TV’s 20 best slow-burn romances
Here's to the small-screen love stories that took their sweet time to flourish
TV Features Rafael Solano
Clockwise from top left: Kristen Bell and William Jackson Harper in The Good Place, Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis in The Office, Justin Baldoni and Gina Rodriguez in Jane The Virgin, and Amy Acker and Sarah Shahi in Person Of Interest Photo: Colleen Hayes/NBC; BBC; The CW; CBS
Episodic television has delivered some real bangers when it comes to slow-burn romances. From throwbacks like The X-Files and Twin Peaks to more current fare such as Abbott Elementary (which wraps up its third season this week) and Good Omens, TV shows have developed some unforgettable love stories that, consequentially, take their sweet damn time to get their crushes together. With that in mind, our latest AVQ&A asks: What is your favorite slow-burn TV romance? Here are our most swoon-worthy picks, in chronological order.
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Chuck and Sarah from Chuck is my favorite.
The seen-but-not-heard proposal, and the finale with Chuck sitting on the beach reassuring a confused and fearful Sarah (in a direct reflection of her doing the same for him in the pilot) make me well up every time I think of them.
Every time!
Adama and Roslin from BSG doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It starts with prudent distrust, moves to mutual professional/personal respect, goes to betrayal (it’s ambiguous who betrays whom), to begrudging adoration, love, and eventually separation. Still my favourite presentation of mature romance ever on television.
On that note I’d also point to John Sheridan and Ambassador Delenn on Babylon 5. It’s a very cute workplace romance where these are grown mature adults with great responsibilities but they kinda get flustered at each other for a bit. Mira Furlan in particular plays it so wonderfully, God I miss her.
Well said. It is slightly ridiculous how much of BSG those two carried on their massive shoulders
JD and Elliot from Scrubs
What about JD and Dr. Cox?
Root & Shaw is my favorite, so glad to see that on the list. What maybe sold both me and Eleanor on Chidi was when she asked Michael in all the different rebooted afterlives when he tortured them, that turned out many different ways, in how many of them did Chidi refuse to help her after she asked for it. And that never happened. He always helped her.
+1 Root/Shaw, especially the elevator escape at the end of (Season 3? 4?, i forget). That was heartbreaking.
Root & Shaw’s arc was surprisingly emotionally devastating and tender given how badass and ferocious they both were
Top Gear and the Bugatti Veyron.
Seriously. They talked about it for years, getting hints of what might be. Would it be all that? Could it be all that? And then when they finally meet, all the build-up pays off. If there’s any great story arc in Top Gear, it’s this.
Well, either that or James May’s pursuit of the Dacia Sandero.
Let’s not forget Hammond’s pursuit of a particularly cute intensive care nurse. Well, how the fuck else would you explain it?
I had an involuntary physical and vocal reaction to reading “hacker Root (Amy Acker, in her best TV role ever)“ considering how many incredible TV roles she’s had. I mean, Fred and Whiskey alone!
Hannibal Lector and Will Graham belong on this list
They really do fall for each other.
The Mulder and Scully romance was when the show jumped the shark. It was pretty refreshing to have a show featuring a plutonic relationship between its leads without the Moonlighting-like sexual tension that dominated 80s and early 90s TV. That first kiss came out of nowhere and the romance always felt like bad fan fiction.
Similar with Bones and Booth (though you could reasonably argue the show jumped the shark well before then).
IIRC the audience isn’t actually shown when they get together, it’s like suddenly it’s the next day and they had slept together. Years of build-up and suddenly it’s the morning after. Just remember being thoroughly disappointed at the time.
I’m sorry but honestly, I didn’t find the Chidi/Eleanor romance to be even halfway decent, never mind ‘best of’.Now, Eleanor and Tahani, that was a budding romance I could get behind!
I wanted to see more of Eleanor and the Golden Retriever.
Damn, I thought Kristen Bell was hotter than this, SMH.
Eleanor and Centaur Tahani would have been interesting.
Or Eleanor and Stone Cold Steve Austin’s head on Tahani’s body. Or vice versa.
*Tahania
Maybe I just have a dead heart, but I still wish The Office stuck with the absolutely perfect “She said no, by the way” ending for Tim and Dawn. I felt cheated that they walked back that amazing moment with the Christmas special.
I’m going to speak on behalf of my wife.
The Luke and Lorelai relationship was awful. Maybe if the show writers didn’t keep breaking them up for the sake of a story I’d say otherwise, but those two are up there with Ross and Rachel in that we only ever saw the worst of them together, and there’s no way that doesn’t end in divorce.
The fact that they hadn’t even gotten married by the Revival just added fuel to the fire. 10 years later and Sherman-Palladino still has them in limbo.
Our theory is that ASP changed very little between her original plan for season seven and the revival, and didn’t bother to think how age would have impacted the story.
Rory (and probably Lorelai) getting pregnant just as she’s about to graduate college? That’s something?
Rory getting pregnant in her mid to late 30s? Yeah, that’s called being in your mid to late 30s.
Yeah, that’s how it came across to me as well.Which is why the revival was so terrible.
C0-signed.
How the Hell are Niles and Daphne not on the list?
Fuckin’ RIGHT? It’s up there with Mulder and Scully.
I blame NBC for promoting every episode as “Will Niles and Daphne hook up?” every week for like 3 seasons before they finally got together. Not the show’s fault, I know, but it pissed me off so much I quit watching.
Re: Aeryn and Crichton, SPOILERS AHEAD: The romance between them always came across as believable, the trauma and crazy shit keeping them apart (or getting them together and then death gets in the way) always read true. UNTIL we get to season 4 and Crichton is keeping Aeryn at arms length for some dumb bullshit TV show “I can’t trust you” or something excuse (while he’s also sniffing alien poppers to keep from thinking of her). Aeryn confronts him, they argue, he comes up with an excuse to cut comms, and then . . . he reveals it’s all a ruse.John:… Shut up and listen to me. Scorpius is here – looking for the key to what is inside my head. Neural chips, Aurora Chair, threatening Earth – none of it works because he does not understand me.
Aeryn: Stop using him as an excuse.
John: PLEASE! (quietly, urgently) You’re the key – my Achille’s. You. If he figures that one out – the world and all that’s in it is nothing. He will use you and the baby and I will not be able to stop him.
Aeryn: (disbelieving) So you think he’s been using the comms? Look what it’s done to you. You’re completely paranoid. (and right on cue – the comm system crackles back on and Scorpius is asking why the comms were out)
….
(Aeryn draws a shaky breath and after a long pause, says in a loud stage voice to John)
Aeryn: S-so it’s over.
John: It’s over.(They grin at each other)
Aeryn: There’s nothing more between us.
John: Nothing. (Kiss.) It’s such a great moment because the audience was in the dark about John’s motives for staying apart aside from the bullshitty excuses he kept giving. The fact that his true motive was revealed to us at the same time it was revealed to Aeryn was brilliant.
Burt has a husband in Severance, not a wife.
I recently finished a rewatch of The Good Place. Eleanor/Chidi is sublime.
Here’s your reward for knowing what’s what. You’re welcome.
Imagine if there were TV shows before the year 2000
I love Peggy and Stan but you wouldn’t really call it a slow burn. A slow burn is when you spend a lot of time wondering if something will happen. Peggy and Stan was a surprise that didn’t seem in any way planned (in their fictional lives or by the writers) but still made sense. It worked great, but the romance aspect happened fast. Man I fucking miss that show.
nope nope nope been rooting against Janine and Gregory since Day 1 cause it was soooo obvious and overdone and drawn out
Wesley and Fred from Angel is sorely missing from this list. On top of the fact that their character arcs were some of the most multi-faceted in all of the Buffyverse the way that their relationship grew and ebbed and flowed and then ended tragically – twice! – was done beautifully.“Would you like me to lie to you now?”
I’m old enough to remember one of the best…Moonlighting. Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd!
Need to add Sam and Diane in that case!
I know, right? Like was there not TV before the 1990s or something?
So slow burn from The Office UK, a show that lasted 14 episodes? How slow could it be? Hell, Jim and Pam was far slower and just as burny. Also … Cheers – Sam and Diane; maybe the best and set a template for slow burn romances between two characters. Back then most relationships in sitcoms were already set and episodes were one-offs. There was no serializations in sitcoms to speak of.
Moonlighting – Maddie and David; a true will they/won’t they. The burn was slow but these two characters couldn’t figure it out. Their first kiss was a bigger surprise to them than the audience. I’m getting too old for this site.
Kanan and Hera, Star Wars: Rebels. I always assumed they were a low-key couple, until the fourth season when we find out they’d actually been dancing around it the whole time until they finally revealed their feelings for each other. (SPOILER ahead for a show that went off the air nearly 10 years ago)And then they went and blew Kanan up.
Kanan Jarrus died a hero and don’t you EVER forget it. EVER. He saved Hera and everybody else.
He went out like a muthafuckin’ boss, no doubt.
So in addition to the glaring Moonlighting omission (and maybe you can argue 2.5 seasons wasn’t slow burn enough) – where are Josh and Donna from the West Wing? They had sexual tension that started building in season 1, and they didn’t even kiss until season 7.
Matt Dillon + Miss Kitty
Daphne and Niles!?