While shooting a scene that ended with a show of affection, the director of that episode grew uncomfortable, calling 'Cut!' early and giggling. In fact, Meloni and Tergesen have had to push for even more explicitly gay content. 'Here are these two happily married guys kissing at the gay awards and letting it be photographed because their attitude is, `If people don't understand, fuck `em.' Those guys in particular have been incredibly ballsy in doing anything I asked them to do.' 'It made perfect sense to me that they would kiss,' proffers series creator Tom Fontana.

'Give me something higher up that's going to show off my butt a little more.' More fondly recalled are the numerous onscreen French kisses, which Tergesen and Meloni took off-set with playful lip-locks at the 2000 GLAAD Media Awards. 'That fucking bullshit, two ripped T-shirts for a dress and those fucking gold heels,' he grouses. Tergesen laments the terrible drag he was forced to don as bitch to diabolical white supremacist Schillinger (SpiderMan's J.K. The pair needle each other like real-life (and less dysfunctional) lovers in between recollections. Today on the set in Bayonne, N.J., the actors who fill those roles-Christopher Meloni and Lee Tergesen, respectively-relax between scenes at a table within the 120,000-square-foot Emerald City prison complex.

Gays have been tuning in to Oz fervently-besides the hot men, omnipresent nudity, and queer characters, we've been following the twisted, tortured, yet deeply loving romance between inmates Chris Keller and Tobias Beecher. HBO's mesmerizing, no-holds-barred dramatic series about an experimental men's prison block, well into its sixth season, runs through February 23, when the show caps off with a 100-minute finale.

APA style: Prisoners of love: the men behind HBO's gritty, sexy Oz talk about the controversial show as it plows through its final season.

Prisoners of love: the men behind HBO's gritty, sexy Oz talk about the controversial show as it plows through its final season.

MLA style: 'Prisoners of love: the men behind HBO's gritty, sexy Oz talk about the controversial show as it plows through its final season.

Oz tv series love scenes