will they or wont they?

This is a common theme in television, will they or wont they?  We have all fallen in love with a TV couple at one point or another, each week waiting for the next episode to see if they were going to finally be together or not.  When you step back you think "why do I care about these fictional people?" but regardless we get hooked.  I am going to dedicate this blog to some of my favorite "will they or wont they?" situations. 

Warning: This post contains spoilers, if the show is off the air and you haven't finished it do not read that paragraph (unless you are like me and enjoy spoilers)

1) Sheldon and Amy "Shamy" (The Big Bang Theory) - This is the hot TV couple right now.  They are currently broken up and it is breaking fans of TBBT hearts.  Something that is common with these fictional couples is that they are absolutely perfect for each other (they were written that way), and we all love to see the perfect couples.  This couple is perfect because they are both so very awkward and nerdy and very late bloomers when it comes to dating and friendships.  They were both so focused on education and careers that they simply missed their adolescence and are awkwardly living it in their 30's.



2) Daphne and Niles (Frasier) - This show was one of my favorites in high school and it was mainly due to the relationship between these two.  He was like Sheldon socially awkward and had a horrible marriage/divorce and she was a breath of fresh air.  You felt his pain when she got engaged to Donny and seems to not realize Niles' love, yet you celebrated when she got into the RV with Niles and escaped from marrying the wrong man.


3) Fran and Mr. Sheffield (the Nanny) - ok, ok, I know I am admitting that I watched the Nanny, but I loved this show.  This whole show was based on the will they or wont they relationship between the nanny and employer.  Most of the jokes played on the sexual tension between these two characters.  This was also the downfall of the show as once they FINALLY married, no one cared anymore and they had one final season.


4) Jim and Pam (the Office) - This was a huge storyline in the first seasons of this show.  We all rejoiced when Pam and Jim were both single at the same time and expressed their love.  The reason this show was able to marry them early and still be successful is (unlike the Nanny) they had many other characters that you cared about just as much.  We all moved onto wanting Dwight and Angela together, and the cast was just incredible.  Not many shows can continue on after losing their main character but I enjoy the later episodes without Steve Carrell just as much as the earlier ones. 


5) Sookie and Eric or Bill or Alcide or Sam (True Blood) - In the first season we see the perfect couple in Sookie and Bill.  A tragic vampire who loves no one but this one human woman, however there are many other seasons and we come to realize that Bill is more complex then we initially assumed.  Then we come to find that Eric becomes the more stable and fights against injustice.  He isn't the same kind of vampire as Bill, he is a little more violent yet falls deeply in love with Sookie like he has never loved anyone else.  Then we have Alcide who Sookie just thinks is hot, and Sam who is the best friend that she never seems to see.  The fact that Sookie had so many choices makes the fact that in the end she is with someone that we don't know is how it was meant to be.  No one can blame her for wanting to be normal and have a normal relationship and that is how it ends for her.  However, I would've chosen Eric.



6) Robin and Barney (How I Met Your Mother) - According to Neil Patrick Harris' autobiography (which is a really good read) he was responsible for this couple.  He knew in the very beginning that he wanted his character to be with Robin so he made it happen.  His character from the very beginning would give her extra long glances and think of her as extra special.  So in the second to last season when he finally proposes with a long scavenger hunt we all swooned.  However, the creators of the show had the last episode planned before the series even started and knew that Robin and Ted would end up together, so we find Robin and Barney divorced in the last episode.  The end to this series caused a lot of  uproar as people had come to love Ted/Tracy and Barney/Robin.  I hated this ending at first, I felt it negated the relationships between these two couples.  Then I thought about it in a different way, Ted was always meant to be with Tracy "the mother" she was the love of his life, not Robin, but life sucks sometimes.  She dies and Ted moves on.  He wasn't pining for Robin that whole time he was in love with his wife and when she died it rocked his world, but then he rediscovers that he could be happy again.  Both Robin and Ted couldn't be together until they had certain things happen, for Ted it was children (Robin couldn't have them) and for Robin it was her career.  They both had to live and learn before they could be together, but it didn't negate the other relationships.  This ending was different than what we expected because it was more real than we are used to, this stuff happens in life all the time but not on TV.  Once I realized this, I no longer hated the end of this show.


7) Barnabas and Angelique (Dark Shadows) - This wasn't a classic will they or wont they, but more of a tragic romance.  They had a fling, then he fell in love with Josette, she cursed Josette and caused her to marry Jeremiah, Barnabas marries Angelique because of a threat, he scorns her and she turns him into a vampire and curses anyone he loves to die.  Many, many episodes and story arcs occur and then in the end he realizes that Angelique was really the love of his life.  When he finally confesses his love to her in episode 1198, she dies as the last victim of her curse on him.  He finally realizes his love for her and she dies.  So tragically romantic. 
 


8) Jackie and Kelso or Hyde (That 70's Show) - This show was just fun, they were all the typical high school students.   Jackie was in the position where she dated 2 (and in the end 3) of the guys in the group.  Kelso was Jackie's first love, but that didn't mean they were meant to last, their relationship was superficial and based on very immature things, while her relationship with Hyde was more of what a relationship should be, when they didn't end up together I was bummed and confused that she ended up with Fez.  I've got to admit that the fact that Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are together in real life makes me happy in way (I am very nerdy). 


9) Ross and Rachel (Friends) - As much as I don't really like Friends this was still a good storyline and the quintessential will they or wont they?  This couple strung fans along throughout the entire series, they even had a baby together but no one was sure until the bitter end if they would be together. 


Other notable will they or wont they couples: Luke and Lorelai (Gilmore Girls), Corey and Topanga (Boy Meets World), Mindy and Danny (the Mindy Project), Sam and Diane (Cheers), Kevin and Winnie (the Wonder Years), Joey and Dawson/Pacey (Dawson's Creek)
 


The great thing about all of these different love stories is they are all completely different.  They all have their twists and turns and whether the couple ends up together or not we can all relate to them at one point or another. 


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