TV’s Hottest Couples: Puzzle Your Way Through Some Steamy Relationships
Show us a fan favorite comedy or drama that viewers go gaga over and we’ll show you a TV program with a romance at the center of the story. Thankfully, TV has a rich history of delivering the love story goods.
There are the soaps, of course, ever since television’s early days in the ’40s, that have always grown a loyal viewing base with the untold complications and variations of unending romances. Supercouples like Bo and Hope on Days of Our Lives and Luke and Laura on General Hospital keep us tuned in. And the primetime soaps get us hooked in the same way. Bobby and Pam help set off our passion for Dallas, one of the biggest shows on TV in the late ’70s and into the ’80s. And how many other shows are called workplace dramas that at their heart are nighttime soaps? Doug and Carol on ER. Castle and Beckett on Castle. Meredith and Derek on Grey’s Anatomy. Sydney and Vaughn on Alias. Sitcoms don’t just get by on the laughs either. Some of the most classic comedies are beloved for their flings, flirtations and loving commitments. Pam and Jim on The Office, Sam and Diane on Cheers, Paul and Jamie on Mad About You, and all the friends on Friends.
Our sister publication, TV Guide Magazine’s Puzzler, put together an entire issue around some of TV’s most infamous romances. Here are just a few of the couples featured in this jam-packed issue filled with word searches, trivia, scrambles, picture quizzes and more. Now that’s amore!
Everett Collection/TVGM Puzzler
Luke & Laura, General Hospital
Luke Spencer (Anthony Geary) was an unconventional romantic hero from the wrong side of the tracks who had the ultimate redemption story. His love affair with Laura Webber (Genie Francis) began in violence, but the two became soapdom’s first supercouple. Elizabeth Taylor volunteered to guest-star if Luke and Laura got married — and the screen legend did appear as vengeful widow Helena Cassadine. Roughly 30 million viewers tuned in to see the couple make it official in a two-episode wedding celebration that aired in November 1981.
Everett Collection/TVGM Puzzler
Maddie & David, Moonlighting
A classic will-they-or-won’t-they show, this sexy, tongue-in-cheek 1985-89 ABC hit set the bar — and the curse — for every banter-filled procedural that would follow. Cybill Shepherd is luminous as former fashion model Maddie Hayes, who, after being swindled out of her savings, reluctantly teams with chauvinistic cool-cat private eye David Addison (Emmy winner Bruce Willis) at the detective agency she (somehow!) owns. The heat onscreen was matched only by the scorching headlines of behind-the-scenes drama. After two-plus years of onscreen romantic tension, Season 3 finally saw the opposites consummating their relationship. Thereafter the series declined in ratings, as well as the stars’ interest in playing their characters (Willis went on to Die Hard fame, and Shepherd had her twins). The series was cancelled after Season 5 and the stars happily parted.
Carol & Doug, ER
Few would have been surprised if Chicago’s pediatric doc Doug (George Clooney) had cheated on fiancée Carol (Julianna Margulies) in ER (1994-2009). After all, his two-timing ways had spoiled many relationships. But viewers were stunned in a Season 4 episode when Carol kissed a paramedic — on the very night that Doug was planning to whisk her off to a surprise wedding ceremony. While that certainly set them back, long distance and the birth of their twins eventually led the destined lovers to set up their life in Seattle. In the end, it was happily ever after for these two.
Everett Collection/TVGM Puzzler
Castle & Beckett, Castle
With their killer chemistry and shared love of crime-solving, millionaire playboy and mystery writer Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and NYPD Capt. Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) have cracked the case of how to keep the spark alive after TV marriage. Over Castle’s eight-season run (2009-16), they enjoy an unorthodox partnership, from the shooting range scene in the first season to the flashback episode “Still” when Beckett steps on a bomb plate and Castle keeps her company. “Caskett” was the best.
Everett Collection/TVGM Puzzler
Bobby & Pam, Dallas
When Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy) brought his bride Pam Barnes (Victoria Principal) home to his family’s Southfork Ranch on the first episode of Dallas (April 2, 1978), it was problems from the get-go (that Ewings-Barnes feud wasn’t going away). Sibling rivalries and misunderstandings would ruin their great love story and the couple would divorce (twice actually). Pam would prove her love was always pure, and in a heart-wrenching Season 8 (1984-85) episode confesses to Bobby, “I love you more than I ever did before and I didn’t think that was possible. I’m not ashamed of loving you and I’m not sorry for it … I love you so much my heart hurts.” Bobby concurs: “I’ve never stopped loving you and I never will.” In the end tragedy would follow again (Pam’s car accident) and the two would eventually part ways for good.
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