Your favorite TV romances and why?

[darthraidr]

Eric and Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights) of all the tv couples they feel the most realistic. They love eachother and they are friends. The conflicts they face grow out of real situations; a wife going back to work, a husband away from home, a new baby, their daughter starting to date, and a town that demands the football team win at any cost.

If you haven't watched this show, you are missing out.

 

[Thrall]

Chuck and Sarah from Chuck. Because they're hilarious and cute and awesome and adorable and funny and kick ass and full of win. I've introduced several male friends of mine to the show and each one of them admits to getting all "awww"ey when ever they do the angsty romantic stuff on the show. It's a soap opera for people who hate soap operas. Man, I'm getting all gushy now just thinking about it.

Willow and Oz from Buffy. Because Seth Green and Allyson Hannigan f'n rock. Because, until Green left the show, they managed to avoid most of the angsty teen crap that show is known for with that couple. And because Tara sucks.

Al and Peggy Bundy from Married with Children. He's a lazy slob who sucks in bed and has a small package. She's a lazy slob who sucks in bed and has two big packages. Their banter was some of the nastiest, meanest, most hateful put downs I've ever seen. And it was glorious. Every husband and wife has wanted to say stuff like that to their other at least once in a while.

John and Aeryn. Oh man. The most angsty, convoluted, batshit insane, rollercoaster relationship I've ever seen. It was fucking nuts but, like all good trainwrecks, you just couldn't look away. Buffy and Angel look like Ma and Pa Kettle compared to it. Speaking of which.

Buffy and Angel from Buffy/Angel. Annoyingly angsty? Oh you bet. Full of lots of crappy teen drama? Oh that's the understatement of the decade. But this is the How Too on how you do a vampire/hot young thang relationship. I couldn't turn away, no matter how much I hated myself for it. True Blood and Twilight are Poison and Twisted Sister to Bangel's Led Zepplin. Joss Whedon should sue the shit out of Stephanie Myer. Not because she ripped him off. Because that much is obvious. But because she did such bad job of it.

Jack/Kate from Lost. Because I hate Sawyer.

Pam/Jim from The Office. Because you can do a love saga on a TV show without making it the second coming of Ross and Rachel.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Kaylee and Simon (Firefly)
Dee and Billy (BSG)
Picard and Beverly (TNG)
Riker and Troi (TNG)
Mulder and Scully (The X-Files)
Nick and Lindsay (Freaks and Geeks)
Daniel and Kim (Freaks and Geeks)
Pam and Jim (The Office)

 

[Jono]

Steve and Susan (Coupling UK) - Steve was a bit hapless but they were the heart of the show.
Tim and Dawn (Office UK) - Nearly broke my heart when it seemed at the end they wouldn't get together. I think their relationship was more heartful than the US version.
Jim and Pam (Office US) - They are just so good together.
Daniel and Vala (Stargate SG1) - Jack and Carter were easy picks and while I'm a fan of the hinted Carter and Teal'c, these two had some very touching moments together. One of their bests came very early when she was burnt to death.
JD and Turk (Scrubs) - It's guy love between two guys.
Homer and Marge (The Simpsons) - Homer might be mentally handicapped and a buffoon but throughout their 21 years there have been so many truly touching moments between the two of them.
Adam and Rachel (Cold Feet) - watched this show for these two and while I missed a lot of the final seasons the last two episodes broke my heart.

 

[WillsBabe]

The problem was that the writers almost never seemed to be able to make both of them fully fleshed out characters at the same time. When Angel was on Buffy, he didn't really have a personality (except when he was evil). He was just the handsome vampire for Buffy to pine over. (I'm more of a Buffy/Xander 'shipper myself.)

When Angel got his own series, he got a real personality but Buffy was usually treated as this distant, romanticized ideal.

I think you're absolutely correct, and I found it exasperating - not when Angel was on Buffy, but later, when Buffy did become idealised almost. I still enjoyed it, though.

 

[selina]

John & Aeryn, best tv-romance ever. I liked it that it was so hard for Aeryn to open up and that Crichton was just the right person for her to help her overcome this problem.

Buffy & Angel, Buffy & Spike, I actually liked her with both. There were more wordplays and more heat in her relationship with Spike, so I liked that relationship a bit better, but as I said, I enjoyed both.

Roslin & Adama, Sheridan & Delenn, Mulder & Scully, because they were ment for each other.

 

[Mr. B]

Dawn and Tim - The Office UK

 

[JediKnightButler]

John Sheridan and Delenn on B5 was probably the most well-developed and realistic relationship I've seen on TV for awhile. Although it was ultimately cut short, I liked Ivanova's budding relationship with Talia, particularly how it evolved from hatred/contempt in "Midnight on the Firing Line" (S 1.2) to something approaching love by "Divided Loyalties" (S 2.?).
Angel and Buffy's relationship ("BTVS") seemed pretty good and I loved the particularly nasty twist that their relationship took in the middle of S2 to the end of S2 but, as Angel realized by the end of S3, their love would be forever doomed by the reality of his demon/Vampire existence not to mention the unique properties of his Gypsy curse that prevent him from ever experiencing true happiness- with Buffy or anybody else (though it would've been pretty cool to further develop his relationship with that Werewolf in S5).
I'm not sure exactly how it turns out yet but Phoebe's relationship with Cole ("Charmed") seems pretty good although I have a feeling that it will eventually turn out to be equally unworkable due to him, of course, being half-demon (My wife and I are watching S3 on DVD right now)
Sisko's relationship with Cassidy (Yates) seemed well done on DS9, as was Odo and Kira's although theirs ended up not working out in the end. The O'Brien's relationship seemed the most "typical" of the ST relationships. While on the subject of ST relationships, I will NEVER, for the life of me, understand how and why the writers on Voyager greenlighted the idea of Chakotay/Seven. *UGH!!!* I didn't watch the vast majority of Voyager and don't know how it evolved but Paris/Torres seemed pretty decent.
Picard and Crusher on ST:TNG always seemed "right" for each other even though the writers never took it that direction although they gave us some great scenes together in "The Naked Now" and, particularly, "Attached". Riker and Troi definitely belonged together and I'm glad that the writers finally married them by the end of the series (Nemesis).

 

[Michael Chris]

There is no comparison - NONE - to Jim and Pam.

 

[LeahBoBo]

Buffy and Angel - They were hot and the epitome of the phrases "opposites attract." Attractive. Intense. Passionate. Dangerous. Wow!

Willow and Oz - They were all sweetness and light. Too cute for words.

Robin and Marian - The King of Sherwood and his lady.

Moose and Squirrel - 'Nuf said.

 

[thestrangequark]

Rob and Laura Petry -- are one of my favorites. They had such a modern relationship. They were, of course, on the surface a traditional 60's married couple, but despite their traditional roles they genuinely seemed like partners in that relationship -- like a team. And they were believably in love.

Fry and Leela -- because I'm a sucker for unrequited love stories, and pretty much any episode to do with him pining for her really gets to me (The giant bee episode! TEARS! The episode in which Fry had worms in his brain! TEARS!).

Rose and the 9th Doctor -- The age difference made it kind of wrong, but for me, as a girl Rose's age, it just made it sexier. The chemistry between Piper and Eccleston was great, too. I'm not fond of the Rose and 10 romance, though.

 

[Mysterion]

Paul & Jamie Buchman. I have a hard time picturing them NOT married in real life. They just belong together so completely.

I agree. That relationship always came across as being very genuine.

 

[WillsBabe]

Rose and the 9th Doctor -- The age difference made it kind of wrong, but for me, as a girl Rose's age, it just made it sexier. The chemistry between Piper and Eccleston was great, too. I'm not fond of the Rose and 10 romance, though.

I agree completely. I spent ages thinking, "but he's so much older than her." Finally, I thought, "oh, to hell with it. They're hot" and embraced the inevitable!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

By the end, I kinda didn't care anymore because they both went through such crazy shit, but it kinda would have been nice if Owen & Tosh had happily ended up together on Torchwood. I do like they way their relationship ends in "Exit Wounds."

Also on Torchwood, I think the Gwen/Rhys romance is a lot of fun. He's just such a good guy and he tends to bring out the best in Gwen. I'm glad they let him in on the secret of Torchwood. I'm glad he & Gwen were still able to get married in spite of all the crazy shit surrounding their wedding. And I'm glad the writers chose to completely ignore that dreadful Gwen/Owen romance from Season 1. (I'm also glad that the Gwen/Jack flirtations haven't developed into anything. That could have been nearly as ugly as the Gwen/Owen mess, not only from Gwen's side of things but also from incurring the wrath of Ianto!)

 

[Kira's Mom]

Riker and Troi, TNG.

Penny and Desmond, Lost. Possibly my favorite TV romance of all time!

Jack and Ianto on Torchwood. Wish that could have had a happy ending, but with Jack being immortal, how could it?

I like Gwen and Rhys on Torchwood, too. But the Owen thing was unforgivable!

I always liked Sisko and Kassidy Yates on DS9, even more than Kira/Odo.

Favorite "Bromance"- Bashir and O'Brien.

 

[Mistral]

Archie and Edith. When she died he was a broken man. Heart-wrenching.

John/Aeryn-just two people trying to work it out. Loved it.

George and Weezie-yeah, I said it. For all of their fighting and bluster they came across as really caring for each other.

Joe/Allison. I still think Allison is a bit of a dip but Joe is the shining example of a realistic hubby on TV.

Forgetting names right now(tired) but the protagonist and Gretchen Moll's characters on Life On Mars(US). I think she really made it believable.

I also thought Journeyman did a good job of selling the marriage of the two main characters.

 

[FPAlpha]

Al and Peggy Bundy from Married with Children. He's a lazy slob who sucks in bed and has a small package. She's a lazy slob who sucks in bed and has two big packages. Their banter was some of the nastiest, meanest, most hateful put downs I've ever seen. And it was glorious. Every husband and wife has wanted to say stuff like that to their other at least once in a while.

Even better when occasionally they show us that despite all the nasty shit the fling at each other they really love one another and couldn't bring it over themselves to betray each other.. kind of sweet actually

As for the others..

Riker/Troi.. one word. Imzadi.. that concept transcends everything and i was so happy to finally see them together (even in this bad thing called Nemesis).

A special mention for Mad About You and Paul/Jamie. They so felt real with their everyday problems and when their marriage hit this crisis point in season 4 (i think) where they almost betrayed each other it also felt so painfully real and realistic that you could believe it happening this way which made their recovery only so much better and fulfilling.

The rest of 'em have been mentioned..

 

[Dyabolikal]

Another vote for Penny and Desmond from Lost. This clip from "The Constant" is the highlight for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmkmz0Kosa8

 

[Sakrysta]

Joe/Allison. I still think Allison is a bit of a dip but Joe is the shining example of a realistic hubby on TV.

I also thought Journeyman did a good job of selling the marriage of the two main characters.

Joe is the best. Love that man. Love his devotion to Allison and the girls.

Dan & Katie - I loved everything about that relationship. The best thing about it was Dan's commitment to his marriage. Yes, his long lost love suddenly wasn't so lost, but he was dedicated to preserving his marriage. It was SO refreshing.

A special mention for Mad About You and Paul/Jamie. They so felt real with their everyday problems and when their marriage hit this crisis point in season 4 (i think) where they almost betrayed each other it also felt so painfully real and realistic that you could believe it happening this way which made their recovery only so much better and fulfilling.

That story line is the main reason I am SO upset that only the first 3 seasons of Mad About You have been released on DVD. Granted, the first seasons were the best, but still. I just HATE that I can't get the whole series on DVD.

 

[Random_Spock]

But more than that, I like to point to Farscape whenever people use Moonlighting as an example for why you can't put leads together in a TV show. That line is such bullshit, especially when you consider that John and Aeryn had their first kiss in ... what, like episode seven of the first season.

And I couldn't help but notice they had sex pretty quickly after that. Yet the sky didn't fall and the conflict did not abate and the drama was not destroyed. When the character conflict stems from the characters - as it should - sex spoils nothing. We get our fun, and the poor characters get something. At least we don't have to pity them, right?

Hello, Chuck. Please take notes - you don't need the UST crutch. Let Chuck and Sarah do the deed. If you have the writing talent you should, it won't make any difference.

Lol, so true there. Just as long as things don't get in the way, I'm cool with that.

I liked how the X-Files handled that in 'All Things'... I'm not a huge fan of the ep... but I'll say one thing, they SO did it that night .

They let the characters get some, but still kept it subtle.

On a side note -- I loved how they handled the topic in IWTB. It was just classic . Poor, poor Mulder... but at least we know that they have some .