Network TV used to have an unwritten rule that there could only be one Asian American woman, if that, in a leading (or even prominent recurring) role on TV at a time. Or in a few-year span.

In the '90s it was Margaret Cho on All American Girl, followed by Ming-Na on ER, and Lucy Liu on Ally McBeal. Then at the turn of the century, it was Keiko Agena on Gilmore Girls, and Kristin Kreuk on Smallville, plus a few others sprinkled in now and then.

But a few years ago, something happened — more specifically, Lost and Grey's Anatomy happened, or maybe common sense just finally kicked in — and we began to get three or four Asian American women in regular roles on network TV shows. Then last season, it was five.

And the networks discovered something odd: people of color tuned in, and the white people didn't stop watching. In fact, ratings even went up on some of the shows. (Gee, maybe this whole diversity thing isn't such a bad idea, after all!)

Now, going into the 2007-08 season, we're looking at a record seven shows with prominent female Asian American leading or supporting roles on primetime network TV (eight if The CW renews Smallville).

That's almost double the number of even a few years ago. Yes, it's still a pathetically small number, and there's still no Asian American equivalent to shows like Everybody Hates Chris or the upcoming Latino family drama Cane. But at least it's trending in the right direction — and it's six more than the number of lesbians we're going to get next season!

But on to the new roles.

First, Lucy Liu makes her triumphant return to television in Cashmere Mafia (ABC), a drama about career women in New York that we blogged about yesterday. Here's her official Cashmere headshot: … continue reading