20 years later, Ellen's coming out episode remains one of the best in television history

It's almost impossible to remember a time when Ellen DeGeneres — the inoffensive pastel-palette comedian beloved by Pantsuit Nation moms and Holiday Inn lounges everywhere — was actually something of a radical.

On April 30, The Ellen DeGeneres Show will commemorate the 20th anniversary of "The Puppy Episode," the comedian's landmark two-part coming out episode from her television series Ellen. At the time, anticipatory anxiety about the episode, which ultimately attracted 42 million viewers, reached such an intensity that the network decided to slap a spectacularly patronizing "parental advisory" warning on it. Read more...