Roberts, born and raised in small-town Rockmart, Ga., was something different from his TV predecessors. Zamora’s impact was complicated by deep sadness. people since its 1992 debut - most notably Pedro Zamora, a young activist from the third season, who died of AIDS-related illness a day after the finale - but Mr. But he was a rather dark, Machiavellian figure. “Will & Grace,” another sitcom, broke some ground by chronicling the relationship between a gay man and his straight friend, but discerning viewers couldn’t help but notice that it had about as much bite as “I Love Lucy.” In 2000, “Survivor,” then in its first season, delivered an openly gay (and, often, openly nude) antihero in Richard Hatch, who schemed his way to million-dollar victory. But her sitcom, “Ellen,” was canceled one season after her revelation. Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out in 1997 created a sense that things were changing.
visibility was going through an awkward phase in that time.
