When My Name Is Earl star Jaime Pressly travelled to her native Kinston, North Carolina, 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 blonde bombshell, is married to Darnell (aka Crab Man), a laid-back black guy and, well, she was braced for at least a little flak. 

Instead, she was smothered with enthusiastic inquiries about her onscreen mate, played by Eddie Steeples.