Joel and Maggie, the Next Dance

Sam and Diane. Maddie and David. Joel and Maggie?

The romance between “Northern Exposure’s” doctor and pilot will definitely heat up this season, say the series’ co-executive producer-writer Andrew Schneider and supervising producer-writer Diane Frolov.

But the two are mum on whether they will follow in the steps--into the bedroom--of other famous bickering TV couples.

“What can we say without laying our cards on the table?” Schneider asks.

Frolov does allow that Joel and Maggie’s relationship is “going to get more complicated” because of the arrival of a new character, Mike Monroe (played by Anthony Edwards), an attorney who lives in a plastic bubble and hopes to find a pure home in Cicely.

Schneider says he is also well aware of the magic and viewers that several series have lost, most notably “Moonlighting,” when the dueling lovebirds consummated their relationship. He promises that won’t happen with “Northern Exposure.”

“We look on it that their relationship is a complex one, and there are lots of areas to explore without having them necessarily go to bed together,” Schneider says. “Not to say they don’t go to bed together, but their relationship is a lot bigger than that.”

And since “Northern Exposure” has won the heart of critics and audiences alike because it is offbeat and unexpected, Frolov adds: “If they go to bed together, there will be a twist on it. It won’t be ‘Moonlighting.’ ”