The Most Iconic TV Couples Of All Time

Just about every television show out there has a couple that viewers are supposed to root for — or root against, as is sometimes the case. Whether or not romance is a focus of the show, love is a vital element of the human experience, as well as a valuable tool for deployment by writers, directors and actors. Will Rachel get off the plane? Will Dwayne crash Whitley's wedding? Will David and Maddie ever get together? The plights of couples have often made for some of the most memorable moments in television history.

Many such shows have made liberal use of the will-they-won't-they trope, which rarely fails in creating compelling TV relationships — many of which appear on this list. Whether it be a drama, a sitcom, a reality show — pretty much anything short of a game show — it's a recipe for success that stretches back decades.

With this in mind, let's take a look back at the icons, the relationships that in our minds are still going strong, even if the television cameras stopped filming years ago. Some are already likely coming to your mind ... read on to see if they made the list.

Arguably the most famous will-they-won't-they couple, Ross (David Schwimmer) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) spent 1994 to 2004 teasing audiences with where their relationship was headed. 

Beginning with the pilot, it was clear that Ross's high school crush on Rachel had never really gone away. What came next was a full season of Ross pining, Rachel finally realizing she had feelings for him as well — just as he began dating someone else. This poor timing led to a now-classic scene with a drunk Rachel leaving Ross a voicemail declaring she was over him. The next day, Rachel would watch Ross listen to the voicemail and ask: "When were you ... under me?"

From there, they dated for a year — their longest time "on" — before the explosive breakup led to Ross's declaration that they were "on a break." In the subsequent seven or so seasons, the pair never really officially got back together — although they went through a lot together. These adventures included Ross accidentally saying Rachel's name during his wedding to someone else, the pair getting drunk-married in Vegas, and a one-night stand that lead to a pregnancy and their choice to co-parent the child.

After all that, it was no surprise that they did end up together — after Rachel got off that plane.

When "The Brady Bunch" was on air from 1969 to 1974, blended families weren't exactly showing up on screen left and right. But when Mike Brady (Robert Reed), a widower with three sons, married Carol (Florence Henderson), a woman with three daughters, a new kind of family became the basis for what would become an immensely popular television series.

Today, Mike and Carol are best remembered for their roles as parents — Mike appeared in TV Guide's 2004 list of best TV dads of all time, while Carol showed up in Yahoo's 2009 list for the best television moms. Throughout the series, audiences watched Mike and Carol tackle the challenges of raising children with the same love and care for their stepkids as their own. 

While the series was often about the overall dynamic of the Brady brood, it's important to remember that the blended Brady family existed because Mike and Carol fell in love. As a couple, their love dramatically impacted six young lives for the better — and each episode left viewers with the sense that wonderful things could grow from two people finding each other. 

The youngest couple on this list, Kevin (Fred Savage) and Winnie (Danica McKellar) of the 1988 coming of age series "The Wonder Years" represent young love. The two shared their first kiss in the pilot episode, setting up an on and off relationship. After the two both dated other classmates for a while, Kevin and Winnie eventually came to confront their feelings for each other.

Notably, the two did not end up together. Through the narration of an older Kevin, audiences found out at the end of the series that Winnie moved to Paris to study art history, while Kevin remained in the United States and became a writer, although the two did keep in touch while Winnie was abroad. When she returned, she was greeted by Kevin at the airport — along with Kevin's wife and young son. The fact that these childhood sweethearts didn't stay together only added to the significance of their relationship, as so few young relationships stand the test of time. Over the years, it seemed their love for each other didn't disappear, it just evolved.

"The Simpsons" has been on the air for a whopping 33 seasons, and although it's a satirical depiction of American life set against the backdrop of Springfield and the dozens of series regulars who live there, at the center of it all is Homer and Marge.

For a show to last so long, audiences have to genuinely come to care for its characters as if they are members of their own families — and while Bart, Lisa and Maggie might be reminiscent of many people's siblings, it is Homer and Marge whose arguments, struggles, laughs and love strike a chord.

Sure, Homer may be immature, lazy and arrogant, but voice of reason Marge loves him anyway and Homer, in his own way, clearly loves Marge just as much. Perhaps the love between them was never more apparent than in "I Married Marge" (Season 3, Episode 12), which used flashbacks to showcase how Homer and Marge got together, as told by Homer to the kids. 

In the now-classic episode, we learned that Marge's family disapproved of him but, when Marge got pregnant, they quickly married. As Homer's mini-golf career proved insufficient, he took a job at the Nuclear Power Plant, returning home to Marge just in time for the birth of Bart. The episode showcased Homer's desire to provide for Marge and his family and that Marge is so much happier whenever Homer was around. 33 seasons later, that love is still going strong.

Many fans of "Frasier" (which ran from 1993 to 2004) seem likely to say that the romance of Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Daphne (Jane Leeves) was one of the best parts of the show. 

When they first met, Daphne had been recently hired by Frasier (Kelsey Grammar) as the in-home health care worker for his father Martin (John Mahoney), and Niles was still married to his cold, eccentric wife Maris. Much of their relationship in the first seven seasons of "Frasier" involved one-way pining from Niles's end — even though the two of them clearly had chemistry — which made for some of the show's funniest moments (such as when Niles pretended to be married to Daphne for the sake of an ex, but enjoyed it too much). Things changed when Frasier — loopy from pain medication — revealed to Daphne that Niles was in love with her, making Daphne the pining one. 

The two eventually got together — mere moments before Daphne was supposed to marry someone else — making for arguably the most satisfying moment of the series. In the ensuing, final four seasons, audiences saw them develop their relationship, get engaged, elope in Vegas and even have a child together. 

A 2020 article called their relationship "one of TV's greatest love stories," and looking back now with fondness, it's hard to disagree.

As "Grey's Anatomy" hit the airwaves in 2005, the romance between Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek ((Patrick Dempsey) became watercooler fodder. From there, the attraction and chemistry remained a constant, driving the plot forward.

In real life, it wasn't just audiences who couldn't deny the chemistry between the two. Pompeo's husband, Chris Ivery wasn't sure he could keep up.

"The poor guy had no idea what he was getting into," Pompeo said in a 2021 interview. "I remember in the beginning it was really hard for him. He was like 'This is not what I signed up for. You go to work and make out with that. I like Patrick and everything, he's a good dude, but like really?'"

After many hurdles (including Derek's estranged wife showing up), the two eventually chose to be together, getting married and starting a family. The romance ended, however, when Derek died in a car crash —a death that wrecked Meredith, as well as their fans. A whopping 90,000 people signed a Change.org petition asking showrunner Shonda Rhimes to somehow bring Derek back.

Acting as something of a foil to Ross and Rachel was the other main "Friends" couple: Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry). But unlike their counterparts, everything between Monica and Chandler happened very smoothly.

Having been platonic friends for years, it took a drunken night in London for the two to cross the line and sleep together, but once they did, they were in it for the long haul. By the end, they were happily married parents to adopted twins, and their loving dedication to one another was a pleasure to watch develop.

"The first time [they got together] ... when Monica popped up from beneath the sheets, there was just this explosion from the audience. It was a combination of a laugh/gasp/cry/shriek," executive producer Scott Silveri said in a 2019 interview. "They were just blown away by it. It was so intense, for the second or third takes, instead of watching the monitors, I just turned around and watched the audience." 

Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mr. Big (Chris Noth) may not have been the healthiest couple on "Sex and the City" — perhaps Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) or Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry (Evan Handler) would earn that title — but they were, by and large, the most recognizable.

Despite being utterly infatuated with each other, Carrie and Big faced plenty of obstacles as a couple. Most of them boiled down to Big having a fear of commitment — or at least a fear of committing to Carrie, which became evident when he married a much younger woman after their second breakup.  But Carrie was never able to fully quit Big — even cheating on her next serious boyfriend Aiden (John Corbett), which ultimately ended that relationship . Ultimately, Carrie and Big got back together in the series finale — and in the first "Sex and the City" film, they were married.

The couple may be iconic, but they haven't remained popular among fans over the years, largely because Big is now seen in retrospect as a flaky commitment-phobe. Even the show's creator, Darren Star, didn't love the pair. 

"I think the show ultimately betrayed what it was about, which was that women don't ultimately find happiness from marriage," Star said in a 2016 interview, explaining that Carrie and Big weren't designed to walk down the aisle together. "Not that they can't. But the show initially was going off script from the romantic comedies that had come before it. That's what had made women so attached. At the end, it became a conventional romantic comedy ... But unless you're there to write every episode, you're not going to get the ending you want."

Before there was Niles and Daphne on "Frasier" — or "Frasier" at all — there was Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long) on "Cheers." The character Frasier Crane was initially introduced into the series as a love interest for Diane, following one of her breakups with Sam. Of course, Diane and Frasier were never going to last, because Diane and Sam remained a key romance of the show's early seasons.

Sam and Diane became a walking example of opposites attracting; the polar opposite to her level-headedness, the ex-pitcher-turned-bartender frequently frustrated the intellectual — but their chemistry and attraction was undeniable. Years after Shelley Long left the show (and was replaced by Kirstie Alley, whose Rebecca provided another love interest for Sam), Diane returned for the series finale, which had the two reconciling and getting engaged again with plans to move to Los Angeles together. 

When their flight was delayed, Sam and Diane decided to end their relationship once and for all. In some ways, it's shocking that the two didn't end up together; in others, it was clearly not meant to be.