The Romantic Rant

Despite what the headline says I’m not against romance. And with Valentine’s Day fast approaching, its not an Anti-Valentine’s day rant. Nope. It a rant against romance in sitcoms! I hate romance on sitcom and I’m sure you are asking yourself what would a sitcom be without a good romance or two? And its not the romance in itself but how the sitcoms handle it. In my opinion not very well or realistic. (Yeah I know using the word “realistic” when discussing TV is unwise).

In the beginning is was all well and good. Lucy and Desi or Burns and Allen were great. I’m thinking this silly sitcom disconnect started around 1985 with Moonlighting with Cybil Sheppard and Bruce Willis (probably the last time he had hair) hit the tube with a cute little mystery sitcom. It was a great program and took American television by storm. They keep us on the edge of our seats week after week mainly trying to figure out whether they would hook up or not. Every since then it seems like every other sitcom uses this device of NOT having the romantic couple to get together. Think about it…Ross and Rachel took forever to finally get their act together. I’ll challenge you to find one romantic sitcom where the couple got together within 4 episodes. Can’t find one can you?

In real life that would be soooo unrealistic. If it took that long to hook up with the object of your affection, it would drive you to frustration. The only good thing would that the birth rate would drop. Why we continue to let the networks lead us around by the nose using this device is beyond me so we still torture ourselves wonder “will they or won’t they”! Please stop, I beg you.

Of my favorite programs, Chuck, Burn Notice or Leverage, they all have the same problem. These couples just can’t seem to get it together. All of these seemingly intelligent people have no romantic skills whatsoever and the network want us to believe this is real life. Bull. Chuck and Sarah should hookup and become kickass spies! Or Michael and Fiona can spend more time blowing stuff up if they didn’t have the romance barrier in front of them…although I’d tread carefully around Fiona since she is so good with explosives and large guns. And don’t get me started on Sophie and Nate of Leverage. Watching them fence week after week makes me want to tear my eyeballs out. All the guys need to grow a set or the women need to move on. Frankly I lose interest after a few weeks and it becomes as annoying as watching commercials…both are unavoidable.

I realize however, that the nature of television being what it is, they will use any device to keep us glued to the TV set week after week. I just wish they would try a different approach. It sometimes painful watching seemly intelligent men fumble their way around equally clueless women. Stop it, I say. Just stop it!