Now, to the fun. Several of you suggested other relationships on TV that you enjoy - so here's a tribute to Non-Romantic TV Relationships That Work. It's a list of my favorites and why I love them (albeit not as in-depth, being that the list got long in a hurry). I know I left a ton of them off this list for length, so please, comment and tell me about the ones you love, and why you love them. Past or present, it's all good.
Brittany Frederick
DigitalAirwaves.net
ChicagoCodeFan.com
Examiner.com
Fanbolt.com
Starpulse.com
Twitter: @tvbrittanyf
Awesome article!
ReplyDeleteI tend to like most of the shows with relationships like you mentioned. They seem to be more "real" to me. So many of the romantic relationships on TV are idealized or overly dramatic cliches.
I always liked the great relationship between House and 13, which was only intensified after this week's episode. Then of course there's all the great bromances: JD/Turk, Corey/Shawn (Boy Meets World), Shawn/Gus, Troy/Abed, and House/Wilson.
ReplyDeleteEli/Alicia in The Good Wife, but also Alicia/Kalinda in The Good Wife.
ReplyDeleteI loved the dynamic of the Strike Team on The Shield. Tragic to be sure, but very compelling.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best relationships on TV in recent memory was Alan Shore and Denny Crane. Very deep and meaningful for a comedy based series that dealt with real issues of friendship life and hardship, but it was so entertaining at the same time!
Another great partnership without romance was Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) and Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi) on the short-lived "Life". They grew from uncomfortable dislike to respect to admiration over the course of the 2 seasons. Brilliant actors and brilliant roles!
Oooo. Good one. But I don't know what twists and turns the Alicia/Kalinda relationship will take going forward.
ReplyDeleteSam and Dean Winchester. Supernatural gives is a prime example of how to create a beautiful, realistic and compelling relation between two characters who aren't romantically involved. What we have is the journey of a relationship between two brothers who have literally lived and died for each other. Their circumstances and environment may be completely out there/disastrous/distracting/unreal but there is never in my mind any doubt that these are two brothers who love each other. What is more the shows entire success has been built on this relationship, through thick and thin, through ups and downs it keeps the show ticking over and fans like me coming back for more.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brittany for this fun topic. Looks like we're all commenting right here this time.
ReplyDeleteI managed to have not watched many of the shows you listed. Yup, never saw Law and Order!! I don't know why not. Watched the X Files and did not like the Scully/Mulder thing. What it meant to me was the writers were out of ideas for creepy alien invasions.
I only just started watching Justified so I'm not familiar enough with it, but good partnership relationships are always satisfying. I will look for the Raylan/marshalls friendships.
There were many, many great relationships on Lost. Jack and Juliet kissed but that romance stopped right there, and they went on to be good friends who respected each other. Kate and Juliet were friends. There was always deep respect between Jack and Sayid also. Sawyer and Jin were hilarious together, as were Hurley and Miles.
Caleb and Jarek are great!
Ron Swanson and Andy.
Leslie Knopes and Ann.
Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy.
Troy and Abed.
Shawn Spencer and Gus. Classic!
Gotta go now, but I'm sure I'll be back with more.
A big, fat, steaming pile of kudos for including Archer and Ray in your piece. I think I'd also add Pam and Sheryl to that list.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe she missed the obvious Penny and Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. They're hysterical when they're working together and even funnier when they're at odds with each other. (The Howard/Raj thing may or may not qualify here, I'm not really sure.)
ReplyDeleteAnd one very unappreciated one would have to be Chuck/Morgan on Chuck, although Sarah/Casey is one you don't see often, but they've grown to respect each other over the years like McGarrett and Danny have on Hawaii Five-O.
i loved your article , and i thought you took the words right out of my mouth about NIKITA having a lot of depth to it and how the characters are very connected and affect each others lives in a big way , that's why i love this show ... it's smart , well written , and has so many twists and turns ... but i think the main reason why people don't watch NIKITA is because CW has a reputation of having a superficial teen related shows that people won't even bother with it , and nikita is the only show on CW that's very far from that .
ReplyDeleteGreat article. I think you (and the commentators in your last article) are absolutely right about the value of non-romantic relationships. Like West Wing, which was much more about the friendships and the "bromance" than about any romantic entanglements. Or Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, which had two main romantic relationships, but was really about the brotherhood between Matt Albie and Danny Tripp.
ReplyDeleteI think that to some extent the powerful non-romantic relationships are such an attraction for us as viewers because they tend to be allowed to survive. Romantic relationships that are at the core of a show are constantly having to deal with obstacles to make it more dramatic, whereas familial relationships and partnerships are more likely to be left alone. Take Colby and David on Numb3rs. Their partnership was a lot more solid than Charlie's relationship with Amita, which wasn't even that stormy. And I loved Bosco and Yokas on Third Watch - they really did make "one great cop".
Of course, Meredith and Christina hit a rough spot on Grey's, but still, I feel that these relationships can be what keeps a show interesting in the long run, because there comes a point (at least for me) when a romantic relationship has been through so much turmoil that I get feed up with the idea of that specific couple staying together.
I completely agree. I was also very fond of Dean's relationship to their father. We didn't see a lot of it, but I thought Jensen and Jeffrey did a wonderful job.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Sam/John angel, their scenes were amazing. Jared and Jeffrey had some intense father/son type chemistry plus they totally looked like they could actually be related (totally the dimples). One of my favourite scenes from season 1 was the Sam/John talk in Dead Man's Blood, while Dean was off getting the blood. I also liked their road side shouting match in that episode. The scene in Shadow where Sam and John finally hug had me crying, in fact that whole end of episode with the three of them was just awesome.
ReplyDelete