Christine Campbell (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the attractive but bumbling title character of CBS’s “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” and Daniel Harris (Blair Underwood), who teaches a predominantly white fourth grade, eye each other hungrily when they meet at the posh private school.
But the two divorcees fear that just going out on a date will invite disapproval and scorn and might even cause Daniel to lose his job.
The problem for the potential lovebirds has nothing to do with Christine being white and Daniel being black. Their barrier is a policy prohibiting teachers from dating parents. That they would be an interracial couple is basically a nonissue.
The plight of Christine and Daniel is one example of a flurry of interracial and inter-ethnic relationships that quietly have developed in prime time during the past few seasons. With little or no fanfare, mixed couples have popped up on programs as disparate as “House,” “Lost,” “The L Word,” “Boston Legal,” “My Name Is Earl,” “Men in Trees” and “Desperate Housewives.”
Most of the series with mixed couples downplay the dynamics or scrutiny that such couples might encounter in real life.
“These relationships are noteworthy because they are no longer newsworthy,” said Underwood, whose recurring role on “The New Adventures of Old Christine” will expand in future episodes.
Underwood has become the unofficial poster boy for interracial love in pop culture, with love connections in “Sex and the City,” the short-lived NBC drama “LAX” and in the film “Full Frontal.” Kari Lizer, the creator of “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” said she was struck by the continued lack of diversity on network prime time, which she feels makes her show more revolutionary than she had anticipated.
“It’s just shocking to see how segregated comedies are,” she said. “It should not be a bold move for Christine to have a black best friend, but it is.”
Still, it was important for her to illustrate a loving relationship between a white woman and a black man where race was not the main focus.
“It’s not a factor, and there are enough factors for them to deal with,” Lizer said. “It’s not a fresh area, and I would love it to be a nonissue. Christine’s best friend is played by Wanda Sykes. We don’t act like the race aspect is invisible. We say it as a fact of life, and then move on.”
But the “say it and forget it” approach to race reflects a disturbing disconnect from reality, say detractors.
Mara Brock Akil, creator of the CW’s “Girlfriends” and “The Game,” said she felt that the trend of depicting interracial love as ideal and harmonious smacked of dishonesty.
“I find it not only false but unfortunate that the very thing that defines the ‘interracial couple’ is not explored,” said Akil, who has included story lines about the differences of mixed couples in both of her shows. “And by not exploring race, not only do you miss the opportunity for great stories, you miss what is unique to their experience.”
