Uploaded October 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
During the fifth and final season of "Ellen" (1997-98), the first full season after Ellen DeGeneres announced that she was gay, ABC prefaced many episodes* with a warning: "This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised." This was true even for episodes that are tame by today's standards, like this one: "Roommates," the third episode of the fifth season, airing on Oct. 8, 1997.
Disclaimer: I own no rights to this video. All images are the property of Disney, Touchstone and ABC. I just couldn't find it anywhere on YouTube and thought it was a part of cultural history worth remembering.
* It was pointed out in the comments that not all the episodes in the final season had the warning (the summary originally said "each episode").
During the fifth and final season of "Ellen" (1997-98), the first full season after Ellen DeGeneres announced that she was gay, ABC prefaced many episodes* with a warning: "This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised." This was true even for episodes that are tame by today's standards, like this one: "Roommates," the third episode of the fifth season, airing on Oct. 8, 1997.
Disclaimer: I own no rights to this video. All images are the property of Disney, Touchstone and ABC. I just couldn't find it anywhere on YouTube and thought it was a part of cultural history worth remembering.
* It was pointed out in the comments that not all the episodes in the final season had the warning (the summary originally said "each episode").
