year, and there's been no huge surge of queer shows in its wake, but it changed the face of television forever just the same.

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