What Happens When Shows ‘Ship The Wrong Couples?

It seems that no matter if a show is a comedy or a drama, crime procedural or wacky sitcom, viewers inevitably gravitate toward a couple they want to see together. But what happens when the show itself puts two people together who don’t really click? Can the pairing grow on us, or is the show doomed to failure if the core couple doesn’t spark?

Cupid – The whole premise of this show was matchmaking, with Trevor and Claire at the center. For the first couple of episodes, I couldn’t see any romantic potential between them. Mostly, Claire just seemed irritated by Trevor and Trevor seemed more interested in making his 100 matches than pursuing Claire. Eventually, though, the relationship started to progress. Claire softened toward Claire a little, Trevor’s focus widened to include Claire. By the end of the series’ short run, I could see the beginnings of a good, two or three season long run of building toward them being together. Too bad ABC nipped that in the bud.

Royal Pains – In the series premiere we were presented with Jill, on paper the perfect match for Hank. Too bad they don’t have any chemistry. I’m hoping this is another case where the pairing will grow on me, but so far they’ve had a “meet cute”, bantered, helped each other out, had a fight, made up, and shared a dinner in a romantic setting, all with zero sexual tension. They’re good-looking people with shared interests, but sometimes the spark just isn’t there. I’m more interested in the potential with Hank’s fiery assistant, Divya. They’ve had very little screen time together thus far, but seem to have better chemistry than Jill/Hank. Did Royal Pains pick the wrong couple to ‘ship?

Killer Hair – Speaking of no chemistry, how about Lacey and Vic in the Lifetime Movie Network adaptation of Killer Hair? As I said in my review, Vic does have the unfortunate obstacle of little character development in the book series on which the movie is based, so this is a ‘ship that hits an iceberg across two media. Lacey and Tony, now there’s a sizzler! Will the movie series follow the books and force Lacey to stay with Vic? Or will it break away and give Tony a chance?

True Blood – Here’s another show based on a book series which complicates matters. Sookie and Bill are currently the show’s core couple, and boy do they have chemistry! Real-life couple Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer bring the heat on the series, but those who have read the books know that the relationship doesn’t last. If the series follows the books, we should expect to see Eric and Sookie heat up soon, with a couple of other boyfriends in the mix. Will Sookie/Eric have sparks equal to Sookie/Bill? Or will it feel forced like the Sookie/Sam pairing the show toyed with in season 1?

Can you think of any other current pairings that don’t feel right? How about in past shows? I’ll confess, the Ross/Rachel thing on Friends never seemed that profound to me, but I did think Claude and Kipp would be a spicy pairing on Less Than Perfect.