While doing nothing Saturday, I happened upon a segment on the Fox News Channel (ah, quality cable channels) about the TV sitcom “Ellen.” The two men who were discussing the show agreed that it has become focused primarily on homosexuality. They said it as if the show had cancer, or maybe AIDS. I suppose it is almost that bad of a prognosis for Ellen DeGeneres’s program.

The Fox News commentators said they think Ellen DeGeneres is very funny, but they do not want to know about her personal life. (How dare she, anyway! Who asked her to come out of the closet and ruin our fun?) The men automatically assumed, in part because Ellen’s girlfriend is playing a part on “Ellen,” that the show is about Ellen’s real life. Sure, to some extent, it does reflect her life experiences, just as “Seinfeld” is modeled somewhat after Jerry Seinfeld’s life, “Mad About You” about Paul Reiser’s life, and so forth. What is wrong with that? People want to know about other people.

I could be wrong, but I think it’s called acting. Or are we supposed to think every character is just an extension of the person playing that character? Gee, Lisa Kudrow must be really stupid.

If 10 percent of the population is homosexual, a statistic I happen to believe, then we should have a lot more “homosexual shows,” not fewer. We all advocate diversity, right? Think about it. How many TV shows are about heterosexuality? I would say most of them.

Take “Friends,” for example (just because it is the easiest). How many “Friends” plots do you think revolve around one friend or another’s romantic or sexual conquests? Well, let’s see, if you watch the show, you probably remember the night Rachel and Ross wound up “sleeping” in the middle of a museum exhibit, complete with furs and gawking kids. We can’t forget the episode that revolved around Chandler’s fear that he wasn’t as good of a lover as Joey. Monica’s love affair with that doctor was the topic of many an episode. I dare say some type of sexual innuendo comes up on every show.

It’s true that the first “Friends” shows included Ross’s ex-wife, a lesbian. However, the fact that his wife had turned lesbian was a sign of ultimate failure and a complete embarrassment for Ross. It was not okay to be a lesbian.

Even if not that many people are gay, I think there should be more homosexuality on TV just to break up the monotony. Aren’t some of the rest of you getting sick of ALL the heterosexual sex staring us in the face?

Those soap opera stars HAVE to be tired of jumping into bed every other scene. First of all, it has to be a pain keeping the sheets in exactly the right positions. Also, I can’t imagine how many pillows they go through; the women are always squeezing them out of shape in the heat of their passion.

The parting remark on the Fox News show was that “Ellen” would probably not be back next season because a lot of parents are worried about their kids watching a show about homosexuals. Well, I bet most of those parents let their children watch violent shows. If “monkey see, monkey do” is the rule, the children of this nation are in trouble.

I think good parents should have some idea what their kids are watching on TV and should communicate their reservations about programs with questionable content. You don’t have to watch “Ellen.” If people really don’t like the subject matter of her show, the ratings will reflect that fact, and the show will be canceled anyway.

Last week, “Ellen” was sitting at number 53 in the Nielsen ratings, not far behind “Law and Order” and “Dateline Friday.” I doubt that those shows are in danger of being cut. I think the network should let “Ellen” have the benefit of the doubt just like any other show.

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Catherine Conover is a senior in liberal studies from Mapleton.