Joshua Bowman as Max on ABC Family's Make It or Break It

Leave it to an ABC Family low-budget scripted teen drama to quietly air what might be the best representation of male bisexuality ever on American television.

Make It Or Break It centers around a group of young aspiring gymnasts. The core cast and story focuses on the U.S. female team, but the boys do make an appearance — and one just gave us a scene that has me so stunned I’m struggling to find words.

To give you some idea of what this show is like, if you are not familiar, it’s sort of Degrassi meets Friday Night Lights with a dash ofDallas thrown in. There is no denying it is basically a teen soap opera. That’s neither a good nor a bad thing — it just is. I don’t think this show is out to win Emmys.

MIOBI has some familiar faces in the cast: Kathy Najimy is on hand as a conniving stage mother. Frasier’s Peri Gelpin also plays mother to one of the girls. Her husband is played by Brett Cullen, a familiar face to viewers of Ugly Betty, Friday Night Lights and Lost. There’s also Sean Maher, whom some of you might remember from Firefly.

Sean Maher, serving up the beefcake on Firefly

But really, the character we're most interested in here isMax, and he is played by Joshua Bowman — who clearly could have a future on the Hot 100.

Two of Max's female teammates are fighting over him, but Max really only seems to be interested in a girl named Payson. Still, when she declares her love for him, Max is stunned and completely at a loss for words.

Zane Holtz as Austin Tucker

Later, one of Max's male teammates, Austin, finds him alone, drinking Scotch. That alone would probably horrify the family values folks, but the real shocker is what happens next: Max laments to Austin that tonight “one girl offered me her body, the other her love, and I couldn’t say yes to either of them.”

And then this happens...

I was told by the nice folks who pointed me to this episode that Max was bisexual, but even so, I was unprepared for that kiss. And more than that, I have to say I was doubtful that the character really was.

I assumed the scenes with the girls was the Bat signal that he was gay and that people were just assuming he was bisexual because he seemed interested in the girls. It’s not that his bisexuality did not seem possible with the story elements we had seen, it was that I really didn’t think a show with this, uh, less than stellar writing—would offer its viewers more than a half-ass demonstration of a confused young man.

Boy was I wrong. I mean, epic wrong. In the long history of wrongness, my wrong stands apart in its hugeness, is what I am saying.

Austin pulls back after a second with a wonderfully, “Well, that was different” sort of expression on his face.

“What was that?” he asks with wonderful calmness.

Let’s pause right here. This alone is an amazing TV moment. A (presumably) straight character gets kissed by his buddy and he doesn’t freak out, yell or go into a tirade. He doesn’t storm off or spit like he tasted something foul. He just wants to know what the eff just happened.

This is a huge thing, in my opinion. It shows young guys across the world how to handle this situation without resorting to thuggery.

And yet, the show is not done.

Max: (sheepish) “That was a kiss. I kissed you.”

Austin: (eyes him with a look of, “Yeah, duh, I got that part.”) “Why?”

Max: “Because I wanted to.”

Austin: “So, you’re gay?”

And here is where I expect the stammering to come in from Max as he insists he’s not and how could Austin say such a thing and so on. But I should not have bothered picking my jaw up off the floor.

Max: “No.”

Austin: (looking adorably perplexed) “No… You just like to kiss guys…”

Max: (eyes intent) “And girls.”

Fortunately, we get a breather so I can recover my wits a little bit. When we get back, we get hands down the best scene I have ever seen take place on TV involving male bisexuality.

Never, ever, ever did I think I would see a scene like this. Hoped for, wanted, but never did I imagine some little show about gymnasts would be the show that told the world about bisexuality. I was, am, completely blown away.

Not only did they make a character bisexual, they actually talked about the confusion and pain of being bisexual. And they got it right. Without any excess drama or nonsense, they conveyed the confusion, doubt and difficulty of knowing you are attracted to both men and women.

Add to that the fact that a character on network TV actually said the words, “I wish I was just gay.” I mean, what is going on out there? Is the Gay Agenda finally gaining ground? And my fellows bis are actually included?

Amazing.

Make It or Break It has ended for the season. But we'll be paying closer attention to it around here when the show returns. Even if bisexual Max eventually ends up with a girl. Given the usual progression of bi guy storylines – that would be a refreshing change.

*Hat tip to user RAlice and the emails from Jane and

Alexis, for pointing out this storyline to us.