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The 25 best TV love stories of the last 25 years
Love stories are often hard to execute on TV, because ongoing shows will try to manipulate romances for plot purposes — yet at the same time, it’s so easy to get hooked on a tale of two people finding each other.
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The couples featured below have undergone no shortage of strife as they forged their own unique paths, but one thing these narratives all have in common is that they illustrate the ways in which romance can be found in the most unexpected of circumstances, and how it can become the foundation of something so much bigger and profound.
Liz Shannon Miller, Zack Sharf, Hanh Nguyen, Ben Travers, and Steve Greene all contributed to this post.
They met as strangers, but the complicated relationship between these two Russian agents has never lacked for passion and love, even as they find themselves tied up with other partners. Their ultimate fate could go in a lot of different directions, but for right now they remain a fascinating example of two people brought together by circumstances who somehow managed to find real companionship — something that can elude many in the real world.
In the aftermath of an apocalypse, the political situation of the 13 colonies following the Cylon attack which begins the “Battlestar Galactica” reboot was shaky. (Though to be clear, that was also what made it fascinating.) And a major part of that was the initial conflict between initial President Laura Roslin and Admiral Will Adama — civilian and military approaches, set up to clash. However, the pair instead became true lifemates, together through the end — quite literally, to tell the truth. It was an unconventional romance, but a fascinating one.
As a teen drama, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” featured no shortage of high-octane romance, but there will always be something very special about one of TV’s groundbreaking same-sex couples, if only because Willow and Tara worked so well together, even though their relationship hit some rocky territory during Willow’s “addition” phase. Ultimately, Willow and Tara will always stand out for their dedication to each other, their mutual passion, and the chemistry between Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson. They weren’t able to escape the “lesbian death curse” but for three seasons, they represented the sort of love story that TV had yet to fully embrace.
At its basic form, coupledom is about the ways you enable each other. For Sharon and Rob on three seasons of “Catastrophe,” that’s been a double-edged sword. In the early going of their unlikely, unplanned partnership, the show drew a real sense of glee from watching these two learn how to fall in love, enhancing each others’ genuine qualities and bad habits in equal measure. Now that the series has extended well past their anticipated one-night stand, these are two married people who know more about each other because they choose to know. One of the funniest shows on TV has become the most raw because that discovery has changed from cute anecdotes to the things that each of them would rather stay hidden. That they’ve stuck by each other and learned to forgive without expunging each other’s guilt is a strangely unique thing on TV. It’s a kind of love that doesn’t always get highlighted in this way — as writers and performers, these two are well-equipped to foster it onto the screen.
The parents at the center of this family comedy have a relationship that at times borders on combative, especially when Louis’s big ideas scrape against Jessica’s conservative nature. However, ever since meeting in the bathroom line while fighting mutual cases of food poisoning, they’ve always been a united team. Their story as immigrants working to make a life for themselves and their family would be nothing without that bond.
Over the course of five seasons, the characters played by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton showed us what the best of marriages look like. There are countless moments to mention, but the series finale is perhaps the most striking example. For years, Coach Taylor’s life has revolved around his career as a football coach, which has meant his family has always followed him accordingly. However, at the end of the series, this stops: He chooses to put Tami’s career first, continuing to coach football but in a city where her ambitions can advance. Some of the greatest love stories are about sacrifice — and those sacrifices don’t need to be seismic to be profoundly memorable.
“She’s your lobster,” Phoebe Buffay tells Ross Geller during a stressful time in the lead-up to his relationship with Rachel Green. You see, Ross freaks out a lot. Rachel has always been Ross’ dream girl, and for a nerdy science kid to grow up and become friends with her, well, that alone is hard for him to get his head around. It can make Ross a little crazy, even after he and Rachel become more than friends.
“Lobsters fall in love and mate for life,” Phoebe says, explaining her seemingly random reassuring reference, and while we may not see them walking around, holding claws, she’s right — you know, in that Phoebe way where she’s wrong but her point holds up. Even though lobsters don’t exactly mate for life, some people do. Some people commit. Some people know who they want, and that’s it. You’ve got to be a little crazy to do it, but there are people out there who are just the right amount of crazy. As a wise man once said, “Some people hold candles.” Ross always held a candle for Rachel, and his crazy ass kept it lit.
Could Rachel have done better than Ross? Probably. But it’s hard to forget your lobster.
This beautiful tale of young love deserved more time, but like so many tragic romantic tales, its power might almost be enhanced by the fact that it was cut short. That said, the opportunity to watch these two talented artists collaborate further on both a personal and a professional level is one we yearn for. These two characters deserved more time.
In some ways, diner owner Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) and inn proprietor Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) are the classic example of opposites attract: she has verbal diarrhea and eats like a 12-year-old let loose in a mall; he’s laconic and is overly cautious about pretty much everything. The contrasts between them give the two some on-screen spice and make them a joy to watch. But what makes them achieve great-love-story status is how well the two truly know each other. Theirs is a relationship that slowly blossomed over time, in which he saw her grow from a frightened teenage mom to a take-charge entrepreneur. She’s endured his growls and glares enough to see past them to the caring person he is underneath. On a show that showcases quirky folks who don’t always own up to their immature qualities, Luke and Lorelai’s relationship feels mature and right. It just needed time to get there.
A late-in-life love story is always a fascinating one. It’s relatively brutal, the fact that these two men spent years misleading their spouses while secretly in love with each other. But the fact that, for decades, this was a facet of their lives, one they tried so hard to deny before eventually embracing, gives it a tricky edge. Fortunately, we’ve been lucky to witness Sol and Robert explore their relationship in the open on a new level. It’s undeniable that the bond between Grace and Frankie is a true treat to behold here, but this is a show born of a forbidden romance, and bless Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston for bringing it to life.
Our initial introduction to June and Luke, at the very beginning of the Emmy-winning drama, is of a terrified couple on the run. And it might have been easy to assume, at that point, that’s about all we might get to know about the seemingly doomed couple. But the series wove their backstory into the fabric of the narrative with flashbacks that didn’t just make you yearn for a freer America, but for seeing these two incredibly well-suited people together. Their relationship began as an affair, but Elisabeth Moss and O-T Fagbenle’s mutual chemistry on screen made it clear they were meant to be — and with the major reveals that came during Season 1, we were inspired to have hope in a potential reunion. Of course, it might not be a purely happy one, given what June’s done under the pressure of extreme circumstances. But it’s not hard to be on the side of these two finding each other again.
Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter never got to consummate their relationship, but that could change if Bryan Fuller ever gets to make “Hannibal” Season 4. Over the course of the show’ three-season run on NBC, Graham and Lecter’s cat-and-mouse mind games evolved into an emotional obsession so visceral, palpable, and undeniable that fans wanted nothing more than to ‘ship the sociopath and his corrupted FBI protégé. Watching the two murder Dolarhyde in the series finale brought them closer than ever in an orgy of blood and violence: Graham and Hannibal are television’s twisted star-crossed lovers and there’s not a day that goes by where we won’t hope to see them again for a fourth season.
Sometimes, the best TV couples work because despite being extraordinarily different, they prove to be simply perfect for each other.
It takes great writing and two harmonious actors to make a quirky sitcom romance feel actually genuine, and that was certainly the case when it came to Marshall and Lily on “How I Met Your Mother.” Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan are so lovable on their own that putting them together was a stroke of genius by the show’s casting directors. They knew how to expertly play off one another when it came to slapstick and verbal comedy, especially their coded way of talking about their sex life. But they really shined when the show gave them more dramatic material to play with, such as the death of Marshall’s father and Lily’s pregnancy. You never doubted for a second that Marshall and Lily were soulmates; just the way Hannigan could make Segel smile in a quick reaction shot could leave your heart fluttering.
It’s a testament to “The Leftovers” that a show focused on chronicling the aftermath of a worldwide disaster ultimately became one of TV’s great love stories — without any forced plot contrivances or melodramatic twists. Kevin and Nora, as played by the tremendously talented Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon, were two broken individuals who (very) slowly learned to live again in each other’s arms. The path the show took to get to its final scene, in which Nora and Kevin truly became soulmates, was full of so much guilt and self-inflicted suffering that its central romance was as traumatic as it was beautiful. Both characters had to heal themselves and fate made it clear the only way to do so was with help from the other. “The Leftovers” started as a show about the end of the world and ended as one about new beginnings. The apocalypse is no match for love, after all.
The rise-and-fall romance between Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and Richie (Raúl Castillo) provided the strongest emotional backbone in HBO’s short-lived gem “Looking.” Groff and Castillo’s remarkable chemistry and natural rapport turned episodes like “Looking for the Future” and “Looking for Truth” into intimate romantic epics on par with “Before Sunrise.” Their connection was universally felt, allowing “Looking” to create an emotional anchor for every viewer, no matter their gender or sexual orientation. Groff and Castillo were so good at falling in love in Season 1 that their eventual breakup forced Season 2 to become a waiting game for when they would get back together, or at least reconcile their differences. Patrick went off and had a passionate fling with Kevin (Russell Tovey), but every fan was simply waiting to see how his path would end up back at Richie’s door (or barbershop). It was a series-defining romance that we hope is revisited again sometime in the future.
There are many romances on “Lost” that you’d have to consider when putting together a list of TV’s greatest love stories — Jack and Kate, Kate and Sawyer, Sawyer and Juliet, Penny and Desmond, Rose and Bernard — but none proved as dynamic as Sun and Jin. What made these two characters especially interesting was that their love story began long before the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. Being stranded on the island meant rediscovering what it was about the other that they first fell in love with. Their arc was as much about the survival of love against impossible odds as it was about falling in love all over again. Ironically, the two’s off-island past was most troublesome, as Sun wrestled with infidelity and Jin had to disown his familial roots to get in the good graces of Sun’s father. Sun and Jin’s love story may not be the series’ most passionate, but it’s easily its most timeless and, given their final decision to drown together instead of living apart, its most powerful.
Claire didn’t get sucked back to the past as a single woman, but the headstrong 1940s Army nurse ended up discovering the love of her life (her words) in equally strong-willed Jamie, a Highlander whose own stubbornness didn’t make for the easiest of relationships. But their bond has proven to be the sort of magical connection which seems to span not just years, but centuries — leading to a relationship not just defined by their undeniable sexual chemistry, but an inescapable love.
When Leslie Knope first met Ben Wyatt at the end of “Parks and Recreation” Season 2, he was her immediate enemy — after all, he was out to cut the funding for nearly every government program she held dear. However, things changed slowly but steadily over the course of Season 3 as the pair discovered that their uniquely geeky personalities were actually quite in sync, and their undeniable chemistry led to one of TV’s all time great first kisses. Their relationship faced some complications over the years (like that whole thing where Ben had to “resign in disgrace” over their rule-breaking) but that only meant that they really earned their happy ending, supporting each other unconditionally through career changes, child-rearing, and dream chasing.
There are several notable couples amongst the ensemble cast of “Sense8,” but the deeply abiding love between the cyberhacker and her badass girlfriend has been one of the show’s most affecting relationships, especially as Amanita has shown herself fearless in her devotion to Nomi, risking her freedom and safety in order to help Nomi during the toughest of times. Tender, sweet, sensual, and forever loyal, it’s all too fitting that Season 2 of “Sense8” featured their mutual proposals of marriage — a wedding we very much hope to see when the show returns for the promised two-hour follow-up special.
Love is imperfect, and Mr. Big is certainly that. The emotionally distant man of stature was consistently unable to acknowledge his feelings for Carrie — or at least unable to process them properly. These foibles, mixed with Carrie’s vulnerable impatience and romantic expectations led to a lot of problems in their on-again, off-again relationship. But the two were always drawn to each other, and despite the many break-ups that occurred over the course of the series, this connection never felt forced. They could always talk to each other when they needed to, and they always found each other in times of pain, turmoil, or indecision. Together and apart, both Carrie and Big became people who could have a lasting relationship, making their ultimate union as satisfying, loving, and realistically imperfect as viewers could only hope to find in real life.
The path to happiness for mortuarian David and his partner Keith wasn’t an easy one, let’s be clear. Hardly shocking, given the era when this relationship premiered — a gay couple on TV had a lot of hurdles to clear, with David very much mired in the closet, and Alan Ball and his writers definitely putting them through their paces. But David and Keith represented a complicated yet dedicated relationship between two men in an era that wasn’t really sure how to embrace it. We saw them together to the end, and it was a beautiful thing.
It was love at first sight for Bill Compton and Sookie Stackhouse. The romantic center of HBO’s “True Blood” had more ups and downs, more breakups. and more amazing sex scenes than we can count, but that was all part of the charm of this Southern gothic, vampire-tinged bodice-ripper. Anna Paquin made Sookie’s emotional connection to Bill so strong and intuitive that it helped ground an entire series that featured vampires, werewolves, fairies, and even more ridiculous supernatural entities. “True Blood” worked so well for so long because it built its love story on such raw and carnal emotions. Bill and Sookie really felt destined for each other, and that made every near-death encounter and act of betrayal land with a conversation-starting bang online.
It began like this:
And from there, the chemistry was never lacking. The most important thing about Mulder and Scully as a couple is the fact that despite being diametric opposites, they ended up working together so well, a yin-yang pairing that countless other TV shows still seek to emulate.
Creator Chris Carter has, for years, left the exact nature of Mulder and Scully’s relationship vague for decades (and yeah, that’s been frustrating for fans). But there’s no denying that when David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson look at each other on screen, there’s an intense connection there, and the emotional journey their characters have experienced, from losing parents to surrendering a child, has kept this show mesmerizing for years. Mulder and Scully’s relationship status may always hover in the area of “It’s complicated.” But no one involved can deny the love that exists there.
If Marshall and Lily of “How I Met Your Mother” were the ideal sitcom love story, then consider Jimmy and Gretchen of “You’re the Worst” to be their polar opposite. So much of the comedic joy of the show’s debut season was in experiencing the clash of personalities between the two and their determination to blow up every TV romance cliché possible. But there’s always been a dramatic core to “You’re the Worst” that sets it apart from every other rom-com on TV, and it’s here where stars Chris Geere and Aya Cash truly excel. They’ve made Jimmy and Gretchen’s path from anti-romance to traditional romance feel fresh and emotional by tapping into the insecurities and fears that make the two of them not so different after all. Jimmy and Gretchen are bad people who only have a shot at goodness when they’re together, and watching Geere and Aya try and avoid this conclusion has made “You’re the Worst” a comedic delight.
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