At first, I thought I completely disagreed. When Jim and Pam got together on The Office, I liked the show just as much–maybe more. Like Amanda, I’m obsessed with Once Upon a Time, and one of the things that keeps me hooked is how great the writers are at physically dividing Snow White and Prince Charming, even though the audience knows they are–always–solidly together.
Then I remembered all the shows I loved as a kid/teenager. I was fixated on the TV romance in these series…and in some of them, the characters only got together at the very end. And I realized that whether writers leave me hanging for seasons, give the characters on-again-off-again romances, or pay off the main love interest early in the show, I don’t know that I care. Sexual tension/break ups & make ups/marriages, I’m a sucker for any well-written romance…or, when I was a kid, maybe it was just any romance at all.
Zack and Kelly from Saved by the Bell:
Most preteen girls in the 90’s loved this show. I think everyone of us who was a brunette imagined being Kelly.
Zack and Kelly spent more time apart than they did together. This might have been because, at the time, only very edgy shows I wasn’t allowed to watch dealt with teenage sex. (I still tune out of conversations when people talk about 90210). Since Z&K were only allowed to kiss–and even then we never got real make-out sessions–it makes sense the writers had to keep finding new love interests for everyone. I watched every last episode (despite getting too old and knowing the show was stupid) because I had to see how Zack and Kelly’s romance played out…even if their Vegas wedding was ridiculous.
Reruns I’ve viewed as an adult have convinced me that the show was almost cringe-inducingly cheesy, but still, I love it. And I was shocked that there weren’t more YouTube videos for this one…until I realized that the show is almost as old as I am.
Felicity and Gus from Avonlea:
For those of you who didn’t have the Disney channel–or, heck, were just cooler than I was–Avonlea was set in the Anne of Green Gables universe. It started out following some of L.M. Montgomery’s characters from The Story Girl as well as minor characters from the Anne books. It quickly morphed into its own little spin-off world.
The show ran for seven seasons, and in addition to being family-friendly, it was set at the turn of the 20th Century. It was a scandal of epic proportions when Felicity and Gus had dinner together alone (gasp!), so there wasn’t a lot of lip-locking on this show. But the writers built a sweet, slow-moving, ultra-G-rated romance that worked.
When I found this video of Felicity/Gus moments set to a Taylor Swift song, I wasn’t too sure about the juxtaposition (Ok, I though L.M. Montgomery would roll over in her grave). But oddly, it works. And I like it better than the actual music video to Love Story.
Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman:
This show aired when I was in middle school. I had never read a comic book. I had no idea there was such a thing as ComicCon. I’d never seen the Christopher Reeve movies. All I knew about Superman before the show was that he wore a cape and could fly. After I watched my first episode, I knew a few things: I wanted Teri Hatcher’s silky hair. I wanted a job that required her wardrobe. And the most important:
Dean Cain was HOT.
He was my first (of only two) celebrity crushes. To this day, he still does it for me. As an adult who isn’t embarrassed to admit I re-watched the show on Netflix last year, I thought the story lines started to tank after the first season–but man did those two have some incredible chemistry.
This was a show where I liked the characters better together than I did apart. Because who doesn’t want a guy who can fly you around in his arms, even during sex?
Because someone decided their videos were too good to be embedded, you’ll have to go directly to You Tube for Video #1 and Video #2)
Cory and Topanga from Boy Meets World:
Who didn’t love Cory and Topanga growing up? (I wanted her hair, too).
I was a little too old to be as enthralled when they got married as I was when L&C did, but I remember liking them better together than apart. Because they were SO cute together. And just watching this video makes me pray that Disney orders a full first season of Girl Meets World. I will happily tune in to see Cory and Topanga as parents, no matter how cutesy the show turns out to be.
Joey and Pacey from Dawson’s Creek:
I didn’t start watching this show until college…when my conservative mother couldn’t object to a show where the teenage characters not only had sex, but one got it on with a teacher. Now that I’m a mom, I know I’d never let my daughter watch it while she lived under my roof, either. But I love how these clips take me back to my college dorm room–loft bed, hand-me-down couch and all. And I still love that the writers gave Dawson and crew a well-read adult’s vocabulary.
This was a show that depended on the viewers being willing to watch the characters switch romantic partners every season and get invested in each new pairing. I went along for the ride and loved it. And I’ve realized that grown up or not, I still like the occasional boyfriend-swap show (see: Hart of Dixie).
So how about you? What were your childhood/teenage TV romance obsessions? Did you lose interest after the sexual tension paid off? Or were you happy with any romantic story line, so long the writing worked…or didn’t?
