At the Untethered conference, one of the more thought-provoking presentations was from the founder of College Humor, who talked about how and why videos go viral. One of the major factors in encouraging someone to connect with and pass along a video is the “candy corn” factor- that common nostalgia centered on an object, moment, or common experience that you probably haven’t thought about in years.
I had a “candy corn” moment earlier today when I was thinking about tv shows that I saw early on which fed my interest in romance, specifically Scarecrow and Mrs. King. This was definitely one of my “romance foundation” shows, and I haven’t thought about it for years until the other day when the quote from the show popped into my head and I tweeted it later: “You can’t just walk into my life, hand me a package, tell me to give it to the man in the red hat, tell me you love me, & walk out again!”
Imagine my joy that the first season is available on DVD or via Netflix and iTunes.
I used to set the VCR to tape each episode as it ran in reruns at a time way past my bedtime. I figured out how to program the VCR, set it so it would use as little tape as possible, and fit nearly six episodes on each tape. I saw the first episode where they meet a LONG time after I found the show, and was shocked at how distant and rude Lee was to Amanda compared to how affectionate and eye-rolling tolerant he was in later episodes. Then once her family knew about him, it was a completely different dynamic compared to those early episodes where her even knowing him is a complete and utter secret.
The interesting thing about shows like Scarecrow, Moonlighting, Remington Steele, and the like is that they weren’t as satisfying for me once the couple resolved the tension and got together – “They Did It” pretty much killed the tension (and it jumped the shark) between Maddie and David, and it wasn’t as satisfying for me either once Scarecrow and Mrs. King emphasized that “and” between them. It was the little moments of tempting possibility that kept me watching – once her family knew about him and they were a couple, it wasn’t as … tense. And the reason to watch dissipated.
(Also, is it me or was it rather different at the time that Amanda was as single divorced mom heroine? I loved Amanda – she stood up for herself and followed her instincts and was unashamed and unabashed about being a mom, a housewife, and a smart woman. “Yes, yes, I’ll wait in the car,” and then she never did.)
Constrast that to my reading habits, where an extended series of will they-will-they-come ON ALREADY in a romance novel series drives me haywire batshit. I expect more resolution and faster development between protagonists in my romance fiction – which makes sense given the format differences even as I question my patience with television and my lack of patience with series that don’t develop as fast as I’d like. Maybe I’m too hard on my books.
Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series worked so well for me, though, backwards and forwards, by which I mean that once I read the book that featured the greatest romantic payoff and solidified my suspicions about who Mercy would end up with, I went back and reread the previous books to read more into the sparse moments between those two characters. Once I know where the romantic thread is going, I like to see it develop again with – which is why I rewatched early seasons of the X-Files while referencing a “shippers guide” that has since been taken offline, so I could watch for moments in the series between Scully and Mulder that reveal that gaspy-oh-yes-it’s-true feeling.
Then there are those shows that followed a couple who were already together, like Hart to Hart. Did you like those shows as much where the “couple” was already together, or Was the tentative smidgen-by-smidgen romance part of the fascination? I was a big fan of secret-couple series, where the circumstances surrounding the partners require that their connection be kept a total secret –
Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Beauty and the Beast being the two major examples in my entertainment nostalgia-journey. I was damn near obsessed with those shows.
What shows fed your romance habit? I know we’ve talked about romance on tv and in movies before, and MERCY STUDMUFFINS did I spend money on DVDs after those threads, but in this case, I want to know which tv shows about slowly-developing romances were your candy corn, the ones you look back on and think, “OH, I LOVED that show!”
Also, does anyone else have the theme to Scarecrow & Mrs. King stuck in their heads? Because it’s been the soundtrack of my day for hours now. Oy. Wait, let me help. MWAAAAHAHAHAHA.
Is there anything hotter than flying Bruce Boxleitner with a beige sweater tucked into his pants? No. No, there is not.
Remington Steele, definitely. I always felt like Moonlighting was a Steele ripoff. Somehow I managed to miss Scarecrow and Mrs. King (please don’t beat me!).
Northern Exposure, Maggie and Joel, oh, yes. But the whole show jumped the shark when Rob Morrow left and the writers tried to make a Maggie/Chris relationship work. Eep.
I’m sort of surprised no one’s mentioned (or if they have, I’m sorry—the comments thread on this one goes on forever) the on and off and on and off and on and off relationship between Meredith and Derek on Grey’s Anatomy, but then I couldn’t forgive the show for killing off George, who was the best character on it, a season or two ago (I haven’t watched it since), and maybe I’m not alone.
Nowadays it’s Castle, Bones, and Chuck, of course. Nathan Fillion is the Pierce Brosnan of this decade, I swear. Well, in an entirely different way (I swoon over his relationship with his daughter almost as much as I do over the chemistry he’s got with Stana Katic).
Has anyone mentioned Numb3rs? The main reason I stuck with it all the way through its run was the lovely geeky romance between Charlie Epps (David Krumholtz) and Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat). Megan and Larry were cute, too.
I wish Men in Trees had lasted a bit longer, too.
I just finished watching the series on Netflix—its streaming there.
I was really young when Lois and Clark was on (when the show ended in 1997, i was 10-11), but i was totally sucked in by the romance. After re-watching it, I have to say that by putting them together during the 3rd season they really jumped the shark. The chemistry was really good there, but once they were together and she knew his big secret, it was over. I honestly couldn’t watch half of the last season. (btw, i skipped right past the frog-eating clone b/c even at 9 i knew that was lame). Honestly, my favorite episode was the one where Tempus told Lois the truth and they had to save baby Clark.
Anyway, Dawson’s Creek was one of the romance shows for me, although I could not stand Dawson. I was (still am) a big Pacey and Joey fan. The episode where he watches her sleep…hmm. Now, I watch him on Fringe, and I’m waiting for Peter and Olivia to get together.
Another one for me was Alias. I loved the tension between Syd and Vaughn, and that kiss after they brought down sd-6 was amazing.
My mom is a big ABC soap fan, so my favorite romances were on a lot of those shows: AMC—David and Erica (I predicted it, but my mom said it was never going to happen), Ryan and Gillian, Leo and Greenley, and Hayley and Matteo, Port Charles—Rafe and Allison, Ian and Eve and Jack and Livvie (but not Livvie and Caleb), GH—Kevin and Lucy, Jax and Brenda, LIZ AND LUCKY!!! (they were soooo sweet together!), Emily and Zander, Alexis and Ned (the storyline where he married Chloe and she married Jax was hilarious!), and Jason and Robin.
Friends…I absolutely loved Monica and Chandler. I read that the writers hadn’t planned on putting them together, but really if you watch the earlier seasons (1-4), you can see there was something there. Season 5 was the best season because you had the “secret relationship” storyline, and as long as its written well (and it was), that can be the best type.
Piper and Leo and Cole and Phoebe (before he was possessed by the Source) on Charmed. Piper and Leo were so romantic because they weren’t allowed to be together. With Cole and Phoebe it was all about taming the bad boy. In the last season, I loved the tension between Phoebe and Coop, and let me tell you when they found out that their’s wouldn’t be a “forbidden romance” like Piper and Leo’s I was ecstatic!
My current “romantic tension” tv shows are Bones, Fringe, NCIS, Warehouse 13 and Psych (i read that this season will be the one in which Shawn and Jules get together, but i wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they’re dating in real life).
I forgot to mention Hamish Macbeth, another BBC drama that ran for three seasons and spun out the ST between Hamish and Isobel (who later freaked me out by turning up as Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter).
I also read a hint of Esteban and Zia romance into Mysterious Cities of Gold. Is that creepy? Probably not, considering I was only eight or nine myself. Eighties cartoons were awesome. That series is my personal candy corn. (Not that I like candy corn. My personal timtam?)
I loved Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Remington Steele, and Hunter. The tension between the leads worked so well because the shows didn’t really try to hide that the characters were into each other even if they weren’t acting on it explicitly, and you somehow knew they’d go down that road when they were good and ready and not a minute before. Also, they were hot. I loved Magnum P.I. too, partly for the hot factor, and also because it had a theme song that I don’t mind being stuck on for hours. I’m stuck on it now, in fact. And I loved The X-Files, which had some of that same kind of tension. Chuck did too, although those characters were actively trying to hid their feelings from each other. With the other couples, the shows managed to give a sense that the characters knew, they just didn’t intend to do anything about it. Yet. Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis had some of that going on as well, that sense that the characters are perfectly aware that there’s something between them thank you very much, but right now there are bigger fish to fry.
I had a huge crush on Bruce Willis when I used to watch Moonlighting. I loved the tension, and rooted for them to get together. I was a lot younger then, and can’t remember much else but a sext Willis in a tuxedo on some steps after dark. Yum. Must go find episodes to download…..
I bawled at the end of Bones this year. Bawled. How heart-wrenching is that ending? But another cheer worthy moment was when Hodgins and Angela realized they were meant to be and tied the knot in jail! I was whooping and bouncing on my couch! This story arc wasn’t really a will-they-won’t-they, more of a wonderful realigning of the stars. We all knew they should be together, we rooted for them, and when Hodgins said “I’m your guy” to Angela’s potential pregnancy with another man she wasn’t sure she loved, we just knew. YAY! (well that and his crazy tattoo likely inked by Angela’s ZZ Top dad.) have I mentioned I love this show?
Castle made me yell, of course. Stupid people! But again, they are really focusing on the URST between those two, and I hope they gat back to what makes the series good instead of soap opera-ing it, or they will jump the shark eventually. I’m looking forward to that season premiere.
This is a sad confession for my sick little mind, but as a TWEENER, I adored Flamingo Road. I loved the tension between floozy Lana Ballou and torn- between-two-lovers senator played by Mark Harmon.
Plus there was the Titus Semple in the linen suit calling everyone ‘bub’. I used to count how many times he’d say it in an episode.
Oh! @M. Louisa Locke: I LOVED Spaced! It’s just so British to be so twisted and end up sweet. LOL
I’m still obsessed with Scarecrow and Mrs. King 25 years later!! There has never been a more romantic show on TV as far as I’m concerned. The chemistry between Lee and Amanda was magic, and was a huge influence on me as a teenager. You’re right—Lee is a much different person in Season 1 than he was by Season 4, but watching the transition that he went through as he fell head over heels in love with Amanda was a big part of the fun. Amanda was a great role model for girls in the 80s (and still is today). She was a smart, successful, confident, resourceful single mother that took everything Lee threw at her and gave it back to him twofold. If you haven’t seen SMK in awhile, get your hands on Season 1 ASAP! You won’t regret it.
I loved Moonlighting because it was smart and fast and real and because of the chemistry between the main characters—that was the point of the show—once the tension ended, the entire point of the show ended. Lois and Clark was wonderfully romantic (and Teri Hatcher was much, much prettier pre-plastic surgery), as was Beauty and The Beast.
OTOH, I loved Hart to Hart, too.
For me, since I’m as old as dirt, the television version of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir fed my attraction to romantic storylines—the movie, too, although I’m not quite old enough to have seen that during it’s original release run.
@ elph: I’d forgotten SG-1! I liked the UST with Jack and Sam that, again, was not the focus of the show —and the writers getting rid of it eventually. Also enjoyed the Daniel/Vala storyline during the last season though the ending was….meh.
I was like 7 when Scarecrow and Mrs. King came on and I had the HUGEST crush on Bruce Boxleitner. I think he was my first celeb crush. They only got odder from there. I moved on from him to Vincent from Beauty and the Beast and from him to Captain Picard. How many other 10 year old girls had crushes on Patrick Stewart? Probably not many.
I loved Moonlighting and Remington Steele. My English lit. teacher actually had us to watch the Atomic Shakespeare episode of Moonlighting in class during our section on Shakespeare.
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TV shows: I like sexual tension, but there needs to be a reason they don’t get together. After a certain point, I call it laziness on the writer’s part. I really don’t get how being together suddenly lessens the sexual tension and/or problems between the H/H.
Beth: I loved Gilmore Girls; they did the relationship so well until Luke’s daughter hit the scene/Rory left college. Up to that point, they were one of my favorite TV couples. And their first kiss was AWESOME.
Sarah W: I never really cared all that much about Nate/Sophia, but Parker/Hardison (though I was okay with Hardison and Elliot…yes, I’m a Ho Yay Fan) was adorable. I loved that last episode – the pretzels will be here. But if it takes forever, they’ll lose me.
This!
Remington Steele formed my romantic template of life—of my 3 exes, 2 look like him and the third ah…well, has another distinctive trait like him that I’ll restrain myself from mentioning in the modern era. Very funny…
See, the thing that drives me nuts is when the romantic tension is put off for seasons and seasons and seasons beyond the point of logic and reason. Bones and (most likely) Castle are going to be doing that with the MC’s for eternity because it’ll “ruin the show” if they get together, but after 8 years of people not hooking it, that ruins it too because it’s just gotten ridiculous. Bones fans in particular should be very mad. I actually prefer B&B as a noncouple (mainly I don’t want to watch Brennan being a parent, it makes me shudder), but even I think the way they’ve treated the subject of them getting together over the years is really ridiculous. I was also pissed at how stupid it was that they broke Hodgins and Angela up, but they then put them back together over the course of the year very nicely. So Bones has gone all over the map here.
It was a relief when they finally ended the “will they or won’t they” on Chuck, because the reasons for dragging the two apart were just getting so bad and weak and the fans were really angry over it. It was hurting the show NOT to show them as a real spy couple. I think most shows just need to transition into the people being a couple and go all Eve and Roarke, because stringing it out forever doesn’t work either. They can still fight/disagree/spark while together, you know!
Good lord, @Sarah, did we have the same childhood? Scarecrow, Moonlighting, Remington Steele… hell, even Robotech (the Macross Saga with the Rick/Lisa/Minmei triangle, ooh lawd what a hot mess that was). I grew up into a Mulder/Scully shipper in high school/college. Now grown, I’ve been sucked into shipperdom over Mary and Marshall on In Plain Sight… I guess I just like a good love story, in all its forms and through all its trials.
In books and TV, I like to have a strain of romance that I can latch on to and keep me coming back. I can’t really stand procedurals/cop/medical dramas that focus on the crime and not the relationships. I also like some UST but not to the point of ridiculousness. Castle is an exception. Oh, and how could people neglect Pushing Daisies? I mean, the ultimate UST because if the hero touched the heroine, she’d die. That extra, tragic element would have definitely been able to sustain UST and my interest had the show lasted longer than it did. Right now, Gossip Girl (which is all over the map regarding their couples) is giving me my romance fix with the continually tension filled relationship of Chuck and Blair.
I grew up on HEA Disney/Bluth/whatever studio Swan Princess was movies. I love the HEA in everything, but also really love the what-comes-after part, too. The Swan princess sequels were great that way (not great in many other ways). Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman also had Michaela and Sully have a married relationship. I also adored Monica and Chandler’s long-term relationships, much more enjoyable than Ross and Rachel’s later storylines (Joey especially). Also old episodes of Hart to Hart, where they are already married and happy and adorable solving ridiculous murder cases.
All in all, I prefer knowing what happens after the marriage/relationship, and don’t think I could persevere through 8+ seasons of UST. The same with books, I really like when the Hero and Heroine get together halfway through and we see how they adjust to life. I love the closeness that comes from being in a relationship more than the fighting/biting repartee of the courtship.
I was just thinking that there couldn’t be an 80s sitcom show that hadn’t been shown in Germany, when I got thrown by the title change once you referenced the content. This and Beauty and the Beast where THE SHOWS THAT MUST BE TAPED AND WATCHED, even when I went to the UK for 8 months as an au pair, so I forced my parents to tape them.
In Germany it was called The female agent with heart ^^ – oh and Hart to Hard was called hard but cordial (which works better in German: Hart aber herzlich)
I don’t remember this show. However I did watch and absolutely adore Hart To Hart. To me, the love that was obvious between those two characters is what I want in a marriage, if I ever found a guy desperate enough to want me.
Plus they had a dog and that’s just awesome. Dogs rule.
I just adore Scarecrow and Mrs. King and I desperately hope that they release the other 3 seasons on DVD too. The love they had and how they waited until they were married (at least that is how it seemed on the show, in my head was a different story) were perfect.
I am very late to the party, but I can’t believe no one has brought up one the most important parts of Beauty and the Beast… Catherine’s clothing and apartment! Good lord, I loved that show. So much that my older brother bought me the first VHS tape of the show when it was released, a long time ago. He’s too good for me. But I’m serious about Catherine’s clothing, I would still pay a serious amount of money for the maroon coat she wears in the pilot and opening credits. And I would argue that the design for the Vincent’s underground world is probably one of the first depictions of what would become Steampunk. As for the romance, Vincent and Catherine just did it for me. I’ve rewatched episodes and they still hold up. And it seems like Ron Perlman never ages. How is that? I have never had such a strong reaction to a romantic series since this one. I would enjoy them, but not love them with the same BatB passion.
Most of the other romantic shows I would watch for a season or two and then the “will they or won’t they” thing just bored me silly and I would drop them. I don’t think sustaining the tension works. What’s more I hate it when characters who have worked together for years suddenly develop tension. For instance on L&O SVU, when Benson suddenly developed the hots for Stabler, when for years I never got that kind of vibe out of her. Do not make a character do something that goes against all of their character development. (LKH are you paying attention?)
And on a side note, I’ve been surprised for years that no studio has done either a movie or tv remake of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. It seems to me it would be a no-brainer, but what do I know? The original movie is just about as perfect as you can get.
And I would argue that the design for the Vincent’s underground world is probably one of the first depictions of what would become Steampunk.
Why does everyone forget The Wild Wild West? Sixties, long before any of these series, and it was the first television steampunk.
Not romantic in any sense of the term, but definitely steampunk.
I always loved the way Francine dressed on S&MK;. I had a cloak that I bought as I thought was very Francine Desmond-ish.