When the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and leave the question of abortion rights to the states, individual justices also raised questions that have left some people worried about issues ranging from gay and interracial marriage to LGBTQ rights and contraception.
That has me thinking more about the disconnect between the conservative justices and television programming. All of those issues used to be dangerous territory for TV. No more.
I’m not even talking about pay-cable or streaming sites, whose content has little boundaries. I’m talking about advertiser-supported network television.
America and American TV have changed since Lucy and Desi couldn’t sleep in the same bed, a character played by Tony Randall in “Love, Sidney” was written as ambiguous rather than gay and the decision of “Maude” to have an abortion led to a national conversation.
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Three of the broadcast network series that I watch regularly illustrate how much the culture and TV has changed.
NBC’s popular series “This Is Us,” which was set in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, centered around three siblings, two of whom are white and the third who was adopted at birth and is Black.
One of the daughters of the Black son, Randall Pearson (Sterling K. Brown), came out as gay as a teenager.
In the final season, Uncle Nick (Griffin Dunne) married a Black woman (Vanessa Bell Calloway.)
The gay and interracial story lines always have been handled sensitively – or not even made an issue – and helped make “This Is Us” annually either the top-rated scripted entertainment series on NBC or close to the most popular.
Freema Agyeman, left, as Dr. Helen Sharpe, and Ryan Eggold as Dr. Max Goodwin in NBC's "New Amsterdam."
Another of my favorite broadcast series, NBC’s hospital series “New Amsterdam,” also has gay and interracial elements. It recently completed its fourth season and will end with 13 episodes next season.
"New Amsterdam" could be viewed as one of the more liberal shows on network television. The lead character, Dr. Max Goodman (Ryan Eggold), is engaged to a Black doctor, Dr. Helen Sharpe (Freema Agyeman), in a romance many viewers have been rooting for. Spoiler alert: The season finale suggested the marriage will be delayed or may never happen.
Interracial marriages have become routine on network TV.
Legal analysts feel interracial marriage, which was made legal by a 1967 Supreme Court ruling, is safe from being overturned partly because Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Black, is married to a white woman. The newest Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, is married to a white man. But Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana recently suggested that interracial marriages – like abortion – should also become a state's issue.
"New Amsterdam," which is set in New York City, also has had story lines involving two gay couples. Dr. Lauren Bloom (Janet Montgomery) used to be partnered with Dr. Leyla Shinwari (Shiva Kalaiselvan) and they may reconnect. Dr. Iggy Frome (Tyler Labine) is married to Martin McIntyre (Mike Doyle) and raising children with him, though their relationship is rocky.
They have had the same issues that all couples have, including arguments over money and jealously.
David Giuntoli, left, and Chance Hurstfield in ABC's "A Million Little Things."
Then there is ABC’s “A Million Little Things,” which is set in Boston.
One of the lead characters, relationship talk show host Maggie Bloom (Allison Miller), openly talked on her radio show about having an abortion despite being warned by her boss against revealing it to avoid controversy. (In a casting coincidence, the English roommate who impregnated Maggie is played by Chris Geere, who played the second husband of Kate Pearson (Chrissy Metz) on “This Is Us.”)
Maggie kept her radio job after revealing she had an abortion and now is trying to have a child with her former and present boyfriend and my favorite wise-cracking character, Gary Mendez (James Roday Rodriguez).
Another of the lead characters, Katherine Saville (Grace Park), divorced her husband Eddie (David Giuntoli) and now is dating Greta (Cameron Esposito) a female tattoo artist she knew from high school.
Katherine worried about how her young son, ex-husband and friends would handle her coming out.
They all were fine with it.
That shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who has watched TV in the last decade.
After all, the groundbreaking ABC hit comedy “Modern Family” featured a popular gay couple, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), who married, raised children together and were loved by millions of viewers for 11 seasons.
Advertisers, who can be the most skittish and generally avoid controversial areas, also notably have included gay and interracial couples in their commercials. If you watch ads over a week, you might even be surprised by how many interracial couples are in them when it wasn’t so long ago that led some less open-minded viewers to complain.
If network TV is a guide, America has come a long way on social issues, even if some Supreme Court justices haven’t noticed or don’t care – or both.
