As 2023 comes to an end and we reflect on the past year in television, we’ve realized something: we don’t like not getting our way. For that very reason, we’ve decided to compile a list of the couples we really wanted this year, even if the TV gods decided to keep them apart.
And let’s be clear, we’re defining a “couple” as two people who have agreed to define their relationship as such. Some of the duos on our list have kissed, and some have done considerably more than that, but they failed to make it official. DTR-ing is very important here, people.
And while we’re confident that some of these shows will eventually give us the couplings we want, our list also includes a few characters whose shows won’t be resuming in the new year, leaving us to wonder what could have been. Consider us haunted for life.
Read on for a breakdown of 12 TV we couples we wanted (but sadly didn’t get) in 2023, then drop a comment with your own additions to the list. Which pairs from your favorite shows are you hoping will finally get serious in 2024?
The elementary teachers are made for each other, and their failed relationships with other people in Season 2 only further confirmed that there’s something truly special about Janine and Gregory’s bond. And honestly, we don’t know how Janine didn’t just dissolve into a puddle when Gregory told her, “I take all of your recommendations seriously. I want to know why you like stuff.” Swoon!
Just when the Payne Motors exec decided to throw caution to the wind and agree to a real date with the co-worker for whom she was obviously made (and vice-versa), NBC threw cold water on the would-be couple as well as our hopes for them in the form of a cancellation notice.
We were sure that Joe’s slow realization of the significant past connection – not to mention, the palpable chemistry – he and Georgia share would finally inch the pair towards each other in Season 2. Alas, she married someone else, but we’ve got our eye on the long game when it comes to these two.
‘Shippers have wanted Capt. Benson and Det. Stabler together for literal decades, and it seemed like maybe the show’s writers were on board this year. But despite some heavy flirting and heavier conversations about their feelings, we were left having to “Liv. Laugh. Love.” our way on to the next season.
Since their very first appearance in the series premiere’s 1959 flashback — which hinted at Bill having ended up with the “right woman,” Keiko, that Lee didn’t — we have wondered, “Wait, what all transpired with this triangle of adventurers…?” Add in everything that happens in Episode 6 (streaming Dec. 15 on Apple TV+) and, well, our interest grew Titan-ic!
Blame it on final season-induced nostalgia if you want, but we were rooting for George and Nick to get back together before Nancy Drew came to a close. Don’t get us wrong, their respective new partners suit them in unique ways, but we were invested in this couple prior to their breakup. Remember when they almost got married?!
Sure, Sex Education’s will-they-won’t-they it couple may have kissed and even had sex, but the series took far too long to get them together(-ish), before sending Maeve off to the States for school. By the time she returned, the couple’s moment seemed to have passed and in the end, they parted ways for good without ever experiencing the waves of a real relationship.
The sizzling chemistry between the Vulcan science officer and the human nurse is absolutely out of this world, and it only got hotter in Season 2, with Spock gallantly using CPR when Chapel was barely clinging to life in the premiere. They even gave into their feelings after Spock was temporarily turned into a human — and shared a kiss! — but alas, Chapel’s decision to leave the Enterprise to take a prestigious fellowship meant that our dreams were dashed for now. Sigh.
We knew these two were never destined for a traditional romance, something that didn’t really exist on HBO’s corporate drama. But we at least hoped they’d find their way back to the delightfully twisted, sorta-weird-sorta-hot situationship they developed in the show’s first three seasons, which could have softened the blow of Roman’s emotional implosion in Season 4. Alas, Roman was left to drink that series finale martini alone.
The increasingly profound bond between AFC Richmond’s former foes was both a complete surprise and such an appealing plot development that we can’t believe we didn’t ‘ship these two from the start. With all due respect to Roy and Keeley’s ill-fated fling, we found ourselves more invested in Roy and Jamie going the beyond-platonic route, after a season of meaningful interactions — Uncle’s Day is our Roman Empire — that only scratched the surface of what these guys have come to mean to each other. But the finale went a different way, instead pitting Roy and Jamie against each other (?) in a fistfight for Keeley’s love (?!) and then asking her to choose between them (?!?). Well, we’ll always have Amsterdam.
Maybe it’s for the best that the fifth Walking Dead spinoff didn’t capitalize on the chemistry that we all some of us saw developing between young Laurent’s de-facto parent figures. Viewers didn’t seem to agree that Norman Reedus and Clémence Poésy’s characters felt more for one another than mere friendship.
Redemption for the loyal high school best friend who stood by while Kat fell for and married the wrong guy! When Kat returned home after her divorce, her former bestie-turned-adorably handsome teacher Elliot was not only there for her, but also provided guidance, in the present and past, when her teenage daughter discovered a time-traveling pond. That’s what we call a good guy. Plus, that first kiss? Fire! Sadly, the complications of time travel led Elliot to decide he needs to forge his own path forward.
Mostly agree. But I was more invested in Otis and Ruby than Otis and Maeve.
We’ll always have Amsterdam, indeed.
Buck and Eddie on 9-1-1. Such a waste!
Travis and Emmett on Station 19
Levi and Adam’s on Greys anatomy. I mean why bring on NikoTerho when the actors had such great chemistry in The Trouble With Harry
A big no to Benson & Stabler!!! They have no romantic chemistry. They’re so much better as friends!!! I really hope they don’t continue to go down that road.
I agree wholeheartedly! They are so much better suited as friends!!
We really wanted DJ AND MATT on fuller house but instead we got DJ and Steve hale man NOBODY wanted that!! Well maybe a few others wanted it maybe BUT NOT ME I ALSO ALWAYS WANTED MATT AND DJ TO BE THE TOGETHER
I never watched Fuller House so I have no dog in this fight but this list is about couples people wanted together on shows airing/first streaming in 2023, Fuller House ended in 2020 so it was never going to be on this list.
What about Crowley and Aziraphale from Good Omens? Or are you thinking we have them as a couple and they’re simply separated? Bc Aziraphale has yet to make his feelings known verbally and that has enormous, deep meaning to his partner. Or so I would imagine.
Sometimes it feels like I’ll be waiting another 25 years for Benson and Stabler 🤪
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I loved Roy and Keeley and hated how they destroyed their relationship…AND I ultimately would have loved Roy and Jamie together. It was easy to get on board with their dynamic. The finale “triangle” was super bizarre – it seemed to come out of nowhere, and the Keeley/Jamie dynamic lacked tension and credibility. Makes me wonder if there were last-minute changes behind-the-scenes regarding that story.
Glad to see the mention of Nick and George on Nancy Drew – it was such a shame that after everything they went through they didn’t end up together on the show
I never quite understood why they broke up in the first place.
Yeah, I’m rewatching S3 now and the breakup feels so out of left field. They had some bumps, but they always came back and talked them out. I’m forever going to believe they get back together one day.
Strange New Worlds is a prequel to the original Star Trek, so they can’t actually put Spock and Chapel together as it would break canon
Split the timeline!
Fire photon torpedoes onto the canon!
They would have been so great together …
I really like this answer. Let’s have a timeline where they get together.
SNW – they did waaay more than just kiss, clearly!!
That whole cast is terrific.
I fell away from Ted Lasso, but did they suddenly make Roy & Jamie gay, or is this just another 911 “we demand these straight characters be a couple” situation?
Roy and Jamie formed a nice friendship/bond, but apparently that means lovers. Meanwhile, the idea of Ted and Rebecca having a romantic connection is scoffed at because men and women can be platonic! Yes, and so can two men and two women, friendships exist across all spectrums.
What about 911‘s Evan Buckley and Eddie Diaz?
So happy Olivia and Elliott aren’t together they are better as friends and hope the creators realize this and stop with this don’t ruin a good franchise by having to put the leads together not every show have to do that it’s one of the reasons I love the franchise
some Star Trek fan has been thinking “what if Spock and Chapel kissed??” since 1966 and I hope it brought them nothing but joy (even if they did break up in a musical dance number not long after that)
Roy and Keeley didn’t have a “fling”. They were in a full blown relationship. The blatant disrespect is astounding.
As much as Bensler intrigues me and I wouldn’t be mad if they got together, “Liv, Laugh, Love” lives rent free in my head and not in a good way.
Daryl is the most asexual person ever written on basic cable. Can we just let this poor man be?!!
Gerri and Roman? No. Just no. And not because of their age or anything like that. Roman is just way too dysfunctional to be with someone as cool as Gerri.
This article coming right after the Good Omens renewal confirmation and then not including Azi & Crowley 😭
I really want Sex Education Maeve and Otis to be together. Hope it happens.
American Auto needed to be renewed. NBC messed up there.
Ted and Rebecca are the Ted Lasso characters that should have been together or at least Roy and Keeley working it out. Hollow ending to the show, empty without connection between the characters.
I liked Kat and Elliot together, wish there’s a way for them to end up together in some timeline.
Strange New Worlds they did get together but it didn’t work out and then when she decided to leave the Enterprise the was the final nail.
James Kirk and La’an were the ones I wanted to be a couple from that show.
She needed to leave in order to meet and get engaged to Dr. Roger Korby. Hated Chapel in TOS, but she positively ROCKS in SNW. Hope she’s back soon!