What do these shows have in common?
They all featured illegal aliens as regular or
recurring characters who were threatened with
deportation.
BILLY/ABC/1992
Billy Connolly as Billy Macgregor, a community
college teacher of poetry and English
Literature who illegally married a divorcee
with three children to avoid being deported
back to Scotland (he forgot to renew his
visa). He later won a green card in an
immigration lottery.
CROSSING JORDON/NBC/2001+
Steve Valentine as Dr. Nigel
Townsend, an extremely flamboyant, unorthodox
and quirky criminologist/forensics expert and
ex-British soldier working at Boston's
Coroner's Office. Faced with deportation after
a low work evaluation, Nigel tries to outsmart
the INS by getting one of his coworkers
namely, free-spirited Lily Lebowski, (Kathryn
Hahn), to be his wife so he can stay in the
states. Apparently, Nigel was worried because
his visa was up in 5 days. If he was not
considered an essential employee who
contributed special skills to the department,
the INS would use that against him and send
him back to England. In addition, Nigel had
fibbed a little. He came to the US on a
student visa 13 yrs ago and never left. Just
before the sham wedding, Chief Medical
Examiner Dr. Garret Macy (Miguel Ferrer)
upgraded Nigel's evaluation for two reasons.
One, to keep Nigel in America; and two, to
keep Lily from marrying him. Garret had
recently realized he had a thing for her.
THE DREW CAREY SHOW/ABC/1995-2004
Craig
Ferguson as Nigel Wick, an insensitive,
power-mad manager of Winford Lowder Department
Stores. To fool the INS into thinking he had a
legitimate claim on citizenship, Nigel
pressured his coworker Drew Carey to pose as
his married gay lover to avoid deportation
back to England. After a time, Drew refused to
continue the sham. When Wicks. Mother Maggie
Wick (Richard Chamberlain in drag) arrived for
a visit, she physically accosted Drew trying
to force him into continuing the illegal
joining.
I MARRIED DORA/ABC/1987-88
Elizabeth Pena as Dora Calderon, an
attractive, El Salvadoran housekeeper/nanny
working for a divorced Los Angeles architect
and his two children. When she was threatened
with deportation, her employer married her (he
was afraid the Death Squads may try to kill
her upon her return). Their platonic
relationship soon developed into true love.
The series producers added a small message at
the end of the first episode that read:
"WARNING, Marrying an illegal alien to avoid
deportation is a Federal offense punishable by
fines and/or imprisonment. Do not try this in
your own home."
REMINGTON STEELE/NBC/1982-87
Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt, the head of
the Remington Steele private investigations
firm married her mysterious partner Remington
Steele (Pierce Brosnan) to keep him from being
deported from America. To make their marriage
look sincere to Immigration Service, Laura's
secretary Mildred Krebs (Mildred Krebs)
offered to pay for their honeymoon in Mexico.
After being mistakenly booked at the Hotel Del
Amor, a rundown jungle hideaway, our
honeymooners took a suite in La Paz. When
Remington arrived at La Paz, the manager
exclaimed "Remington Steele, you are the big
Dick from Los Angeles." And after an argument
with Laura, Remington confesses "Well, at
least were acting like a married couple."
Their whole trip was plagued by nosey
Immigration Service agents trying to prove the
marriage was fake.
WILL & GRACE/NBC/1998-2006
Shelley Morrison as Rosario Salazar, a
Salvadoran maid who worked in New York City
for a wealthy, white employer named Karen
Walker. To keep from being deported, Rosario
and Karen arranged a fake marriage with a gay
man named Jack who later demanded palimony
from Karen when he found Rosario in bed with
another man. Rosario and Karen’s prickly but
caring relationship included such exchanges as
"In my country I was a school teacher" Karen
replied "In this country you wash my bras."
and "Hey, you’re on the clock, tamale. Get to
work." Rosario responds "Listen, Lady, I’ll
squash you like a wormy apple."
