I admit it – I’m a bit of a TV junkie. I love catching up on my favorite shows whether it’s the latest season of Modern Familyon Hulu or re-runs of Friends on DVD. And in every show, it seems, there’s always that one couple I’m rooting for to come through by the episode’s end (or, at least, the season finale). I’m sure I’m not alone in this when I say I cheered from my sofa when Ross and Rachel kissed outside of Central Perk, danced down the aisle alongside the Dunder Mifflin crew at Jim and Pam’s wedding, and yelled at the TV in frustration when Carrie Bradshaw, yet again, sabotaged her perfectly good relationship with Aidan for a rendezvous with Mr. Big.
I could talk about TV relationships like Ronnie and Sammi’s and their hook-up buddy system, any of the Desperate Housewivesand their partners, or the crazy up-and-down break-ups and make-ups of reality show couples from The Bachelor, but then we would be here for hours. So instead, I’ve rounded up just a few of our all-time favorite couples to show what you can take away from their ups and downs on the small-screen.
Cory and Topanga from Boy Meets World
For us collegiettes™ who grew up in the ‘90s, these two were like a match made in teen TV heaven. They were still high-schoolers when Cory first told Topanga he loved her and they’re a lot like that couple we all know with the freakishly, nauseatingly cute, long-standing relationship. No matter what happened or how many times they broke up, they always found their way back to each other in the end.
TV Love Tip #1: Call it a naive view on the dating scene, but true, long-lasting love is possible. It’s just that no one ever said it would be easy. Sometimes you have to work (a lot) at your relationship.
Jim and Pam from The Office
From cross-cubicle flirting to office pranks, Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly have never made the office romance look better. Who can get enough of the now-famous wedding scene? Two seasons of will-they-or-won’t-they tension led up to Jim’s heartfelt confession, and Pam broke his heart (and ours) when she didn’t buy into their romance right away. Bad luck in timing led to Pam breaking off her engagement to Roy, Jim’s transfer to Connecticut, and an eventual break-up between Jim and Karen. But eventually, these two coworker lovebirds found their way to each other showing that sparks can fly even in a lackluster workplace like Dunder-Mifflin.
TV Love Tip #2: From inside jokes to pranks, having a good sense of humor is key in keeping the fun in a relationship.
Ross and Rachel from Friends
Who wasn’t rooting for these two? She was a spoiled Daddy’s girl and he was the nerd who loved her since high school. But it was through a series of mishaps, their marriages (to others and one drunk night in Las Vegas with each other) and accidental parenthood that Ross Geller and Rachel Green realized they were meant to be more than just friends… even if it took them ten seasons to get there: I love you. Let’s be together. No, I think we need a break. Never mind, I made a mistake. No, we need to break up. Let’s get married in Vegas! Let’s get it annulled. Oh wait, I’m pregnant. Ugghh, there was nothing more frustrating about the show than Ross and Rachel’s on-again off-again relationship, but I couldn’t help but cheer them on. I just wanted to shake the TV and scream, “Oh my god, just get back togetheralready!”
TV Love Tip #3: If you love each other–that’s all that matters. If you find that your history is getting in the way–don’t let it! Sometimes you just have to stop complicating things for yourself.
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Buffy and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Before Edward and Bella, there was Buffy and Angel. But besides the dramatic finale that drove them apart, there were plenty of reasons why Buffy and Angel just couldn’t make it work. For one, he was a vampire and her occupation, as (bad) luck would have it, just happened to be vampire slaying. They couldn’t get it on without Angel turning into a monster (literally) and he had about 250 more years of dating experience than Buffy. But one of the biggest deal-breakers for this couple was Buffy’s calling. When an apocalypse is imminent, her relationship drama with Angel really had to take a backseat to saving the world.
TV Love Tip #4: Your work life and your relationship with your boyfriend are both important! Keep them balanced on your priority list and be sure to dedicate time to both.
Meredith and Derek from Grey’s Anatomy
Imagine hooking up with a hottie the night before your new internship… only to realize on your first day that you’ve hooked up with your boss who is married. That’s how Meredith and Derek met and worked together at Seattle Grace Hospital. Through many seasons of ups and downs, they at long last got “married” by a sticky note (awww) and even though it looks like Grey’s most famous couple will never truly separate, a rocky relationship of miscommunicating, breaking up and making up, has always left them a little shaky.
TV Love Tip #5: Sometimes a rocky start followed by constant break-ups and make-ups can make a relationship unsteady. Love doesn’t always start on the right foot – it’s how you weather problems as a couple that decides how your story ends.
Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big from Sex and the City
Carrie Bradshaw’s columns speak directly to my life– she has a way of knowing just the right thing to say and with just the right bit of sass. Even though we can’t all have the glamorous city life in NYC (or her collection of Christian Louboutins), we can relate to her romantic ups and downs. We followed the fashionable foursome of Sex and the City through some pretty treacherous dating territory from engagements to babies to post-it note break-ups. But out of all the guys that came and went through the episodes, Mr. Big was always that elusive yet ever-present guy in Carrie Bradshaw’s life. A great love, as Charlotte says. Her touch-and-go romance with Big sparked when they met on a New York sidewalk and Carrie spent a good number of episodes chasing after him. But that all changed in the end when Carrie told him off at the top of her stairs right before she left for Paris to live with Aleksandr Petrovsky. Telling him off was exactly what it took for him to realize how much he needed her!
TV Love Tip #6: Put yourself out there, let himpursue you, and in the meantime, don’t be afraid to be fearlesslysingle!
Sources
http://www.tvguide.com/PhotoGallery/TVGuidecom-Readers-Best-1688
http://tv.msn.com/tv/galleryfeature/topcouples/