TV Finds Drama in Interracial Dating. he scene, which appears in tonight’s installment of “The western Wing,” is merely one example of a onslaught of prime-time series which are aggressively tackling interracial romance

The daughter that is 19-year-old of president of this united states of america has a issue. Using one hand, her love with her new boyfriend couldn’t be better. But trouble is brewing.

For Zoey Bartlet (Elisabeth Moss)–the very first daughter on NBC’s White House drama, “The West Wing”–the dilemma is her beau, Charlie younger (Dule Hill), is black. White supremacists have now been delivering death threats to your White home, as well as an increasingly worried president (Martin Sheen) blocks the couple plans to go right to the opening of the hot club that is new. When Zoey informs Charlie, that is also her father’s aide that is personal throughout a lunch, he storms out of the restaurant.

The scene, which appears in tonight’s installment of “The western Wing,” is just one example of an onslaught of prime-time show being aggressively tackling romance that is interracial. Until a seasons that are few, such relationships had been a rarity on system tv, considered too controversial and sensitive to depict or explore. Now at least six dramas that are prime-time comedies have tale lines revolving around mixed-race couples.

“There’s this ‘toe-in-the-water’ approach now in television about showing blacks and whites in love on television,” said Robert M. Entman, manager of the Department of Communication at new york State University and co-author of this future book “The Black Image within the White Mind: Media and Race in the us.”

“Both ‘ER’ and ‘Ally McBeal’ have had most of these romances into the previous few periods, and it did result that is n’t outrage or have an impact on ranks,” Entman stated. “So now there’s a little more boldness in approaching interracial relationships.”

The tale lines revolving around interracial relationships are blossoming throughout a television season that is blasted by the NAACP as well as other minority groups for having less social variety regarding the four major sites. And while “The Jeffersons” of the mid-’70s featured a long-married interracial couple, this season’s focus is regarding the stress of courtship as well as the societal conflict it could provoke.

Andrew Rojecki, who co-wrote “The Black Image into the White Mind” with Entman, suggests the stormy interracial relationship a few periods ago on “ER” between surgeons Peter Benton (Eriq LaSalle) and Elizabeth Corday (Alex Kingston) ended up being the main force in tearing down the opposition toward showing grayscale couplings.

“That relationship really challenged the cultural and social taboos on television,” Rojecki stated. “It was done for a Top 10 show that appeals to both black and white viewing audiences, which generally have various tastes in exactly what shows they watch. What is happening now with all these other programs is fantastic. Whether it is a harbinger of items to come continues to be to be seen.”

Delicate Area for Promoting Shows

Manufacturers recommend the trend is primarily driven with a wealth of mainly story that is uncharted. Indeed, while audiences appear to be more receptive, such plots remain an area that is sensitive the companies’ promotional machines.

The field that is current of cuts across age, social and expert obstacles. Intimate and tension that is romantic been building on CBS’ “Judging Amy” between Judge Amy Gray (Amy Brenneman) and her black colored court services officer Bruce Van Exel (Richard T. Jones), and a current episode showed her dreaming about a steamy erotic encounter with him inside her workplace. On ABC’s “Once and Again,” elegance Manning (Julia Whelan), the high-strung, awkward teenage daughter of Lily Manning (Sela Ward), is falling in deep love with her black classmate Jared (Robert Richard). CBS’ inner-city medical center drama, “City of Angels,” features a young Jewish resident, Dr. Geoffrey Weiss (Phil Buckman), performing a tense relationship with rn Grace Patterson (Maya Rudolph) within the vociferous protest of her father. College students Shawn (driver Strong) and Angela (Trina McGee-Davis) are continuing their courtship on ABC’s “Boy Meets World.” While the future WB drama that is political “D.C.,” about twentysomethings in the nation’s money, features an interracial couple, television news producer Sarah Logan (Kristanna Loken) and U.S. Supreme Court clerk Lewis Freeman (Daniel Sunjata), who’re residing together.