Sometimes it’s not easy being the second choice. When it comes to TV relationships, it’s usually the main couples who are front and center. And it’s hard not to root for them! You know, Booth and Brennan, Luke and Lorelai, the whole Sawyer/Jack/Kate/Juliet quadrangle, etc…
But there are other TV couples on popular shows that usually take the back seat to their more popular counterparts. So while they may not be the MAIN romantic relationship of the series (at least not in the eyes of the majority of the audience), they deserve just as much attention and appreciation for being what they are: Great TV Couples….even if they are sometimes overlooked. While some of these pairings play the role of a beta couple working as a foil to the main love couple, (therefore getting together quicker than the main pairing), others just don’t get as much attention as they deserve and it’s about time they did.
So without further ado, here are fifty of the best secondary TV couples:
# 50 Kaylee and Simon from Firefly
# 49 Chummy and Peter from Call the Midwife
#48 Jo and Zane from Eureka
#47 Adam and Kono from Hawaii Five-O
#46 Felix and Izzie from Road to Avonlea
#45 Charlie and Claire from Lost
#44 Doggett and Reyes from The X-Files
#43 Sister Bernadette and Dr. Turner from Call the Midwife
#42 Lane and Dave from Gilmore Girls
#41 Anya and Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
#40 Fred and Gunn AND Fred and Wesley from Angel
#39 Minnie and Alfie from Lark Rise to Candleford
#38 Cary and Kalinda from The Good Wife
#37 Fred and Stacy from Drop Dead Diva
#36 Taylor and Matt Dowd from Eli Stone
#35 Ellie and Devon (aka Captain Awesome) from Chuck
#34 Monroe and Rosalee from Grimm
#33 Lavon and Annabeth from Hart of Dixie
#32 Tosh and Owen from Torchwood
#31 Nina and George from Being Human
#30 Anna and Bates from Downton Abbey
#29 (TIE) Alex and Owen/Alex and Sean from Nikita
#28 Victor and Sierra from Dollhouse
#27 CC and Niles from The Nanny
#26 Jenny and Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
#25 Gaius Baltar and Caprica Six from Battlestar Galactica
#24 Zoe and Wash from Firefly
#23 Sookie and Jackson from Gilmore Girls
#22 Jess and Becker from Primeval
#21 Emily and Matt from Primeval
#20 Slater and Jessie from Saved by the Bell
#19 Kenzi and Hale from Lost Girl
#18 (TIE) Willow and Tara/Willow and Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
#17 Isabel and Alex from Roswell
#16 Angela and Hodgins from Bones
#15 Desmond and Penny from Lost
#14 Adama and Roslin from Battlestar Galactica
#13 Helo and Athena from Battlestar Galactica
#12 Prue and Andy from Charmed
#11 Sun and Jin from Lost
#10 Meghan and Sean from Felicity
#9 Dot and Hugh from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
#8 Lancelot and Guinevere from Merlin
#7 Olivia and Jasper from Road to Avonlea
#6 Michael and Maria from Roswell
#5 Doyle and Cordelia from Angel
#4 Dean and Jo from Supernatural
Photo: CW
#3 Sybil and Branson from Downton Abbey
#2 Shannon and Sayid from Lost
#1 (TIE) Chloe and Davis/Chloe and Oliver from Smallville
Did I leave off any of your favorite secondary couples from the list? Let me know in the comments below!
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Oh, you had me at no 50 … there were some great couples in Firefly and I’m glad to see Kaylee and Simon and Zoe and Wash made your list 🙂
I always liked Michael and Sara from Prison Break too.
There definitely were in Firefly. It was a great show. I liked Sara and Michael on Prison Break too. I guess I just don’t see them as secondary or overlooked. They were huge when that show was on and the main couple. But yeah, they were great.
Great choices. Only…Dean and Jo were never a couple. They never actually got together. I love their story, and the bittersweet to it, the almost of it, but unless I’m forgetting something, the most they ever shared was a regretful kiss after she was already dead. I just don’t think I could count them. I’d go for Dean and Lisa though. 🙂
Thank you! I use the term couple loosely. If there’s at least one-sided romantic feelings involved it can count as a TV couple in my book. Just because Scully and Mulder weren’t together till season 7, it didn’t mean that beforehand they weren’t a “TV Couple.” So no fanon here, but also not always literally being official as a couple. Many great TV couples never get together even though we’re obviously supposed to root for them to be together. Were Doyle and Cordelia ever a couple? No. But we were supposed to root for them and then he died before they could become anything. Same with Jo. Dean and Jo were a romantic pair on the show, even if it remained unfulfilled between the two of them! So I guess I defend my choice. 🙂 And yeah, to each their own but I was never a fan of Dean and Lisa! Thanks for your thoughts.
… I loved Lancelot and Guinevere, they had such chemistry (which I, particularly, never saw between Arthur & Gwen). And -I- will interpret it as Merthur shipping, because that’s how my boat floats.
They did have chemistry! Though I admit to also liking Arthur and Gwen, at least in the earlier seasons. 🙂