Who is TV’s greatest “will they/won’t they” couple?
Jim and Pam from The Office? Nick and Jess from New Girl? We pick our favorite “will they/won’t they” couple on TV
TV Features Alex McLevy
Screenshots, clockwise from top left: New Girl (Jess and Nick), Cheers (Sam and Diane), Farscape (John and Aeryn), The Office (Pam and Jim) Graphic: Libby McGuire
We’re approaching the end of Love Week 2022 with an AVQ&A from web producer Baraka Kaseko:
Who is the best “will they/won’t they” couple on TV?
176 Comments
HUMANS ARE SUPERIOR!
Chris and Cathy from “Flowers In The Attic” are the obvious answer here.
Not if you don’t want to be flogged by their crazy grandmother…
I’m into that
There is no best will-they-won’t-they couple. There are only bad and worse ones. It was a tired, irritating conceit before I was born and now it’s just beating the damp patch where a dead horse used to be.
I think Maeve and Otis deserve a spot here.
If there’s one romance trope that drives me nutty, it’s when “will they/won’t they” is dragged out needlessly. If it goes on too long without a good reason in a romance novel/film/TV show, I break into a Monty Pythonesque round of “GET ON WITH IT!”. It REALLY drives me nuts when it happens in a non-romance genre, and then I paraphrase Ronny Graham from Spaceballs: “Excuse me, I’m trying to watch a film/show/read a book which has nothing to do with love, now will you please be quiet?!”.
The problem is everyone remembers the curse of Moonlighting where you killed your hit show the moment the leads finally hooked up. The problem is if the “will they/won’t they” is the only thing the show has going for it, then hooking up can kill it quick.
See also: Joel and Maggie, Northern Exposure.
Northern Exposure still had some juice in it – I blame its demise much more on David Chase being the worst possible person to run a show rooted in optimism and magical realism.
My grandfather hated most of modern TV. I even remember him writing a letter over a cartoon my brother and I were watching (no, it wasn’t Ren and Stimpy, I believe that would have earned a disowning, but it was another Nicktoon I can’t remember right now), but the one show he absolutely loved was Northern Exposure. I’ve never seen it, and I might have to, just to see what he found so fascinating about it. It was really a Chase show? I did not know that…
It’s one of those shows that gets a lot better in season 2 or 3, but I love it (despite being only slightly older than the show myself). It was originally made by Brand and Falsey (the guys who made St. Elsewhere), but they left after the fourth season, and Chase took over. By his own admission, the latter really didn’t get the tone of the show (which was fundamentally warm and weird, and by turns silly and erudite), and made it much more cynical. It still had some good moments, but I think that, along with ongoing contract issues with the show’s ostensible lead, ended up killing it.
They could have made the possible co-parenting arc truly hilarious, but no, they had to kill off Maddie’s baby.
I was SO MAD.
I think the big problem with ‘will they, won’t they’ arcs is that we’re too mired in the idea that marriage/commitment is a ‘happily ever after’, when it isn’t, and you could get a lot of mileage out of pairing opposites for all of the ups-and-downs of relationships if you’re courageous and not stupid.
the big problem with ‘will they, won’t they’ arcs is that we’re too mired in the idea that marriage/commitment is a ‘happily ever after’, when it isn’t, and you could get a lot of mileage out of pairing opposites for all of the ups-and-downs of relationshipsThat was Mad About You.
Remington Steele before that.
Cheers was a great example of a show that was about far more than the will they/won’t they, so the initial hook up didn’t destroy it, and nor did the ongoing on/off relationship.
“It REALLY drives me nuts when it happens in a non-romance genre”SAME. I’ll never forgive my favourite family sitcom “The Middle” for putting the best character (the middle child and only daughter) in a will they/won’t they storyline for the ENTIRE final season, with poor communication and all these ridiculous near misses until they get together at the end of the second part of the two-part series finale. Back and forth for 24 episodes, getting together in the last 10 minutes. It was exhausting to watch, and the character deserved better. Especially after having had her be on and off with one of her brother’s two best friends for 4 seasons, they gave her feelings for this guy – the other friend, after the first left the show – out of nowhere, seemingly just to have her paired up at the end of the show (which wasn’t needed for a show or character like this at all).
Sue had a crush on Sean early on in the series, so it wasn’t out of nowhere for people who had been watching for a long time. I did think Sue & Darren made sense together (& I wouldn’t have minded Axl getting back with Devin Levin), but I still enjoyed the finale.
I watched the entire series and most episodes more than once. I think her mentioning Sean is cute a couple times early on before having actual relationships with like 5 other people over the course of the first 8 years, before season 9 starts and she’s apparently been into him the whole time, still counts as “out of nowhere”. Not to mention, him never showing any feelings towards her, and then in the final season continuously calling her by a cutesy nickname we’ve never heard before and acting like he’s had a thing for her since they were children is just ridiculous. It was definitely not planned.It was weird how they just forgot about Devin and then brought her back to have them say “oh, I guess the relationship just fizzled out”. They were good together.
“If there’s one romance trope that drives me nutty, it’s when “will they/won’t they” is dragged out needlessly.”
And, too often, when the answer is eventually “they will,” the writers have no idea what to do with them.
And all they have to do is end it like this
My father once made the comment that any time a network television show (especially a procedural) introduced a romantic subplot between major characters who’d previously shown no romantic interest in each other, it was the beginning of an inevitable decline into soapy melodrama. It’s proven to be a remarkably durable and accurate theory over the years, especially when it comes to all the hospital shows (ER, Grey’s Anatomy, House—I could go on).
Ugh, Mulder and Scully. The X-files was only two, maybe three seasons as far as I’m concerned. Different show than that soap opera they turned it into.
I think it was a mistake for them to actually get together. But the way they played with it led to some of the best comic bits they ever did (i.e., Mulder’s jealousy in Bad Blood, Scully’s in War of the Coprophages)
“BAMBI?!?”
The problem isn’t getting together, the problem is not knowing what to do with it after. It’s an issue with a lot of will they/won’t they couples.
Like when you hear Chris Carter still rambling on how Scully and Mulder are super platonic in the revival it’s just completely at odds with what literally everybody else was doing at that point.
I’m not sure there is a better example of the show runners not understanding the value of what they have created than The X Files. And not just leaving Mulder and Scully as-is is Exhibit A.
Dave and Maddie from Moonlighting deserve a mention here.
Beat me to it. It’s been a long time, and it didn’t last long, but I remember those early episodes as being extremely sexy. And Jim and Pam don’t hold a candle to the UK version.
Basically Pam and Jim were hate-able for the last several seasons (as was most of the show honestly). Agreed re: Tim and Dawn, just re-watched that over Christmas and – untouchable.
Tim and Dawn’s finest “this is why they should be together” moment will forever be “‘Muff’?” “‘Beans’!”.But the paint set don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry.
And, I am beat me to it-ing even to someone beat me to it-ing.
Ah, Dawn and Tim! That the boyfriend was always around and he felt much more threatening than the US version–both physically and like Dawn was trapped. That it ended without resolution, then resolved it with the special Xmas episode was perfect.
Maxine and Kyle from Living Single, almost as good as Sam and Diane IMO.
My thought exactly. I’m guessing no one on the staff is old enough to remember Moonlighting.
Then you will never remember Matt and Miss Kitty
Unlike CHEERS, I don’t think it is in heavy re-run viewing cycles.
True, I haven’t even seen a rerun for it in quite a while. I think Lifetime or some cable channel like that used to show them maybe 15-20 years ago.
What about Ms. Depesto and Herbert Viola?
came here for this, not disappointed.
Every once in awhile I go hunting in all the dark worlds of the steaming world to watch an episode or two of Moonlighting as it was so good but I can never find it. What a fun show
Yes. The timeline confused me, but then I realized that the “Sam & Diane” probably was based on re-runs and mythology rather than living through it. Don’t think anyone watches MOONLIGHTING reruns.Our campus shut down the night they finally did it. Dorm lounges full of (mostly) women and you could hear the verbal reactions to the scenes in the evening air. Ah, the 80s and few dorm rooms with televisions, no internet and not even cable other than the lounge.A shout-out to REMINGTON STEELE, too. Pepsi to MOONLIGHTING”S Coke, not as good of chemistry (mostly carried by Brosnon) but my girlfriends were obsessive about it, too.
This!!!!!! God, I’m old.
Beat me to it. It was one of the originals.
Maddie Hayes: “I got an idea!”David Addison: “Excuse me?”Maddie: “An idea. You know, an original thought. You’ve heard of them. Anyway, I was just lying in my bed last night, just lying there, feeling terrible about telling that poor man that he couldn’t write Mrs. Woodley anymore, when suddenly, BA-BING! I get this idea…”David: “Ba-what? I thought I just heard you say ‘ba-bing.’”Maddie: “’Ba-bing?’ So what if I did say ‘ba-bing?’ So what? Anyway, David, I suddenly realized – why are you looking at me like that?”David: “You’re doing ME!”
Maddie: “I’m what?”David: “You’re doing me, Maddie. You come in here, you slam the door, you say ba-bing, you sit on the corner of that desk – I know what I’m talking about, Maddie Hayes. This is not just some idea I plucked out of my head willy-nilly… [in disgust] now I’m doing YOU!”Maddie: “David! Are you all right?”David: “Trust me Maddie, we are doing this backwards. Let’s just go to your office and start all over.”
Casey and Dana from Sports Night and that’s final.
The correct answer is Dave and Maddie from Moonlighting. Why does no one at AV Club actually know anything about television or movies?
WTF is Moonlighting
Something you’re too young to understand.
Damn, not just too young to [get the reference] but too young to understand? That must be a hell of a thing.
Yeah, I got no patience for people too lazy to use Google.
FYI, it’s the show that made Bruce Willis a star. You have heard of him, I presume?
Yeah, guy wearing a sarong
Homie it’s not that serious
To be clear, it wasn’t the romance that made Moonlighting a better than average show. IMO, it was the great care they put in stylization. Also, Bruce Willis was great in it.
It’s what we now call The Gig Economy.
I’ve never seen Moonlighting (I was too young when it came out, and now it’s apparently not really available anywhere, as far as I can tell). And even *my* first instinct was that show, because it’s such an incredibly famous one.
Before moonlighting there was Remington Steele.
I loved Jim and Pam until they got together; after that, the show didn’t much know what to do with Jim, and Pam started getting more spoiled and entitled.Last time I watched X-Files, I adored the Mulder/Scully relationship…as platonic. No, I don’t know see it as romantic chemistry, and I tire of the impulse to impose that lens on everything. I kind of wish they would’ve let it stand as two people fiercely devoted to each other as friends.Maybe I’m just not a fan of the will-they/won’t-they concept, as it oftentimes means belaboring the point and also can mean enabling really unhealthy depictions of romance. It’s probably not a coincidence most my favorite television couples are on post-Office Mike Schur shows.
I think I like it better when the answer to the question is “no”, as in 30 Rock. They still teased the idea and got some solid laughs out of it.
I love the Kim Jong Il bit at the end ‘What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?’
“If you were any other woman I’d be so turned on right now”
Jake & Amy on B99 was handled so well.
I think Jake and Amy worked because the waveform collapsed relatively early into ‘will’, and once it did they never fell back into it.I just finished watching a great retrospective on Cheers, and it pointed out that the big struggle with Sam and Diane was that the constant uncertainty and swinging back and forth made it feel less like a naturally contentious relationship and more into just… mutual emotional abuse. After a point you stop rooting for the relationship, and start rooting for the breakup, because that would be more comfortable.
I think Jake and Amy worked because the waveform collapsed relatively
early into ‘will’, and once it did they never fell back into it.
A similar thing happened on Newsradio— Dave and Lisa decided ‘will’ in, I believe, episode 2— though with the difference that they did split up eventually (and get back together, split up again, etc).
Totally agree about Mulder and Scully. So much potential to have a great platonic working relationship and friendship between a man and a woman, something we really need more of in entertainment content, and they had to make it romantic. Booooooo!I personally thought The Office handled Pam and Jim about as well as could be expected. I will never not tear up at that scene at the end of Season 3 where Jim asks her out, and then after that they become a pretty normal couple doing normal couple things, and the rest of the cast has to deal with it, often to their annoyance. I agree that is maybe not so inherently interesting to watch, but that is also realistic—people who get together, get married, and have kids do tend to somewhat retreat from their former life and friends and such in a way that is kind of boring from an outside perspective, and I did not really mind seeing that happen on The Office.Of course The Office tried to handle that with other relationship drama, including Holly and Michael and Andy and Erin—although my personal favorite is actually Angela and Dwight. None of which quite sparkled as much as Pam and Jim, because that was sort of a lightning-in-a-bottle situation of two actors just happening to have the sort of chemistry that makes those stories so compelling. But that is also the overall arc of The Office, which was still good enough in reduced form to be pretty enjoyable/popular even if it was long past its Seasons 2/3 peak.
The Pam & Jim storyline is interesting in that the show runners decided that having Pam & Jim have all sorts of conflicts to sustain the storyline was both too cliched and not in character. The thing is that they were both the right calls but it made the characters, as well as the show, boring.They could have made it better if they did anything interesting with the characters and while they did do some things with Pam, they didn’t do anything with Jim. Jim was even less interesting because the heart of the show was in Jim’s angst at being stuck at that dead end job he hates. Being with Pam made him happy and the show became more of your standard office comedy than what it was before
Yeah, like, Jim’s whole thing in first and second season is that he’s a slacker who defaulted into this job, has no ambitions, plays pranks on Dwight to survive the working environment, and crushes on the receptionist, who’s unavailable. But once that’s no longer the status quo?
One of my issues post-season 2 is that I feel like the writers couldn’t decide whether or not to make Jim competent at his job. Practically everything with Idris Elba’s character was relentlessly cringe (and not remotely funny). He starts interviewing for and demanding promotions…even though he is a slacker who spent a lot of work time picking on Dwight, and even when he’s interviewing for Jan’s position and it’s practically a foregone conclusion, I feel like he just kind of defaulted into it not because he’s actually that good of an employee but because he’s a handsome, charismatic white guy and all he has to do is take the slightest bit of initiative and people like David Wallace start fawning all over him.
I like the character a lot and generally find him engaging and sympathetic; but even in third season when they progressed him into another role, the show was kind of unclear about his purpose.
Jim’s “It’s a date” and Pam’s reaction still make up one of my favorite TV moments of all time. I just went back and watched it again. Still hits so hard.
Does anybody doubt that, if the show had gone for one more season, there would be just one big hammock in Gilligan and Skipper’s hut?
Rick Sanchez and the President.
Issa and Lawrence “did they” for multiple years. But I know what you mean.
Niles and Daphne count in the broad sense, right? They gotta be there.
That’s an interesting case, mainly because, while it took seven seasons, I feel like there was never any question that they would? I mean, the same can be said for Jim and Pam, I guess.
I’d say Niles and Daphne’s “will they?” was much less certain. Jim and Pam clearly had mutual chemistry, and by like season 2 it was clear that she was attracted to him in addition to him being in love with her. For a long time, Niles’ infatuation with Daphne was completely one-sided. It wasn’t at all clear that she felt anything for him until after she found out he was in love with her (during the time when she was engaged and he was dating/about to elope with Mel – yes, I’ve watched too many times). I’m not sure if either model is better (these are too of my favorite examples of this trope), but they did play out differently.
For a time I was convinced they’d save it for a series finale.
I never understood that pairing. What did they even have in common?
It’s more that they complemented each other well- he’s fussy and soft hearted, she’s caring, easygoing, but appreciates being treated all fancy-like. Like it was originally conceived as just a comedy bit- Frasier’s even-more-uptight brother being struck dumb by a kooky housekeeper- but DHP and Leeves just had such a good energy that they kept going with it.
There’s little point in trying to explain human interaction to recognitions.
I sort of agree in that I always wondered if their infatuation (that much made sense to me) would actually work as a sustainable relationship.
I’m trying to think of “Will They/Won’t They” couples, where the answer was “Won’t”.
Castiel and Dean from Supernatural
Jeff and Annie in Community, Jeff and Britta in Community, Troy and Annie in Community, Troy and Britta in Community and Pierce and Shirley in Community
The Dean and Jeff.
Alas, the dean will never get his kiss from a rose.
Alexis and Ted on “Schitt’s Creek.”
This comment just made me think about Schitt’s and… honestly, pretty much all of the couples on it are just great? Even Alexis and Ted, who had maybe the most mature breakup I’ve ever seen on TV.
I simply LOVE how Alexis and Ted ended. You are right that just isn’t something we see in movies or TV, and it is so necessary.
Oh yeah: “Gay Arrested Development”.
Sam and Diane? They were on again off again, but ending firmly on “off again” in the Cheers finale, when it made the most sense for them to get together.
Simon & Simon
Now there’s a blast from the past. I remember the show, but I can’t actually remember any episodes.
I’d say it’s the same-sex couples, but the answer there is usually “what are you talking about this is totally platonic.”
That’s because it’s not “Will they/won’t they”, it’s queerbaiting.
Will Truman and Jack McFarland on “Will & Grace.” Seriously. The show even acknowledged the idea when Karen’s husband Stan left a posthumous note in his will urging the two to “get married already.”A bit more facetious, but Patsy & Eddy on “Absolutely Fabulous.” There was at least one episode where at least Patsy was shown to not be averse to the idea.
Patsy had sex with Eddy’s flip-phone, which should count as an “almost.”
Ryan Atwood and Seth Cohen
Xander Crews and Grace Ryan. Those two crazy kids were meant for each other!
Root and Shaw on Person of Interest (“Shoot”)
Batman and Catwoman on Batman ‘66. Though I guess this gets hurt by recasting the character. But still, he could have hooked up with any or all of them!Dont start with the will they/won’t they with Batman and Robin … Alfred would not have allowed it.
Jane and Rafael (Jane the Virgin) Writing Michael out of the picture was the biggest sigh of relief of my shipping career.
Eve and Villanelle (Killing Eve) I need the know if the show is gonna make good on its title. I’m really sweating this.
Ross and Rachel (Friends) I know its not cool to like Friends anymore, but I’ll always love that “She’s your lobster” moment.
I can’t include Ross & Rachel simply because Ross was such an asshole about everything. I’m not just talking about his frequent “We were on a BREAK!” bullshit, he was just a jerk about everything in his life – about Carol leaving him for Susan, about not having custody of Ben, he harasses Emily’s family when she leaves him, everything is everyone else’s fault. And frankly, he acts like he’s entitled to Rachel because he’s been pining for her for decades. Monica and Chandler are the better couple, by far.
I think Ross was allowed to be bitter about his wife leaving him and not letting him have any custody of their kid. That was a pretty shitty move on her part.
I hate Ross, but I was baffled why the writers made it look as though he was the unreasonable one when it came to Ben’s last name. The episode where Carol and Susan decided ben was going to have their last names instead of Carol and Ross’s last name was enraging.
Ross is TERRIBLE in the lead-up to “we were on a break.” Full-stop, no exaggeration, controlling and borderline abusive in his behavior.
*Some* of that is understandable. But let’s not put all the blame on Ross there. Yeah, he is a walking advert for Male Entitlement, but Rachel……ooohhhhh boy. They are two extremely toxic people who only know how to hurt each other in the most vicious of ways and expect you to bend to their every whim. And if you don’t? They’ll find a way to manipulate you into doing what they want anyway.
I’m always mystified that Ross-Hate so often turns into Rachel-Was-an-Angel. She really wasn’t.
With Ross and Rachel, the question was “Why won’t they stop?”
It is to David Schwimmer’s credit that ANYONE saw Ross as a relatable and sympathetic everyman/audience-surrogate type, because I agree if you really think about his character and his character’s behavior, he is an a-hole, and Rachel deserves better.
Donald and Ivanka in that yet-to-be-made biopic.
Definitely John & Aeryn for me. Scorching chemistry so good they couldn’t stop flirting in interviews years later, diabolical plot schemes to keep them apart, tentative hooking up leading to more complicated situations, no weak-ass misunderstandings that could be cleared up if they talked like adults for ten seconds, just great stuff.
It was also where I learned the term “shipper”, when somebody who was really invested in John hooking up with Chiana accused me of being one. I thought at the time it was because I liked the stories on the ship!
Absolutely this. Farscape is ultimately a brilliant romance wrapped in a space opera shell.
I’m not the first one to say this, but I will echo it: one of Farscape’s brilliant ways of handling John and Aeryn’s relationship was to take the sex out of the “will they” early in the show. They end up hooking up fairly early on, so it becomes more of a matter of will they fall in love and will they be able to be in a relationship, which is rarely the route shows take. Sex is more often an endgame.I also really enjoy how the show comes up with ways to cheat death for both characters, especially with John. It’s one of the best uses of a clone story I’ve ever seen. By drawing it out across half a season, it stops being a predictable sci-fi clone trope story, and it allows the show to geniunely kill off a major character and mine that death for all the drama while keeping the death permanent and ALSO having another version of the same character alive so that the character can continue.
Some obvious ones that weren’t mentioned: Ross & Rachel (Friends)David & Maddie (Moonlighting)Fry & Leela (Futurama) Niles & Daphne (Frasier)Though, my favorite is Jeff and Annie from Community since they’re the rare “Will They/Won’t They?” relationship that never consummated it, at least onscreen.
Yes, Fry and Leela is a good one. The ending of the (2nd iteration of) the series was perfect for that relationship.
I was weirdly invested in Jeff and Annie when Community aired when I was in college, but now that I’m (sigh) much closer to Jeff’s age than Annie’s I’m glad the show left it at the season 1 kiss.
I guess nobody’s gonna mention that Peggy was played by Elizabeth MOSS, and not (as the article states) Elizabeth Olsen?
Nobody reads the commentary on internet slideshows. It’s too often nonsense.
Maxine Shaw and Kyle Barker from ‘Living Single’ tho that was less a ‘will they/won’t they’ in the traditional sense and instead a ‘will they actually be able to come together in a serious relationship instead of their usual game playing antics’ lol
No love for J.D. and Eliot from Scrubs?
J.D. and Turk are my all-time favorite TV couple.
No. It was awful every time they hooked up.
Linda and Ted in Better Off Ted was a particularly great one.
Shows that should have lasted longer, #38.
I’ve never even HEARD of Farscape. Was it … a hit? Should I know better?
One of the best sci-fi shows ever, for my money. Four seasons worth. Australian production, early 2000s. Ensemble cast space opera, incredibly imaginative, great series-long story arcs, an all-time HOF villain, and two main characters that are elaborate Jim Henson creations.Guardians Of The Galaxy essentially rips off Farscape wholesale – guy from earth gets transported halfway across the galaxy, winds up part of a misfit crew of escaped convicts, falls in love with a warrior hottie who used to be a bad guy but isn’t anymore, and saves the universe.
The original Guardian of the Galaxy was written in 1969.
I really like the GotG movies but think Farscape was just pretty good.
It was a show on the Sci-Fi network back in the late 90s/early 00s produced by the Jim Henson Company and shot mostly in Australia (thus explaining the accents of most of the cast). It has a cult following, but those who love it, tend to love the shit out of it. (I am one of these people.) I would argue that compared to a lot of other sfx heavy shows from the same era, it has held up really well. It often has really clever takes on some common sci-fi tropes. It’s a show I rewatch probably at least once every 5 years. In fact, I’m in the middle of a rewatch right now.
Really cheesy but remarkably entertaining. There’s a pretty big quality gulf between the better episodes and the worse ones, though.
It streams for free with Amazon Prime.Well worth the watch. If you’re into sci-fi, highly recommend.
How could you overlook Liz and Kenneth?
Tom and Jerry
Obvi Dave & Maddy from Moonlighting is the correct answer, but here’s an honorable mention for Josh & Donna from West Wing.Oh, and Johnny & Bailey from WKRP. Though that may be more a did they/didn’t they.
Don’t you mean Johnny and Venus?No, wait, I meant, don’t you mean ANDY and Bailey?
Johnny & Venus were a couple in the S4 episode “Three Days of the Condo”. The homophobia that the plot turns on is problematic today, but the episode is still pretty funny due to the performances.They establish pretty well that Andy & Bailey aren’t each other’s type. From stray comments across multiple episodes we learn that Andy chases pretty young nymphs, rather than “ambitious college-educated career women” like Bailey. And Bailey seems to like older guys, or fixer-uppers / rehab projects like Johnny. Which is not exactly a recipe for happiness, but whatever.Naw, the clear did they/didn’t they couple from WKRP is Johnny & Bailey. 🙂
Surprised no one has mentioned Who’s the Boss? Tony & Angela had a classic will they/won’t they managed to keep up until the last season. For a show that was consistently a top 10 show during the 80s it’s seemed to have pretty much vanished from cultural memory.
I mean, you might as well be referencing Helen and Joe from Wings (my all time favorite example of a quite popular show that disappeared from public consciousness, despite being in the same “extended universe” as Cheers and Frasier).
Which 80s actress broke bad better? Alyssa Milano or Lisa Bonet? I’m going with Bonet ’cause she clearly knew something most of us didn’t. Fuck you Cosby.
How about the “we know they will but it should be handled better than what we got” couples… I vote both Bones and Booth on Bones, and Jane and Lisbon on The Mentalist.
Well this was heteronormative
This is the bit where you provide counterexamples they could have picked, because I’m drawing a blank on LGBTQ+ relationships that were framed as a “Will they/won’t they”.
Sara and Ava on Legends of Tomorrow?
As much as I adore their co-captaincy and general heartwarming coupleyness, I don’t know that they count as a WT/WT, because IIRC, neither of them had any relationships with anyone else, between meeting and coupling. I think all of the others on the list had other people to come between them. Avalance was a They Will, all the way.(Not “coupling” as in sexy times, but as in becoming a couple. Though it still works either way.)
I agree that there weren’t many people who came between them (although Sara did have plenty of flings after she met Ava, including with Constantine), but they did start out as rivals, even enemies. I seem to remember them beating the crap out of each other on a few occasions before and after they started flirting.
Come on now, you should know better than to acknowledge recognitions exists.
I haven’t really noticed any particular commenters in the general hubbub since the pre-Kinja days of Zodiac Motherfucker and Mrs Langdon Alger.
I think it’s okay to start a “what a whiny bitch” sub-thread, though.
Xena and whatsername? I dont know the show all that well.
Unfortunately, so is most popular media . . . to date. I personally believe that these days, lots of cis/het people can nonetheless relate to any sort of romantic relationship, and therefore romantic stories can be told about all sorts of non-cis/het relationships without that necessarily making them “niche” content. The trick is persuading producers of that proposition.
Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter.
Kirk and Spock.
Frodo and Sam.
Tom and Greg from Succession.
Booth and Bones were pretty good there for awhile. The first five seasons or so of the show were pretty good – then it fizzled. But they had good chemistry. The show cheated the hook-up too; having it happen between seasons and then waiting a half-a-season to reveal it already happened. By the time the audience realized they had hooked up, the characters had moved on from each other. So, kudos to the show and points for creativity, but also points subtracted for diffusing the sexual tension with the sad trombone of “It happened, but you missed it.” Waa-aah-ump (fart).But I quit watching after season 6 (or 7 … my memory’s fuzzy) so I assume they rehooked up somewhere by the end of the series’ run. Did they have a kid due to the first hook-up? Wow, I really have erased and re-used the space this show had taken up in my mind.
I find your lack of “Tim & Daisy from Spaced” disturbing.
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Anyone remember the one season of Cupid?
CHUCK AND SARAH from Chuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone remember Remington Steele???
Leslie and Ben in Parks and Rec. None of the obstacles in their way were forced—they were all understandable, real world examples. And then they said damn the consequences and moved forward (and yes, there were consequences, but that brought us comedy gold like The Cones of Dunshire and the Low Cal Calzone Zone).Then, after they got together, they were one of the greatest relationships on TV. Even when things seemingly got in their way (e.g. both being courted to run for Congress), they figured it out by communicating like adults. At no point post-They Did did they get annoying, unlike Jim and Pam.
Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes. Their chemistry was undeniable.Joking aside: While I have mixed feelings about the show — and relationship — afterward, the expression on Jenna Fischer’s face when Jim finally asks Pam out… Well, it’s worth all the Schrute Bucks in the world.
I’m not, like, a huge fan or anything but… how do Ross and Rachel not show up on here? They’re arguably the most famous couple in TV history (I think rivaled only by Sam and Diane.)
Anyway, my pick would have been Josh and Donna on The West Wing. Of those listed? Mulder and Scully.
What? No Chuck and Sarah?
Niles and Daphne? FRASIER is enough reruns that someone not old (me) remembers it.
Honestly, I wanted Frasier and Roz to do it—that was smoldering the whole time (although the episodes with Mercedes Ruehl were HOT). But then we get into the intended will-they vs. fan fiction (Cagney and Lacey, I’m looking at you!).Plus, the entire run of FRIENDS was that. I was hosting an 8th grade trip to Boston and we were on the highway during the final episode and the Rachel/Ross stress on the bus was palpable. People cared—adults and students.
But it was better before all that happened, honestly, back when they were trying to pass off their obvious obsession with one another as mere professional courtesy.To be fair, that may be because Chris Carter had to be dragged kicking and screaming into writing Mulder and Scully as a couple. He specifically wanted to resist the ‘will they/won’t they’ thing, especially after it sank Moonlighting. But David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson had such natural on-screen chemistry for it, eventually fan demand won out.
David and Hillary on Love It or List It.
Maybe not the most mainstream show but Nikita and Michael from La Femme Nikita had the hottest chemistry I’ve seen on the small screen. Even though technically I believe they indulged fairly early on in the line of duty I don’t think a fan existed that wasn’t eager to see them get together on their own terms…Farscapes John and Aeyren run a close second. They were too creative in how they kept them apart..
Ziva and Tony was a pretty good run on NCIS before that became…problematic.
Mulder & Scully because I think they lasted the longest before doing the deed.Sam and Diane didn’t even last longer than one season.
Crusher & Picard, anyone? Anyone?
Nah, the producers never took that seriously at all. Aside from a couple hints here and there, except for one single episode they threw in in the last season.
Gotta say, the Nick and Jess relationship deserves a spot here purely for this quote which I still remember to this day even if I wasn’t actively following the show: “I know this isn’t gonna end well, but the middle part is gonna be awesome.”Also, I don’t know when it is in the series, but there’s a kiss between the two during a non-dating period that made me flush while watching due to its intensity/passion. Phew!
I find it interesting looking back at Sam and Diane, that when the show was forced to end that relationship, it makes sense. Because the running thread through the previous episodes that they just weren’t right for each other is just proven to be true.