Love on ScreenWhat do we talk about when we talk about love? Perfect, sickeningly sweet, often unhealthy couples in film, TV, and other media who set up impossible standards to which our real-world flesh & blood relationships will never live up. Let's dissect 'em.
Vote up the excruciating "will-they-or-won't-they" plotlines that finally paid off.
The best TV kisses all have one thing in common: Fans anxiously waited... and waited... for them to finally happen.
Television showrunners have a difficult decision to make regarding when to give in to romantic tension. In some cases, like the 1980s dramedy Moonlighting, when David and Maddie finally stopped fighting long enough to lock lips for the first time, the ratings started to decline.
Waiting too long, however, can make fans angry and give up on a series. How many people were still watching The X-Files when Scully and Mulder kissed for the first time in Season 7?
Light the candles and cue the music. Which of the most satisfying kisses in TV history were worth the wait and made you swoon?
It seems everyone in the quaint Connecticut town of Stars Hollow knows that Lorelai (Lauren Graham) and Luke (Scott Patterson) are destined to be together. The longtime friends have shared clever flirty banter and are always there for each other. Over the course of the show's first four seasons, Gilmore Girls diehards watched Lorelai date (and even get engaged) to all the wrong men.
In the Season 4 finale, "Raincoats and Recipes," the excruciating wait finally ends. Luke confronts Lorlelai about his frustration. He's performed every romantic gesture he can think of, yet Lorlelai doesn't seem to get it. Finally, he pushes the "rule book" aside and plants the sweetest first kiss on her lips. It's so nice, they do it again. In perfect Gilmore Girls style, the romantic moment is broken up with a laugh riot when Kirk (Sean Gunn) comes running out of the house with no clothes on and covering his privates with just a pillow.
The friends turned lovers go the distance. In the 2016 Netflix revival, the couple is still together and going strong.
Graham and Patterson both admitted they wanted their characters to get together sooner. However, the writers actually went about creating the "will-they-or-won't-they" drama in the best way possible. "If you have something that combustible, that incendiary, milk it, just drag it out as long as you can because that’s the soul of drama," Patterson said. "That kind of concentrated tension? You can stretch that out for a while and she [showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino] did."
From the first episode of Frasier, it's clear that buttoned-up psychiatrist Niles Crane (David Hyde Pierce) is totally bonkers for his father's physical therapist Daphne (Jane Leeves). They are nothing alike, and Niles's lust appears to be a tale of unrequited love. Daphne, however, eventually figures out Niles's feelings toward her and feels the same.
In the Season 7 two-part finale, "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue," Daphne is set to marry Donny (Saul Rubinek) despite her feelings for Niles. The psychiatrist decides to elope and marry Mel (Jane Adams) to fight the pain and agony of Daphne's impending nuptials.
Daphne and Niles end up alone together on the balcony the night before Daphne's wedding. They both know each other's feelings but don't know how to react. Then, Daphne finally breaks through and kisses Niles (whom she still calls Dr. Crane) for the first time. The audience waited 167 episodes for the couple to finally lock lips.
Despite the first kiss, Daphne still plans to marry Donny. On her wedding day, instead of walking down the aisle, Daphne leaves Donny at the altar and shows up in her wedding gown to where Niles is sulking in a Winnebago. She has finally made her decision: She chooses Niles Crane.
The first kiss is enough to prove to them that they need to abandon their commitments to other people and fulfill their true desires. The couple gets married in Season 10 after eloping in Reno. Daphne gives birth to their first child, David, in the Season 11 series finale.
Castle's eight seasons of ratings success largely came from the chemistry of its two leads, best-selling mystery writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and homicide detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). The pair, who solve New York City's strangest crimes, are opposites who often bicker. The natural question on every viewer's mind became, "When will these two finally get together?"
In the Season 3 episode "Knockdown," Castle and Beckett pretend to be drunk to distract the guard standing outside their perp's location. They kiss for the first time. The pair initially lock lips to stage a ruse, but when the kiss is over, Beckett goes back for another. It's a joyous sight for Castle fans who waited 47 long episodes.
The release of romantic tension did not ruin the series. Castle remained on the air for another five seasons, and the couple gets married in Season 7.
Technically, the first time Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam (Jenna Fischer) kiss is during the premiere episode of Season 2. Pam is drunk during a Dunder Mifflin get together at Chili's. Her fiancé Roy (Joel Beckett) has left the building. Pam gives Jim a quick awkward peck.
The peck just serves as a cruel tease, however. The Office fans would have to wait 21 more episodes, until the Season 2 finale, "Casino Night," for Jim to finally find the courage to tell Pam he loves her. But Pam tells him it's not going to happen because she's engaged to Roy.
Her decision leaves Jim in tears and makes Pam call her mother. Later, Jim enters the office, and Pam hangs up the phone. Finally, Jim gives Pam a passionate kiss.
Both Krasinski and Fischer later admitted to being especially nervous filming the first kiss scene. The actors got swept away in the emotion and prolonged wait that led up to the special moment. The production crew even kept Krasinski and Fischer apart the whole day so that when they finally saw each other on the set, it would be the first contact they had.
Even with that magical kiss, Jim and Pam spend the next season apart. In fact, they do not become an official couple until the beginning of Season 4. Jim and Pam tie the knot in Season 6.
It's the classic story of the nerdy paleontologist and the smoking hot fashionista. On Friends, Ross (David Schwimmer) has adored Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) since high school. But she's always seen him as her friend's dorky big brother. Then, Rachel starts to look at Ross differently during Season 2 of the sitcom.
Fans wanted the pair to finally admit their attraction and pucker up, but the couple's timing is always off. Ross is in a relationship with Julie (Lauren Tom), so Rachel has to try to push her feelings aside.
The kiss finally happens after 31 shows, in the episode titled "The One Where Ross Finds Out." Rachel gets drunk and leaves a message on Ross's answering machine telling him she's over him. Ross is confused and doesn't know how to handle the news at first.
Later that night, the pair are together in the coffeehouse. They have a confrontation and Ross leaves. But he comes back... because he's always loved her and always will. Ross and Rachel lock lips passionately.
The couple has numerous "breaks" over the show's next several seasons. They even randomly hook up one night, and Rachel becomes pregnant with Ross's baby. But even then, they don't get together. The series waits until the very last episode to finally unite them (and become each other's lobsters) for what seems to be forever.
The X-Files explores unsolved paranormal cases, pitting the believer in Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) against the skeptic doctor in Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). The pairing of two attractive opposites leads to the inevitable question of whether or not they will pair up romantically.
Fans of the series always knew the drama was not about exploring the love life between Mulder and Scully; it was about exploring the unexplainable in search of the truth. Mulder and Scully become best friends who love each other without the romantic attachment.
"I've resisted any temptation (of romance) because I don't think it's right for the characters," said series creator Chris Carter. "For me, the passion and the protectiveness of one towards the other is something that we all admire and envy because that kind of trust and caring happens so infrequently in life. When it does, it is transcendent."
Duchovny was planning to leave the series after Season 7, which opened the door to the moment when fans would finally see the two agents kiss (they've had encounters before, but not as themselves). The true first kiss finally occurs after seven long seasons during a Y2K-centered crossover episode called "Millennium." As the ball drops and many wonder if the world will end, Mulder and Scully share a New Year's Eve kiss to celebrate the new year and the next century.
The series never really explores the details of their romantic life. When Duchovny left after Season 8, Scully moves on, exploring The X-Files with a new partner. Subsequent movies and later reboot seasons reveal that the agents eventually get together and have a son. Their love for each other is always apparent, whether they are in a physical relationship or not.
