Falling in love one episode at a time

September 19, 2023 7:11 PM

Point me to tv shows with good love stories, especially those that build up organically over time/episodes.

Some examples of what I’m talking about are how Joey and Pacey on Dawson’s Creek moved from enemies to friends to lovers over three seasons. Jim and Pam pining for eachother while going on with other relationships on The Office, Peter and Olivia’s growing fondness on Fringe, Johann and Jonas on Home for Christmas (the Norwegian Netflix show). I’m open on the genre and language of show, but generally don’t like procedurals (i.e. Law and Order).

posted by Bunglegirl to Media & Arts (41 answers total)

Veronica and Logan on "Veronica Mars"
posted by virve at 7:15 PM on September 19, 2023 [6 favorites]

Schitt's Creek!! it's a slow start but David's arc is pretty amazing. If you haven't seen it I don't want to spoil the love story to you because it's just....so wonderful.
posted by ruhroh at 7:26 PM on September 19, 2023 [32 favorites]

Mulder and Scully fall in love over the course of 11 seasons. There is a list of episode that track the arc of their love if you don't want to go through the rest.

I want to believe.... in love!
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 7:58 PM on September 19, 2023 [5 favorites]

I know this show gets brought up in every TV recommendation ask, but The Good Place. The story of Eleanor and Chidi is one for the ages. I wish I could tell you more.
posted by ejs at 8:01 PM on September 19, 2023 [30 favorites]

Money Heist has a couple of good love stories that might fit. It's in Spanish, on Netflix, and (of course) it's a heist story.
posted by hovey at 8:03 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

K-dramas! So many K-Dramas! Crash Landing On You, Hometown Cha-cha-cha, Love to Hate You are all some that come to mind and also have elements of enemies to lovers. I believe they’re all on Netflix.
posted by buttonedup at 8:03 PM on September 19, 2023 [10 favorites]

Charlie and Zoey on The West Wing
posted by knile at 8:06 PM on September 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

Fleabag Season 2. Just the one short season, but oh my heart.

Also, Leslie and Ben on Parks & Rec, it’s very sweet.

+1 for Schitt’s Creek and The Good Place.
posted by mochapickle at 8:13 PM on September 19, 2023 [11 favorites]

It’s not a long arc, but you can’t do better than The Last of Us, S1 E3.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 8:17 PM on September 19, 2023 [11 favorites]

Peabody award nominee Our Flag Means Death features beautiful queer romances that develop organically as the episodes progress. Catch up now! The second season premieres on October 5th.

(A personal note: The first time I watched it I enjoyed it but I wasn't blown away. When I watched it a second time it completely rewired my brain. I'm a 49-year-old woman and I'm devouring fanfic in my spare time like it's my job.)
posted by jesourie at 8:46 PM on September 19, 2023 [12 favorites]

I'm a megafan of Starstruck (on HBO in the US). The one catch is that 2 of 3 seasons have already aired (in the US) and the 3rd is starting up any minute now...so I don't know how it ends yet.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:39 PM on September 19, 2023 [3 favorites]

Love Between Fairy And Devil (Chinese fantasy series). A ditzy flower spirit stumbles into the prison of ancient evil and they don't fall in love at first sight, but shenanigans keep them together for thirty episodes and finally they do. I did not expect to cry while watching a silly overwrought CGI fairytale.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 9:46 PM on September 19, 2023

I think Lucifer (on Netflix, I believe) does this. While Lucifer is attracted to/puts the moves on Chloe from the beginning, it's just a thing he does because he is the devil after all. She is certainly not impressed with him! But things grow and change over time and there are some really quite moving bits. Also other relationships and kinds of love besides the main characters.

Dead to Me is not romantic love but wow is it one hell of a love story. Also hilarious in a very dark way.
posted by Athanassiel at 1:04 AM on September 20, 2023 [5 favorites]

It seems like most of the canon sitcoms have something that would work for this, but standouts in my mind are Schitt's Creek, Gilmore Girls (Lorelai and Luke, not whatever Rory was doing), and New Girl.
posted by matrixclown at 1:16 AM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Haven has a couple that goes from coworkers, to friends, to epic love over the course of seasons.
posted by champers at 2:43 AM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Heartstopper is the cutest, most wholesome teen gay love story.

Korean shows indeed do great romance. Seconding Crash Landing on You and Hometown Cha Cha Cha. I also really enjoyed Business Proposal and Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Love Between Fairy and Devil is also great.

These might be too explicitly romantic and not slow enough but Outlander, A Discovery of Witches and Bridgerton.

These are procedurals but Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and Lucifer (+1) had a lot to slowly swoon over.
posted by carolr at 2:45 AM on September 20, 2023 [4 favorites]

Deadwood has several.
posted by dobbs at 2:58 AM on September 20, 2023

Two words: Battlestar Galactica.
posted by happyfrog at 3:07 AM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Extraordinary Attorney Woo
posted by belladonna at 3:49 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

New Girl has the best first kiss I’ve ever seen, after of course Our Flag Means Death.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 4:32 AM on September 20, 2023

Buffy (with Spike, sort of) but I feel like that’s kind of a spoiler if you haven’t seen it.
posted by greta simone at 4:44 AM on September 20, 2023

Never Have I Ever is a fun romp over high school…it’s teen so there is both slow build and teens figuring out the miasma of relationships
posted by childofTethys at 4:45 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Never Have I Ever. I won't spoil it, but it fits your love story over a long arc of time requirement. The main characters are high school students. I, a 50-something woman, thought I'd check out one episode based on Mindy Kaling's involvement. It wasn't what I expected at all, and I watched all the seasons, bingeing some of it. It made my Gen X punk husband cry. It's a deeply funny show about grief, with some extremely well written characters.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 4:45 AM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Jinx!
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 4:46 AM on September 20, 2023

Veronica and Logan on "Veronica Mars"

Seconding this, but I would only watch the first 3 seasons + the movie. I would avoid the 4th season that came out years after the first 3 seasons. Though honestly, the first two seasons are really the highlight of the show and of the Veronica/Logan arc. But it really is great, the way the characters develop, the chemistry.

I have some reservations about recommending this, but I did get pretty absorbed in the Chuck/Blair relationship in Gossip Girl.
posted by litera scripta manet at 5:36 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Bones and Booth on TV show Bones
posted by Pineapplicious at 7:25 AM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

I love Randy and Lahey’s relationship in Trailer Park Boys.
posted by wheatlets at 7:28 AM on September 20, 2023

Older, but Northern Exposure has a good long burn build-up over a few seasons between Joel and Maggie.
posted by veery at 9:05 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Aeryn Sun and John Crichton on Farscape. One of the few television 'ships I have truly cared about.
posted by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 9:19 AM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Nthing recommendations for The Good Place, Schitt's Creek, and Never Have I Ever. Especially the last one, because it tells its love stories in a completely non-traditional way. I think TGP and SC, brilliant as they are, could fit their love stories into some kind of epic romance novel, if you somehow isolated just those plot threads. But you just can't do that to NHIE. This show tracks closely the twisty turny road of growth that ALL of the characters traverse over the course of the show. Not one of them is a in this story to fall in love, they each are just... kids, high school kids, being exactly who they are, having embarrassing crushes as part of their journey of becoming adults, primarily. In many ways, the love stories on Never Have I Ever are just life stories.
posted by MiraK at 9:36 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Chuck has a great cast. He soon falls for his CIA handler, but it takes a while for her to come on board. There are several really healthy relationships that develop over the series, including his sister and her fiance. I love that show. (On Prime)
posted by Enid Lareg at 10:10 AM on September 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: How could I forget Logan and Veronica! That should have been one of my examples. Love these suggestions—I’ve seen a lot of them (Never Have I Ever, Veronica Mars, Fleabag, Starstruck, Gilmore Girls, Heartstopper, Mis Fisher, Outlander, Bridgerton, Discovery of Witches, Buffy) and some of them either a long time ago or didn’t finish and might be worth a rewatch (X-Files, Bones, Schitt’s Creek, West Wing, Parks & Rec, New Girl, Battlestar Galactica, Chuck).
posted by Bunglegirl at 10:35 AM on September 20, 2023

It was mentioned a couple times but possibly it could be mentioned again and louder

OUR
FLAG
MEANS
DEATH
posted by FatherDagon at 10:51 AM on September 20, 2023 [6 favorites]

"The Americans" is the most profound show about marriage on television (article contains some mild spoilers about the show's premise)
posted by paper scissors sock at 11:39 AM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

We just finished The Leftovers and my husband was EXTREMELY INVESTED in what would happen between Kevin Garvey and Nora Durst, and he is not the type to be that way at all. So The Leftovers (also the show was excellent).
posted by jabes at 12:11 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

“Love” on Netflix. They slowly legitimately get to know each other. It’s adorable.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:15 PM on September 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Hardison and Parker on Leverage take multiple seasons to work gradually into a romantic relationship, because the show properly respects that anything else would make no sense for their characters.
posted by Dorothea Ladislaw at 6:51 PM on September 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries had me shouting “JUST KISS ALREADY”
posted by Isingthebodyelectric at 10:00 AM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

You might want to wait until Christmas time to watch it, but Dash & Lily on Netflix is a fun story about two people falling in love with each other, the season, and New York City, all at the same time.
posted by Inkoate at 4:54 PM on September 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

It may be a different sort of path than you're thinking, but I find the arc of Gavin & Stacey in the UK series Gavin and Stacey to be such a satisfying story.
posted by knile at 5:53 AM on September 22, 2023 [1 favorite]

It's not particularly long (one series of eight episodes) but it is an absolutely delightful, organic love story - Colin from Accounts.
posted by goo at 4:35 AM on September 24, 2023 [1 favorite]