History of How Small Screen Love Caters to A Carefree Black Woman: A Prelude to My Favorite Television Couples

A few years ago, I spent early mornings catching episodes of The Patty Duke Show. The silly antics of Patty clashed with her twin, Cathy. Patty (the late Patty Duke) had a steady relationship with sweetheart, Richard (the late Eddie Applegate). 

July is National Ice Cream Month. Today is National Ice Cream Day.

What is tantalizingly delicious alongside a four serving pint of epic delight?

A fantastic binge on romance.

Sex and the City's sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and entrepreneur Mr. Big (Chris Noth). 

The 1980's and 1990's were a time of nostalgic pairings defining the very essence of falling in love. Innocent animated series were slyly putting characters together. Scooby Doo's Daphne and Fred, Tiny Toon Adventure's Babs and Buster Bunny, Gargoyles' Goliath and Eliza prepared me for watching daytime soap operas on my mother's knee. We were CBS soaps, rooting for the black Winters family on Young and the Restless. I would venture off to other channels, finding NBC's Sunset Beach and Passions to be campier hilarity or finding ABC's All My Children a secret pleasure thanks to Ryan and Gillian and Greenlee and Leo. Sadly, I didn't catch the celebrated Angie and Jesse story, hailed as the greatest black soap opera romance. Mom and I also spent weeknights on Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, and other Aaron Spelling shows. I even recall staying up late for Highlander, Silk Stockings, and Forever Night. Then there were canceled serials like Kindred the Embraced, Spawn (all hail the underrated Michael Jai White), and Pacific Palisades.

Yes, we watched so much television.

Perhaps, a bit too much.

On Saved By the Bell, Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Kelly Kapowski were sold as the one true pairing of Bayside High. However, Zack and resident fashionista Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies) had a short fling. During the remainder of the series, Lisa was always paired off with Screech, often guilted into doing so, including having him as her prom date.

These writers told their forbidden love stories in a thousand different angles, some creative than others. However, romances were almost absent of blackness. Like a twisted Shakespearean tragedy, the television world appeared to say that love couldn't benefit us, that love couldn't be afforded. The lack of black romance was like a shadow that rarely escaped thoughts. My teenager years were spent on the old WB network with complicated, angsty dramas such as Charmed, Dawson's Creek, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

On ABC, Castle's medical examiner Lanie Parish (Tamala Jones) and NYPD cop Javier Esposito (Jon Huertas) had a steamy affair that wasn't fully explored. The potential came and left. The writers were simply not invested in them.

Black romance weaved into comedies. From The Cosby Show to Martin to Living Single to Family Matters to Girlfriends to The Game and those existing prior and in-between, blackness and laughter went hand in hand. Humor was the ticket to black television success. Thankfully romance was not too far behind.

Historically significant Shonda Rhimes is a huge television force changing the drama game with her Shondaland company. Her flawed characters falter face down in the romance department. Often, it was a challenging mystery how a black woman could front shows that granted ample white privilege. Sure a black man headed the staff on Grey's Anatomy, but Meredith and Derek led for years. Private Practice's Addison, Derek's ex-wife, had a relationship with her best friend's ex-husband Sam-- who had lusted after her for years! Talk about messy. Scandal's Olivia Pope juggled one emotionally abusive relationship to the next. In How to Get Away With Murder-- Pete Norfolk's creation-- Oliver and Connor have the most investment whereas pairings like Wes and Laurel and Michaela and Asher were absolute trash. Canceled Still Star Crossed speaks for itself.

Maya (Golden Brooks) and Darnell Wilkes (Khalil Kain) were the longest running Girlfriends couple-- on/off/on. Funny coincidence is that on Living Single, Kain guest starred as Keith, a love interest for Regine Hunter. Regine broke up with Keith and eventually married Dexter Hunter (Don Franklin). On Girlfriends, Franklin played Stan, a man Maya emotionally cheated on Darnell with.

Yvette Lee Bowser (Living Single and For Your Love), Mara Brock Akil (Girlfriends, The Game, and Being Mary Jane), Ava DuVernay (Queen Sugar), and Issa Rae (Insecure) are other creative powerhouses shifting the pendulum in our favor by writing, producing, and directing stories that star black women and black men, that have black women and black men falling in love with one another. The self love is also evident-- a huge bonus for those of us growing up with specific phenotypes (wide noses, big lips, and dark skin). We weren't always leading the show, much less romantically desired. Nowadays, I find a harmonious kinship in layered characters like Maxine Shaw, Toni Childs, Nova Bordelon, Issa Dee, and Molly Carter. Behind these black women are black women. And in the world that has them, they are wanted and wooed.

In Xena: The Warrior Princess, Xena (Lucy Lawless, right) had two excellent, dynamic pairings-- with Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) and Ares the God of War (the late Kevin Smith, center). Although they had a strong, intimate bond, Xena and Gabrielle didn't become anything more than tight companions.

Whiteness should be criticized. And often.

Throughout my thirty plus years of television watching, whiteness had an overwhelming impact on both my small screen and psyche. I admit to having crushes on actors like Elijah Wood, Wil Wheaton, and David Boreanaz, believing black men, especially of my complexion or darker were beneath attraction standards. Then again, the black men that personally encountered wanted light skinned, biracial, or nonblack women anyway. At the same time,Young the Restless introduced Shemar Moore (who didn't have a supercouple pairing) and Adam Lazarre-White, enticing me away from the subtle brainwashing. Taye Digg's turn on Guiding Light helped me see the error of my mental conditioning.

Once Melanie Barnett (Tia Mowry) and Derwin Davis (Pooch Hall) left The Game, so did I.

Over the next fifteen days, I have scheduled blog posts dedicated to my favorite ships. I spent weeks sorting them out, reordering couples, deleting or adding, realizing that unfulfilled pairings (those who never had a real chance) was something admirable. Saved By the Bell's Lisa Turtle shouldn't have been constantly shown as a consolation prize to Screech. That woman was a freaking diamond. Lisa and Screech are were definitely a start of examples of gorgeous, gifted black women tied to lackluster white men. However, Lisa and Zack would have been much better. In Girlfriends, Joan and Davis should have dated and Toni (another black woman chained to a white man) should've given Paul (played by Idris Elba), a real chance. Living Single's Regine and Dexter were super rushed, but probably due to FOX's foolish cancellation of the sitcom. Regine deserved an invested love story like the other couples around her. She and Keith were great until he became a huge, self-absorbed douche.

The late Bernie Mac (Bernie) and Kellita Smith (Wanda) played a well balanced couple on FOX's The Bernie Mac Show. Bernie's humor and Wanda's warmth were always as comfortable as a blanket on a cold night.

The recent wave of reboots, reboot talks, and film sequels can never replace the satisfying original content in romantic television history. They offer poor, unimaginative substitutes, and sometimes destroy a solid conclusion. For example, the Sex and the City films were awful, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics are mind-numbing trite, and 2.0 versions of 90210 and Melrose Place were unbearable. Now a new Roswell and a new Charmed are on the way-- likely more stabs to the nostalgic heart.

Where is the creativity? Where is the respect? Why can't we let things stay in the past so that we can reflect on them in the present?

Hence, hiring fresh faces with extraordinary perspectives is more important now than ever.

In closing, as the single girl relishing a beloved pint night, tomorrow begins the revisit of noteworthy love stories. Some pairings are of the past. Some pairings currently exist. Some have tragic endings. Few are happily ever after. Some are white. Most are unapologetically black.