Something odd happened on TV last week. I was watching Law and Order on NBC, and there was something I caught out of the corner of the frame, but I didn't think I saw what I saw. A few minutes later in the show, there was another scene which confirmed what I thought I saw first was true.

Network TV showed two men kissing.

Now, this wasn't some Milton Berle joke kiss, or some passionate behind the shoulder kiss, but a full on, two men making out like heterosexual kissing. Better still, and this was the remarkable part, there was no build up or lead up to the scene. There was no longing looks, no forbidden temptation. There wasn't even, as you would expect from something like this, a talk up in the regular press about some historic or groundbreaking scene. No, in actuality it was perfectly normal and perfectly boring.

You have to understand that when television talks about homosexuals and kissing, it's normally in the context of porn. No, I don't mean real porn, but when there is a same sex kiss, it's normally two incredibly good looking women, with sexy music, some sort of seduction and there's something rather dirty about the whole thing and very fake. There was an episode of House a few weeks ago which fell right into this. They had built up to this scene for weeks, but the character that was engaged in the kiss never showed these signs before and in the context of the story, it was done more because she is dying than for any real feelings. So, truth to be told, it was done for ratings.

On Law and Order, the men kissing in a number of scenes, yes there were more than two scenes of this, were so plain and so manly, it just didn't register as anything. For the scenes, it made sense, but I have to say I was surprised it was handled as such a matter of fact issue and even the cops who were on the scene for these things didn't really bat an eyebrow on it.

Now, I don't think this is some revolution in same sex intimacy on network television. On the contrary, with the recent announcement by NBC to pretty much gut their 10pm dramas, such scenes will probably have to go, since the dramas will be on at a time where, traditionally, the kiddies will still be awake. We can't expose kids to the real world because, heaven forbid, they may ask questions we don't want to answer.