When "My Name Is Earl" star Jaime Pressly traveled to her native Kinston, N.C., for the holidays last December, she didn't know exactly what kind of reaction she'd elicit among the red-state citizenry. After all, her sitcom character Joy, a brassy blond bombshell, is married to Darnell (aka Crab Man), a laid-back black guy and, well, she was braced for at least a little flak.

"Everywhere I went it was, ‘Hey, where's Crab Man? Is he coming to visit?' ‘Oh, he's cool.' That's a good 'fro he's got going,' " she recalls. "Yeah, they just love Crab Man."

Similarly Steeples says he doesn't hear much feedback about the interracial pairing from the public. "To be honest," he says, "I usually get ‘Man, she's hot, huh?' "

This matter-of-fact acceptance comes as good news to television writers and producers who are shrugging off hoary concerns about alienating viewers and advertisers as they allow love to bloom between characters of all races and cultures.

Of course anyone who has seen "I Love Lucy" or "The Jeffersons" knows this isn't exactly groundbreaking stuff. It's worth noting, though, that TV's portrait of romance is, more than ever, one of blended colors.

A highly compelling coupling on the hit medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" involves a black man and an Asian woman. "Scrubs" features a marriage between a Latina and a black man. On "ER," which has long been a monument to diversity, a woman of Indian descent is married to a black man.

And those are just a few examples involving key characters. Toss in all the various and far-flung tangential depictions and the interracial canvas becomes even broader. One of the most touching scenes on "Lost" this season featured the surprise reunion of Rose, a black woman, and Bernard, her white husband.

On "Gilmore Girls," the Korean teen, Lane Kim, just went through a messy breakup with her white boyfriend. Meanwhile, there's "Will & Grace," which recently had Will planting a big smooch on a black man played by Taye Diggs.

Of course, in the not-so-distant past, such onscreen couplings occasionally stirred up markedly different reactions. In 1999, for example, Eriq La Salle, then one of the main stars of "ER," made headlines when he prodded producers to end his character's interracial romance with a white woman, played by Alex Kingston, because he was "not comfortable" with the message it sent to black people.

And Aaron Sorkin, creator of "The West Wing," has spoken of the hate mail he received when he had the president's young white daughter kissing a black presidential aide.

But 38 years after Capt. Kirk raised eyebrows by kissing Lt. Uhura on "Star Trek," people generally are making less of a fuss about interracial relationships on television and in real life.

In the last 20 years the number of interracial marriages has climbed from fewer than 700,000 couples to 1.7 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Wanting to be in tune with what's going on in the real world, television writers, along with their feature-film counterparts, have become less hesitant to cross the color line or make an issue out of it.

On "Grey's Anatomy," which last week overtook "Desperate Housewives" for the first time in the Nielsen ratings, other differences between live-in mates Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington) have been emphasized: He's neat; she's messy; he's quietly arrogant; she's openly abrasive; he has a sense of spirituality; she doesn't.

"It's incredibly encouraging that our viewers haven't gotten hung up on the race thing," says "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes, the only black woman currently running a major network drama. "It's not about the fact that she's Asian and he's black. It's about the fact that she's a slob and he's a neat freak. That's what the whole relationship is all about."

Washington, who plays opposite the Golden Globe-winning Oh, echoes that sentiment. "That's beautiful, right? The fact that we've got (fans) hooked on the humanity of these characters — I dig that."

While some consider this color-blind treatment to be noble — a way of normalizing such relationships — others consider it to be a cop-out. They insist that the medium is too reluctant to wrestle with the challenges and complexities of such unions.

"Face it, some writers are just afraid of going there," says Eric Deggans, a media critic for the St. Petersburg Times. "Taking on cultural differences isn't easy, so they simply make believe they don't exist."

Deggans, a black man, has been married to a white woman for nearly 15 years. He says that even in the most cosmopolitan of American cities, many citizens remain race-conscious and that interracial couples continually confront various forms of discrimination when in public and/or when families mingle.

"When I see shows that dwell in a universe that doesn't actually exist, it feels somewhat artificial and it takes me out of the show," he says. "In the future I'd like to see producers take more chances and take the blinders off. To me, that would make for great drama."

He might get his wish, because TV has more interracial subject matter on the way. Comedian George Lopez recently struck a deal with ABC to produce a sitcom about an interracial family.

The forthcoming WB drama "The Bedford Diaries" features scenes of a black college freshman struggling through a relationship with a pregnant white girl still in high school, and an FX drama called "Thief" places Emmy-winning actor Andre Braugher in a marriage with a white woman.

Norman Morrill, creator and executive producer of "Thief," is married to a Mexican woman. He says he wrote an interracial coupling into the show long before the current wave of diversified unions hit the air.

In mulling whether to produce "I Love Lucy," CBS honchos worry that viewers will never believe Cuban-born Desi Arnaz as Lucille Ball's husband — even though they're married in real life. "I Love Lucy" becomes an instant hit.

Alan Freed begins hosting a weekly rock 'n' roll show on ABC, but the program is abruptly canceled shortly after black singer Frankie Lymon is seen dancing with a white teenage girl.

Captain Kirk (William Shatner) of "Star Trek" makes history when he plants a smooch on Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). It's heralded as network television's first black-white kiss.

While taping a duet with Harry Belafonte for an NBC special, Petula Clark smiles and briefly touches his arm. Nervous sponsors, fearing the segment would rile Southern viewers, request that it be cut. Clark stands her ground, and the special airs intact to big ratings.

"The Jeffersons" introduces America to George's married neighbors — an African-American woman and white man (Roxie Roker and the recently deceased Franklin Cover).

"Ally McBeal" dishes out a double-dose of interracial romance as the show's heroine (Calista Flockhart) falls for Greg (Jesse L. Martin), an African-American doctor. Meanwhile, Richard Fish (Greg Germann) cozies up to Ling Woo (Lucy Liu).

"Six Feet Under" brings a twist to TV's portrayal of interracial romance with a gay couple consisting of a white (Michael C. Hall) and a black (Mathew St. Patrick) man.

"Friends," often criticized for its lack of diversity, introduces Charlie (Aisha Tyler), a black woman who catches the eye of Ross (David Schwimmer).

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