From witches to FBI agents to serial killers, TV has always been a welcoming place for romance.

Luke & Lorelai, “Gilmore Girls”

In some ways, diner owner Luke Danes (Scott Patterson) and inn proprietor Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) are the classic example of opposites attract: she has verbal diarrhea and eats like a 12-year-old let loose in a mall; he’s laconic and is overly cautious about pretty much everything. The contrasts between them give the two some on-screen spice and make them a joy to watch. But what makes them achieve great-love-story status is how well the two truly know each other. Theirs is a relationship that slowly blossomed over time, in which he saw her grow from a frightened teenage mom to a take-charge entrepreneur. She’s endured his growls and glares enough to see past them to the caring person he is underneath. On a show that showcases quirky folks who don’t always own up to their immature qualities, Luke and Lorelai’s relationship feels mature and right. It just needed time to get there.

Sol and Robert, “Grace and Frankie”

A late-in-life love story is always a fascinating one. It’s relatively brutal, the fact that these two men spent years misleading their spouses while secretly in love with each other. But the fact that, for decades, this was a facet of their lives, one they tried so hard to deny before eventually embracing, gives it a tricky edge. Fortunately, we’ve been lucky to witness Sol and Robert explore their relationship in the open on a new level. It’s undeniable that the bond between Grace and Frankie is a true treat to behold here, but this is a show born of a forbidden romance, and bless Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston for bringing it to life.

June and Luke, “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Our initial introduction to June and Luke, at the very beginning of the Emmy-winning drama, is of a terrified couple on the run. And it might have been easy to assume, at that point, that’s about all we might get to know about the seemingly doomed couple. But the series wove their backstory into the fabric of the narrative with flashbacks that didn’t just make you yearn for a freer America, but for seeing these two incredibly well-suited people together. Their relationship began as an affair, but Elisabeth Moss and O-T Fagbenle’s mutual chemistry on screen made it clear they were meant to be — and with the major reveals that came during Season 1, we were inspired to have hope in a potential reunion. Of course, it might not be a purely happy one, given what June’s done under the pressure of extreme circumstances. But it’s not hard to be on the side of these two finding each other again.

Will and Hannibal, “Hannibal”

Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter never got to consummate their relationship, but that could change if Bryan Fuller ever gets to make “Hannibal” Season 4. Over the course of the show’ three-season run on NBC, Graham and Lecter’s cat-and-mouse mind games evolved into an emotional obsession so visceral, palpable, and undeniable that fans wanted nothing more than to ‘ship the sociopath and his corrupted FBI protégé. Watching the two murder Dolarhyde in the series finale brought them closer than ever in an orgy of blood and violence: Graham and Hannibal are television’s twisted star-crossed lovers and there’s not a day that goes by where we won’t hope to see them again for a fourth season.

Brad and Jane, “Happy Endings”

Sometimes, the best TV couples work because despite being extraordinarily different, they prove to be simply perfect for each other. And here are the GIFs to prove it:

Marshall and Lily, “How I Met Your Mother”

It takes great writing and two harmonious actors to make a quirky sitcom romance feel actually genuine, and that was certainly the case when it came to Marshall and Lily on “How I Met Your Mother.” Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan are so lovable on their own that putting them together was a stroke of genius by the show’s casting directors. They knew how to expertly play off one another when it came to slapstick and verbal comedy, especially their coded way of talking about their sex life. But they really shined when the show gave them more dramatic material to play with, such as the death of Marshall’s father and Lily’s pregnancy. You never doubted for a second that Marshall and Lily were soulmates; just the way Hannigan could make Segel smile in a quick reaction shot could leave your heart fluttering.

Kevin and Nora, “The Leftovers”

It’s a testament to “The Leftovers” that a show focused on chronicling the aftermath of a worldwide disaster ultimately became one of TV’s great love stories — without any forced plot contrivances or melodramatic twists. Kevin and Nora, as played by the tremendously talented Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon, were two broken individuals who (very) slowly learned to live again in each other’s arms. The path the show took to get to its final scene, in which Nora and Kevin truly became soulmates, was full of so much guilt and self-inflicted suffering that its central romance was as traumatic as it was beautiful. Both characters had to heal themselves and fate made it clear the only way to do so was with help from the other. “The Leftovers” started as a show about the end of the world and ended as one about new beginnings. The apocalypse is no match for love, after all.

Patrick and Richie, “Looking”

The rise-and-fall romance between Patrick (Jonathan Groff) and Richie (Raúl Castillo) provided the strongest emotional backbone in HBO’s short-lived gem “Looking.” Groff and Castillo’s remarkable chemistry and natural rapport turned episodes like “Looking for the Future” and “Looking for Truth” into intimate romantic epics on par with “Before Sunrise.” Their connection was universally felt, allowing “Looking” to create an emotional anchor for every viewer, no matter their gender or sexual orientation. Groff and Castillo were so good at falling in love in Season 1 that their eventual breakup forced Season 2 to become a waiting game for when they would get back together, or at least reconcile their differences. Patrick went off and had a passionate fling with Kevin (Russell Tovey), but every fan was simply waiting to see how his path would end up back at Richie’s door (or barbershop). It was a series-defining romance that we hope is revisited again sometime in the future.

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