The death of the "Will they or won't they?"

[klutzy_girl]

In recent years, it’s been a given that romantic pairs on television had to be subjected to the will-they or-won't-they dilemma-where couples as clearly in love as Ross-and-Rachel, Sam-and-Diane, or Jim-and-Pam were prevented from jumping into bed together for years, as the writers forced them through increasingly tight narrative hoops.

These days,

Comments

[klutzy_girl]

So freaking excited for next season!

Also, I loathed Diane on Cheers. Team Sam/Rebecca all the way.

[gina227]

Team Sam/Rebecca all the way.

I second that.

[kinseyjo]

THIRD.

[officelove_10]

Fourthed!!

[dishyfishy]

I don't think Jim and Pam were too drawn out (well, maybe parts of season three). They've been together for the majority of the show at this point...

Also, nothing Dan Harmon says will make me stop shipping Jeff and Britta.

[stars_inthe_sky]

I did love how they handled Pam and Jim. They kept them apart for as long as made sense--she was engaged, he moved and then was seeing someone else, she moved on from Roy for good--and then they got together, and that was that. No ridiculous drama. Unlike some shows.

[kballgetlost]

Agreed!!

[suzanne_laura]

ITA. The way the writer kept refering to Jim and Pam as an example of a long, drawn out romance was odd. The first season was only 6 eps, and they were together by the end of S3.

[stars_inthe_sky]

For creator Hart Hanson, it was a creative way to utilize Deschanel’s real-life pregnancy and create new opportunities for the characters

Aw, I was hoping they'd done that for narrative and not external reasons. I mostly buy their narrative excuses for the turn of events, but...

[pink_flame_87]

We finally got rid of "Will they or won't they?" and replaced it with "Did they or didn't they?"

Now we're left with "They did. And you missed it. Ha, ha."

I'm still excited for the baby and everything, but that sucks. :p

[briasoleil]

As much as I wish that there would have been a scene between Booth and Brennan, I honestly feel for Emily in that situation. At the time the finale was filmed, she was noticeably pregnant, which could've made any romantic scenes awkward. The logistics of filming sex scenes are already cumbersome. Adding a real life pregnancy to the mix would've just added to the discomfort.

I'm not saying that was the reason why they didn't, but if it is, I applaud HH et co for being sensitive to their actors.

Hopefully, once ED's given birth and has recovered, there will plenty of opportunity for sexy times. (Not that I want the whole show to be about that.)

[pink_flame_87]

I understand that completely. I didn't have feelings one way or another about if they showed a sex scene. I'm just a little annoyed that we missed the emotion of it you know? We got them mourning together then fade to black...then it's hinted they've been together in some way ever since. If he would have just given us a kiss or a conversation or something, I'd be happier.

All that said, I'm not upset about the baby and I'm looking forward to next season so Hart can clearly do whatever he wants and I'll follow happily along behind lol.

[aka_gerbil]

I think the reason everything was so subtle/implied was because they wanted to do the big reveal at the end of the season finale.

As weird as this sounds, for some reason, with me it just resonates a bit more that things were done so subtley and quietly. That said, I the thing that would have taken the final scene from a 10/10 to an 11/10 on my scale would have been to have shown B&B hugging at the end.

[briasoleil]

The Moonlighting Curse was as much, if not more, due to fantastically bad writing than anything else

[aka_gerbil]

Plus, with Moonlighting, there was the fact that everyone seemed to hate each other behind the scenes.

And Aaron Sorkin repeated his past mistakes, when he kept inventing significant others for Josh and Donna on The West Wing. It was only in the seventh season that they got together. And given certain admissions in season two and three, they had passed the point of no return by season five (and I'm being generous).

I think things would have played out a lot differently for J/D if Sorkin hadn't left after the end of season 4. I have read that some of the stuff at the end of season 4 was supposed to be the breadcrumbs that led to J/D, but John Wells had different ideas. (On another note, out of all the things John Wells did, J/D being drawn out is one of my lesser complaints. Leo and Bartlet falling out to an extent. Toby and the leak. Ugh.)

I honestly don't understand why tv writers are so afraid of the relationship that seemingly makes them lose their minds at the thought of broaching the subject. Relationships aren't forcibly

[hippiebanana132]

My personal opinion is that it requires more effort to write a relationship correctly and the writers are just too lazy to try. - Exactly this.

[adeline]

(lol this is so off-topic but...)

TOBY BEING THE LEAK MADE ME SO MAD! So mad, in fact, all these years later I'll jump at the chance to capslock about it angrily in a completely unrelated community. XD Ugh, but it was seriously THE WORST. And then I read that CJ was supposed to be the leak all along, but then Richard Schiff asked to be less heavily involved in the show and this was how they chose to lighten his workload. But it is so frustrating all the same! Aaaaaaaaaaah. *rage*