She’s a red-headed powerful witch from a cult-hit television show. He’s a successful lawyer from an Emmy-winning buddy sitcom. What do these characters, Willow from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Will from “Will and Grace,” have in common? Well, they’re both gay television characters from basic cable networks. From Jodie Dallas on “Soap” to Ellen Morgan on “Ellen,” they’ve come a long way.

IN THE BEGINNING

Homosexual representation on television’s basic cable has a pretty short history, according to Robert Thompson, Ph.D., the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.

Thompson, an expert in television history and media criticism who also holds a Ph.D in radio, television and film, cited the 1972 award-winning TV movie “That Certain Summer,” starring Martin Sheen and Hal Holbrook as “tasteful” and “the first serious fictional treatment on television of a gay character.”

Then later in the 1970s, Billy Crystal portrayed Jodie, one of the first gay characters as part of an ensemble cast on the hit sitcom “Soap.”

During the 80s a few shows featured gay characters as part of an ensemble cast or guest stars, but Thompson said that it wasn’t until Ellen DeGeneres’ character, Ellen, came out on the ABC sitcom “Ellen,” that a network show featured a principal gay character.

WILL AND GRACE

“Let’s face it, [with] Jack on ‘Will and Grace,’ [you can] look in the thesaurus for gay stereotypes and Jack has about every one of them,” said Thompson.

Thompson compared “Will and Grace” to “The Amos ‘n Andy Show” in terms of being filled with stereotypes and making fun of the characters.

“On the other hand, we’ve got to remember an awful lot of African-Americans were huge fans of ‘Amos ‘n Andy,’ just like a lot of gay Americans were huge fans of ‘Will and Grace,’” Thompson said.

Ryan Vaughan, an English professor from Binghamton University with a Ph.D in English, said he didn’t see “Will and Grace” as direct progression.

“You could say it’s a step forward,” Vaughan said. “’Will and Grace’ to me is not the right representation because it makes gayness binary. You are either Will or Jack. The issue of homosexuality was the joke. Will and Jack never had meaningful intimacy with another man. All the intimacy was between Will and Grace and Jack and Karen in terms of physical contact. All the intimacy was hetero. That sends a very mixed message about homosexuality.”

Vaughan also said it’s important to look at paid programming compared to basic cable in terms of how America sees gay characters.

“You have to think about who’s watching ‘Will and Grace’ as opposed to who is watching ‘The L Word.’ This is where TV is at a crossroads,” Vaughan said. “Middle America is watching NBC on Thursday nights. If that’s the type of homosexuality they’re getting, that’s the kind of homosexuality they’re going to believe exists. If you’re not crazy, flamboyant Jack, or if you can’t tell you’re gay like Will, then you’re not gay. It lacks a spectrum.”

OUTING CHARACTERS

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a popular trend in television emerged, as several established characters, like Willow on “Buffy” and Dr. Kerry Weaver on “ER,” came out as lesbians. Was it done for novelty as the times changed?

Thompson said up until the 1990s networks were still worried that audiences would not be receptive to an openly gay character.

“If you introduce a character, everybody gets to know who they are and they get to like them and that kind of thing,” he said. “Then, a new detail about their sexuality is revealed. You already like them so it’s not as important. I think that’s what was so ingenious about what Ellen did. I don’t know if she had this planned out, I don’t know what kind of trajectory or how far ahead she had it planned out.”

Thompson said he doesn’t see sudden changes in sexuality like Willow had on “Buffy” as a ratings stunt, rather something that creators felt made the character more interesting.

THE FUTURE?

Besides “Will and Grace,” several shows have featured gay principal characters in ensemble casts, including “Brothers and Sisters,” “Ugly Betty,” “Dawson’s Creek” and many more.

But, many shows use gay kisses and coming outs as ratings stunts. “Gossip Girl” is currently touting the coming out of a character. Both Thompson and Vaughan agreed society has progressed enough that it’s not a big deal to have gay characters lead a cast or be part of an ensemble.

“The big change is cultural,” Vaughan said. “There is a debate whether TV is reflecting the change in culture or culture is dictating the change in television, it’s a chicken and egg thing. It’s hard to pin down.”