Danny Nucci (Frankie) and Jason Bateman (Warren)

Cathy Renna from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in New York, said: "The reason that this show is groundbreaking is because it's the first programme on the CBS network to have a gay lead character.

"CBS is by far the most conservative network and has really fallen behind in terms of the number of gay representations they have. So for us this is a statement by this network to be more inclusive."

Some of My Best Friends is set in New York's Greenwich Village and it revolves around three men - Warren, a gay yuppie, Frankie his heterosexual Italian-American roommate and Vern his over the top gay neighbour.

It is hardly highbrow TV. The show is packed with stereotypes but the actors are good, which has led some critics to soften their disdain for the hackneyed storylines.

The series is just the latest addition to the so-called "gay revolution" that has swept through American TV in the past few years.

There are now more than a dozen gay characters in top rated US programmes.

ER boasts a lesbian relationship. Also, this past year has witnessed the much publicised arrival of a US version of the British TV series Queer as Folk on a major pay TV cable network.

'Open-minded'

Actor Danny Nucci, who plays the macho Italian-American Frankie in Some of My Best Friends, thinks the series has arrived on network TV because of changing attitudes.

Nucci says: "I would like to hope it's a result of the audience being a little more open-minded."

But the truth is that CBS probably put this gay sitcom on the air because it is trying to duplicate the success of Will & Grace, an award-winning prime time gay comedy broadcast by NBC, a competing network.

Gay teenager Justin Taylor, played by Randy Harrison, from the US Queer As Folk

Will & Grace, which won an Emmy for Best Comedy, also features a gay leading man. It chronicles his close relationship with his neighbour who happens to be a heterosexual woman, and his effervescent gay roommate.

Alec Mapa, who plays the flamboyant Vern in Some of My Best Friends acknowledges that every gay series that gets on the air owes a debt to its predecessor.

"I don't think you could have had Will & Grace without the success of Ellen, and I don't think this show could have been produced and developed without the success of Will & Grace," he said.

Some critics have found the stereotyping in Some of My Best Friends offensive.

Vern is very much the flamboyant prissy gay man, who has been subjugated to the role of sidekick to generate many of the laughs.

Breakthrough

Although he is well portrayed by Alec Mapa there is no getting away from the fact that audiences are laughing at him simply because he is gay.

And nearly all the humour in the first episode revolved around heterosexual discomfort with gay people.

Cathy Renna at GLAAD hopes this CBS series will evolve.

"I think they need to very quickly develop the gay and lesbian characters so they're full characterisations, so they do have a life outside their sexual orientation," she said.

Despite the complaints, the presence of Some of My Best Friends on network TV is being hailed as a major breakthrough by many gays.

American TV is now ahead of the rest of the country in its attitude towards gay people.

It has taken on the role of advocate, it is breaking down resistance and placing gays more in the mainstream.

Imperfect as it is, Some of My Best Friends is seen by many gays as just the latest addition to a crusading TV culture that is helping to advance their rights by making them more visible and less threatening.