Valentimes Is Serious Times
I crossposted a slightly different version of this over at DeadOn.
For Valentine’s Day, AOL TV released a list of the best 20 couples in TV history. I agreed with a fair number of them (Gomez and Morticia Adams are an inspired choice), but here are five couples I’d much rather see on that list.
Jay Sherman & Alice Tompkins (The Critic) He was a short, bald film critic. She left her philandering, country-singing husband Cyrus (His last album: I’m Being Unfaithful To My Wife, Alice Tompkins. You Heard Me, Alice Tompkins) and moved to New York with her daughter Penny. After a mistaken blast of pepper spray (”Mmm, jalapeno”), they hit it off and quickly became a couple.
Fox Mulder & Dana Scully (The X-Files) Too obvious? If you’re still suffering withdrawal symptoms, Booth and Brennan over on Bones are like a methadone Scully and Mulder.
Dave Nelson & Lisa Miller (NewsRadio) Bucking the sitcom trend, Dave and Lisa got together in the second episode of the series and stayed that way, on and off, for the next four seasons. They fought constantly, but Lisa being mad at him is what turned Dave on, while arguing is what turned Lisa on (She had to quit the debate team in high school because she was afraid of getting pregnant).
Josh Lyman & Donna Moss (The West Wing) What Josh and Donna mean to each other is written all over Janel Moloney’s face in “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part 1? when she learns Josh has been shot. I loved the Charlie/Zoey and Jed/Abbey relationships, but Josh and Donna were always my favorites. I’m glad with the way they wrapped up the series.
Dwight Schrute & Angela Martin (The Office) PB&J are already on the AOL list, but Dwight and Angela deserve their notice too. For the most part, their storyline peeked in around the edges. Angela’s perfect Valentine’s Day gift to Dwight, the way Angela’s pinched demeanor excites him, their attempts at secrecy in the office. Pam figured them out almost immediately, but it took Jim another year and a half before he saw them making out in what they thought was an empty Dunder Mifflin. And then there were the words “I am a farmer, Angela.”
One of my biggest problems with the AOL list is there’s no definition of what they think makes a “great couple”. Is it people who were made for each other, or is it just couples who make for good TV? If it's the latter explanation, there’s still no way Meredith and McDreamy belong on anyone’s list of great couples, but I can make excuses for most of the rest. Brenda and Dylan from 90210 and the pairings from Hill Street Blues and Dallas I never saw, so I can't comment on those, and I barely remember Moonlighting. Veronica and Logan are on there too, you may well notice. I've never been a huge fan of that pairing (<--saved a puppy from sugar shock), but I'll allow that it made for some good TV if that's our baseline criterion.
There are a pair of sitcom couples up at the top of the list that I don't really like all that much. Maybe it's that I'm too young to remember, but Sam & Diane never really did anything for me. He's a jock, she's a priss, we get it. It's not that I dislike them, it's just they leave me feeling "meh". However, I really can't stand Ross & Rachel. I was completely rooting for Ross at the beginning of the series, right up until "We were on a break" became his mantra, then I gradually lost interest. The contrivance of their wedding, annulment, and eventual baby was one thing entirely, another was what an annoying character I found Ross to be as the series dragged on. He was just this sad-sack guy who didn't do much of anything except sabotage his own attempts to get with her and resent anyone who succeeded. Along the way, he squeezed in being a nerd caricature. Against my will I found myself rooting for them again in the finale, which I now regret (Aside: Least suspenseful "will she/won't she?" EVAR. There's no way the producers weren't going to wrap that one up in a neat little bow).