It must be true love - A deep(ish) dive into sitcom relationships

Quite excited for this one, hope you enjoy it. This time, as the title suggests, I’m focusing on sitcom romances, which is something that I’ve touched on in other posts but haven’t dedicated a whole post to  it before.

As I’m sure most people probably know by now, my all-time favourite couple is Jake and Amy (Brooklyn 99) for many reasons (mainly Jake’s incredible sweetness, support and love for her) so I’ll mainly be talking about other couples for this post.

I’ve always been quite interested in what makes certain sitcom ships so popular and beloved. This is especially interesting to consider with how differently shows tend to present their romances now because of how (for the most part) tastes and an understanding of what’s inappropriate and what's actually romantic and respectful and what isn’t have changed and developed, at least somewhat.

For instance, Rachel and Ross from Friends were considered one of the most iconic sitcom will they/won’t they couples for a long time but, recently, many more people have started to realise and discuss the toxicity in their relationship. I, for one, am quite glad about this (and the widespread love for Mondler as, despite not being perfect, they have a far superior relationship) as while I enjoyed the show when I watched it for the first time as a teen, it can’t be denied that Ross was not a good or supportive boyfriend as he frequently looked down on Rachel’s career and interests. In fact, it even arguably ruined their apparent ‘romantic happy ending’ of Rachel getting off the plane and getting back together with Ross instead of going to Paris for her dream job as she deserved that fulfilment and happiness. Also, she shouldn’t have to give up a huge opportunity like that for them to be together and he’d never really supported her career aspirations so it’s more than a little disappointing.

This kind of story is sadly all too common amongst straight relationships in sitcoms and romcoms alike. That is, the female character either giving up a work opportunity after being convinced that it's 'better' to prioritise love and/or having kids (typically with an unsupportive jerk and even if the woman doesn't want kids) or just generally going along with what the male lead wants to give him his happy ending regardless of what actually works as a satisfying ending for her or what she might have wanted. Some examples of this include The Big Bang Theory, How I Met your Mother and The Mindy Project (which has such an alarming, horribly abusive relationship as the main couple. It’s unreal that they ended up together and that we were expected to root for them with how terribly Danny treated her, it’s beyond uncomfortable).

Thankfully, sitcom romances, to a certain extent, have progressed since the 2010s (not that there still isn’t a way to go) as we now have more representation of LGBTQIA + ships (including Syd and Elena - One Day at a Time, Holt and Kevin - B99 and David and Patrick - Schitt’s Creek). Also, while there’s still a lot of work to be done there, more interracial couples are being represented on screen now too(such as Amy and Jonah from Superstore, for example).

Also, thankfully, the uncomfortable and sometimes quite blatant and unapologetic sexism and sexual harassment that existed as a core part of the ‘getting together’ phase for so many straight sitcom ships finally seems to be moving on too (it’s ‘About damn time’, I believe, as Lizzo would say).  Janine and Gregory from the new Abbott Elementary, for example, have had a much healthier start to the early phases of them getting to know each other/realise they like each other etc… In fact, many of the toxic aspects of earlier sitcom romances (such as sexism, extreme jealousy and cheating plots, not taking no for an answer, sabotaging relationships and being controlling/possessive and breaking up and/or fighting constantly) seem to decreasing as well (or certainly being adapted/subverted). It’s also positive that the careers and ambitions of sitcom women are finally being taken more seriously and respected more (B99 is by far the best and most feminist but other shows have their moments of heading in the right direction too, such as New Girl and Ted Lasso devoting more time to developing the careers of Cece and Keeley, respectively).

       

We also have more genuinely sweet and heartwarming shows and romances now, which is a welcome change from the way that many sitcoms used to seem to feel a constant need to have the characters being unsupportive and insulting/mocking their partner purely for jokes or for drama that was either unnecessary and/or out of character. Ben and Leslie, for example, from Parks and Rec, are so high up on my list of fave couples as they just embody what a sweet, healthy, loving, compassionate and supportive relationship looks like, they’re just adorable together and it’s so lovely to watch. I just hope that everyone who’s hoping to meet their special person (romantic or not) can find that someone who loves and likes them and that they love and like.