By JM Stephens and Rosalyn Oshmyansky
8:39am PDT, Jul 5, 2017
Is there anything better than summer TV?! As the temps continue to rise and we look for an escape, we can't help but get nostalgic about our favorite TV show romances. In honor of Fred Savage's 41st birthday on July 9, 2017, Wonderwall.com is bringing you 36 of our favorite TV couples of all time… starting with Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper from "The Wonder Years." The two young lovebirds captured audiences' hearts as they navigated their early teen years, changed schools and made new friends. But Kevin (played by Fred) and Winnie (played by Danica McKellar) always made their relationship a priority. Kevin simply adored Winnie, which was illustrated perfectly in the penultimate episode. "Once upon a time, there was a girl I knew who lived across the street, brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled, when she cried, I cried," goes the voiceover at the end of the show. While fans were disappointed that Kevin and Winnie didn't end up together, the five years' worth of love the TV teens shared were unforgettable. Keep reading to see more couples who've made us believe in love!
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Cookie and Lucious have gone through it all! After dealing drugs together, Cookie was sentenced to 30 years in prison and Lucious divorced her only to become a music mogul. But they couldn't stay away from each other and rekindled their romance. "I've been with a whole lot of women, Cookie, but I was always looking for you in them," Lucious admitted.
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"We were on a break!" is arguably the most famous line from "Friends." Ross Geller, played by David Schwimmer, and Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, were a great TV couple because we all saw that they should've been together even when they didn't. A marriage, a divorce, a baby and a reconciliation seemed to work so perfectly for them because "he's her lobster!"
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It was one of the most important TV relationships of the early aughts! Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mr. Big's romance on "Sex and the City" was sometimes tumultuous and sometimes perfect, but it was always entertaining. No matter how many men Bradshaw dated — Berger, really? — Big was always waiting in his limo downstairs! Chris Noth's character might have broken our hearts often, but eventually, he got Carrie'd away.
Ellen Pompeo and Parick Dempsey's Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd are the relationship that launched "Grey's Anatomy." Issue after issue plagued this couple — Addison Shepherd, anyone? — but through it all, McDreamy always seemed to be the one for Dr. Grey. Has there ever been an end to a relationship as dramatic and tear-inducing as theirs?
Vampire meets girl, girl falls for vampire, vampire loses soul. No romance captured the angst of teenage years and the wildness of the supernatural quite like Buffy and Angel. The relationship between the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" characters played by Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz was one of the greats of the late '90s and we will always love them. What's a 200-year age difference anyway?
Don't we all remember our first real love? Corey Matthews and Topanga Lawrence from "Boy Meets World" showed us what it was like to be in love with the friend you sat behind in class every day. No matter how often Minkus tried to block him, Corey never gave up! Still played by Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel, Corey and Topanaga went on to raise their daughter together on the recent show "Girl Meets World."
Could they BE any cuter? Monica Geller, played by Courteney Cox, and Chandler Bing, played by Matthew Perry, never seemed like a good match — until they did! Monica's neurotic charm and Chandler's humor-as-a-defense-mechanism worked so well on "Friends" — and who could ever forget when Monica proposed to Chandler during Must See TV?!
Did any couple give us the feels quite like Uncle Jesse and Aunt Becky Katsopolis? No matter how many kids were around or how many lessons needed to be taught, John Stamos and Lori Loughlin played the parts that always reminded us that love isn't a lie! And now that they're back with "Fuller House," we know that we can Netflix and chill for years.
President Fitzgerald Grant, played by Tony Goldwyn, and D.C. fixer Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, have been playing the will-they-or-won't-they game for a while now on "Scandal." Every time it seems like things are looking very house-in-Vermont, something big always happens. That's the beauty of a Shonda Rhimes show: We are always holding out hope.
Jerry Seinfeld played a character with his own name and Julia Louis-Dreyfus played Elaine Benes on "Seinfeld." On the groundbreaking comedy, the characters were old exes who became best friends. When "Seinfeld" came to an end and they were on a plane that was crashing, Elaine said to Jerry, "I've always loved…" but the plane steadied before she finished her sentence. She later tells Jerry that she was going to tell him that she always loved United Airlines. But we all knew her real confession was that she'd always loved him!
"She's the lady in red when everybody else is wearing tan!" Fran Drescher played everyone's favorite childcare professional, Fran Fine, on "The Nanny." Played by Charles Shaughnessy, Maxwell Sheffield was always blaming Fran for causing chaos in his house, but he eventually fell in love with her and her bold personality. Plus she was always there for his three kids — Maggie, Brighton and Grace. At the show's end, Fran and Max turned their family into a party of seven when they welcomed twins.
The titular couple on "Mike & Molly" had the kind of bond that's unbreakable. Through all the family drama, personal issues and work dilemmas, they soared above and always came back stronger than before. Although the show ended in large part because Melissa McCarthy became a major movie star, we will always have a special place in our hearts for Billy Gardell as Mike and Melissa as Molly.
The combination of Sarah Drew as April Kepner and Jesse Williams as Jackson Avery on "Grey's Anatomy" is pure fire. The two make one of the hottest couples on television! But like any relationship, they've had their share of ups and downs. On the show, April and Jackson are currently divorced, but we have a feeling their new baby will bring them back together again!
One of the most important gay couples on TV has to be Mitch Pritchett, played by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Cam Tucker, played by Eric Stonestreet, on "Modern Family." Whether it's Mitch's Type-A lawyer dramatics or Cam's Broadway-loving football coach antics causing problems, the sweet, humor-filled side of their relationship always shines through, and we love them for it!
These two are the DEFINITION of #relationshipgoals. No matter how many times Homer Simpson messes up, his wife Marge is always there for her man. And a marriage of 20-plus years is always a big deal, even on an animated TV comedy like "The Simpsons." We don't know how we would handle it if these two every stopped loving each other!
"I Dream of Jeannie" was one of the first true fantasy romances on American television. Major Tony Nelson, played by Larry Hagman, stumbled upon his "Jeannie" in a bottle, played by Barbara Eden, and through all of their hijinx and mishaps, they couldn't help but fall in love!
"Love and marriage/Love and marriage/Go together like a horse and carriage/This I tell you brother/You can't have one without the other…" If you can't get this song out of your head when you look at Katey Sagal and Ed O'Neill together, you're not alone. Katey and Ed played Peggy and Al Bundy on "Married… With Children" for 11 seasons and thanks to their epic performances, their on-screen alter egos have endured as one of the most hilarious and infuriating TV couples of all time.
"Cheers" characters Diane Chambers, played by Shelley Long, and Sam Malone, played by Ted Danson, could not have made less sense on paper. She was the prim and put-together working girl and he was the bar-owning ladies' man. Somehow, their obvious mismatch worked, and the tension was palpable, showing us that underneath all that bickering, real love existed.
Poor Niles Crane, played by David Pierce, was always SO in love with Daphne Moon, played by Jane Leeves, that it made us cringe, but we secretly rooted for them to end up together! Everyone else seemed to see his infatuation for what it was — except for Daphne herself. Very few TV love stories gave us as much pleasure as this one did when these two ended up together on Season 7 of "Frasier."
On "Roseanne," Roseanne Barr played the title character, and John Goodman played her on-screen husband, Dan Conner. This blue-collar couple changed the way husbands and wives were viewed on TV, thanks to their not-always-perfect marriage. Life was not easy for the Conner family, but Roseanne and Dan constantly reminded us that real love took work — and humor — to survive.
Zack Morris, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and Kelly Kapowski, played by Tiffani Thiessen, had one of the best TV relationships of the early '90s! From the beginning of their romance to the big prom-night breakup, we always wanted these "Saved By the Bell" characters to end up together! They did — after that quickie Vegas wedding — but we will always remember them as the epitome of the high school relationship.
While we would NEVER blame Elena Gilbert for picking Stefan Salvatore, played by Paul Wesley (left), there was always so much more chemistry and heat between Elena and Damon Salvatore (right). Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder's real-life relationship added an edge to their will-they-won't-they dynamic that always had us craving more! She may have left "The Vampire Diaries" after its sixth season, but we will always ship #Delena.
Mike Ross, played by Patrick J. Adams, and Rachel Zane, played by Meghan Markle, fell in love with the law — and each other — on "Suits." Rachel knew that Mike did not actually go to law school or pass the bar, but she loved him anyway. Even when Mike was sent to jail, Rachel never gave up on him. We can't wait to see them legally tie the knot!
Ted Mosby may have married and had kids with the girl with the yellow umbrella, Tracy McConnell, on "How I Met Your Mother," but he's always loved Robin Scherbatsky. Ted, played by Josh Radnor, and Robin, played by Cobie Smulders, end up together in the sitcom's controversial finale — and we couldn't have been happier about it. In the final scene, Ted stands outside her place and holds a blue French horn while he waits for Robin to come down and meet him, and it's an incredibly sweet moment that brings back the memory of how Ted had stolen it from a restaurant for her years earlier.
When OB/GYNs Mindy Lahiri and Danny Castellano broke up on "The Mindy Project," our hearts also broke. Danny, played by Chris Messina, fell in love with fellow doctor Mindy, played by Mindy Kaling, and made us all want to act on our office crushes. The two now have a baby named Leo, and we're hoping they can rekindle the flame!
Tony Danza played the lovable housekeeper of our dreams, Tony Micelli, on "Who's the Boss?" Advertising executive Angela Bower, played by Judith Light, couldn't resist Tony's charm and good looks. Tony was the laid-back opposite that high-strung Angela needed. Together, they just clicked and were able to raise Tony's daughter Samantha and Angela's son Jonathan as a family.
"So next time you forget you're Blair Waldorf, remember I'm Chuck Bass, and I love you," "Gossip Girl" star Ed Westwick says to Leighton Meester in character as Chuck and Blair, AKA Chair. Although they often manipulated one another, they were also actually very much in love. The complicated couple finally managed to make it work in the end, marrying and welcoming a son, Henry Bass.
On "Betwitched," Samantha Stephens, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, was the witch who marries mortal Darrin Stephens, played by Dick Sargent. The unconventional romance worked out well after they agreed she'd never use her powers, except in emergencies. Now that's compromise!
Rachel Bilson and Adam Brody got so into character on the set of "The O.C." that they started dating each other in real life! Rachel played Summer Roberts, and Adam played Seth Cohen, characters whose high school romance gave us unrealistic expectations. "It's always been you, Summer. It's always been you. I've tried to fight it, and I've tried to deny it. And I can't. I can't do it. You're undeniable," Seth told Summer during Season 1. Swoon!
Claire Danes and Jared Leto look like babies here as Angela Chase and Jordan Catalano on "My So Called Life." Although their characters only dated for one actual episode on the cult-hit series, there were many moments of teen angst that proved their true love for one another. And let's not forget that when the show ended, Angela chose Jordan. Jordan gave her a love letter that wasn't even written by him, but she still wanted him back.
"Lucy, I'm home!" That's the way we want to be greeted after watching Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz star as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo on "I Love Lucy." Lucy and Desi married, had two children and divorced in real life. But when they were together on-screen, they showed us a marriage filled with laughter.
Who would have thought that the stars who played Michael Kelso and Jackie Burkhart would end up married with a daughter named Wyatt and one more on the way? Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis may have played the roles of a couple in love for laughs on "That '70s Show," but they later proved that their chemistry was no joke.
Donna Martin, played by Tori Spelling, and David Silver, played by Brian Austin Green, made us all want to move to "Beverly Hills, 90210" to find a high school sweetheart. Donna and David had their share of drama but endured it all and even ended up getting married. David's wedding vows are still memorable. He said to Donna, "When was it that we fell in love, when we were 18 or 16, maybe 10? I don't know 'cause the truth is I can't picture a time that I wasn't in love with you."
After 23 years, nine seasons of TV, and two movies, "The X-Files" agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully still have us rooting for them to be together. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson made their characters' unconventional love look so believable that rumors began swirling that they were having an off-set romance too (those were denied). Speaking to the New York Post in January 2016, David explained, "There was the dynamic that had been written for us and the one between us. The writers were smart to keep [the characters'] relationship fluctuating. But the foundation is that they care about each other so much. They're the love of each other's life."
