"Soap": The First Gay Human on TV

During the 1970s, gay characters were rare on tv. Maybe three or four times a year, there would be a killer transvestite on a drama or a "visiting friend comes out"on a sitcom.  But even those three or four would be invisible, described in TV Guide as "a shocking killer" or "a visiting friend has a secret."

That all changed on September 13, 1977, a Tuesday night, at 8:30 pm, the end of a night of blockbuster must-see tv: Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Three's Company.  Then, while sprightly music played, an announcer said:  ""This is the story of two sisters—Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell".

Later episodes would give a brief plot synopsis, followed by "Confused? You won't be after this episode of...Soap."

You needed the plot synopsis!  Soap was a soap opera spoof, with plotlines as over-the-top as anything General Hospital or One Life to Live could throw at you.

The two families were:

The wealthy Tates

1. Ditzy, horny Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond,  later known as the ditzy, horny Mona on Who's the Boss).  She has affairs, goes on trial for murder, and ends up in a coma in South America (but still butting in).

2. Stick-in-the mud husband Chester (Robert Mandan), who mostly just has affairs and goes to prison

3. Teenage Billy (Jimmy Baio, left), who joins a cult and is seduced by his teacher (then, when he dumps her, she keeps trying to kill him).

4.  Twenty-something Corinne (Diana Canova), who has various boyfriends, including the priest Father Tim (Sal Viscuso) and the criminal Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes).

5. The sarcastic butler (Robert Guillaume).

The working-class Campbells

1. Stable, sane Mary (Cathryn Damon), Jessica's sister.

2. Her dopey husband Burt (Richard Mulligan), who accidentally killed some people, thinks he's invisible, and gets abducted by aliens and replaced by a clone.

3. Their "sons," Chuck and Bob (Jay Johnson, right).  Chuck is the living one, Bob the ventriloquist's dummy...um, I mean assistant, who everyone treats as real.

4. Danny (Ted Wass, top photo), another son, a gangster who has a variety of girlfriends who die or get kidnapped or reject him.

5. Jodie (Billy Crystal), who is gay.

You heard me.

The first gay regular character on network television!

The writers didn't quite know what "gay" meant.  Jodie starts off planning a sex-change operation so he can be with his closeted boyfriend.  Then he's gay.  Then he falls in love with a lesbian, so I guess he's bi?  Then he's gay again.

But he has no swishy mannerisms.

And his family is completely supportive, even if they don't understand (which gives him an opportunity for several Gay 101 lessons):

Jessica:  You know, Jodie, in my day there were no such thing as homosexuals.
Jodie:  Aunt Jessica, there have been homosexuals since ancient times.
Jessica: Who?
Jodie:  Aristotle, Plato.
Jessica: Plato????  Mickey Mouse's dog was gay?

Plus Jodie was a full participant in plotlines that weren't about him.  He wasn't there just for the Gay 101 lessons.  He lived an everyday life (as everyday as the Tates and Campbells got, anyway), discussing the day's crisis along with everyone else.  An equal.

For the first time in television history, we could tune in every week to watch a gay person being human.