The Top Ten Couples on TV

For generations there are certain TV couples that stick out in everyone's mind that were considered paramount to the era that show came on in. I'm sure if you compared your favorites with other people's favorites you'd get a different list every time, but that's the beauty of television... different shows have impacted people differently. You have to consider family background, marital background, relationship with siblings, city you lived in, etc.

With that said, here is my list of who I think are the top ten couples of television:

1. Cliff & Claire Huxtable (The Cosby Show)

Maybe I can relate to them because I'm Black... maybe I can relate to them because they were successful... maybe I can relate to them because they were able to handle five children without major difficulty... whatever it was I think they're my favorite TV couple. You had to love Claire's tenacity for truth, and Cliff's no-nonsense mentality approach about things... or maybe you liked Claire's slyness, and Cliff's ability to just look at you and get results. I liked them because they didn't let their success dictate who they were. They weren't glamorous, they weren't flashy, but they were your average couple with above-average abilities.

2. "86" & "99" (Get Smart)

I just liked the fact that these two were agents who were married. I could imagine how interesting their lives must have been. I still remember the episode of the day they got married... 86 was "at work" all the way down the aisle, and even on the honeymoon he was "at work", just not the way he'd hoped to be.

3. Ricky & Lucy Ricardo (I Love Lucy)

I liked them for two reasons... one, there were language barriers that were broken with these two. He was a Latin musician, she was an American redhead. Whenever he got mad he'd revert to his Spanish and she'd have to translate (if she wanted to); I always thought that was funny. The second reason I liked them was that he was smarter than she gave him credit for in my opinion. She was the one coming up with the crazy schemes, but there were times where he was just one step ahead of her without really doing much of anything. He had a good head on his shoulders, even if she tried to get away with things.

4. Morticia & Gomez Adams (The Addams Family)

This is probably the weirdest of the ten that I've chosen, but I definitely think they're in the ten. They were just lovers of life, even though their lifestyle was more than abnormal compared to others. You had to love their zeal even when things got rough they were still ready to enjoy each other and their family... in whatever way that looked like.

5. Homer & Marge Simpson (The Simpsons)

The Simpsons have been a cartoon icon since the late 1980s when they would appear as shorts for the Tracey Ullman Show. I chose them because I don't know who else would have put up with Homer's embecile-like ways. She is a wife that has stuck with him through thick and thicker, and because of that I had to add them to the list.

6. Rob & Laura Petrie (The Dick Van Dyke Show)

They're just the most innocent couple that I know of. They were on television during the days when married couples slept in different beds. I couldn't even imagine that now, but perhaps that's the image they wanted to portray back then. Regardless they had an average family with above-average situations and were able to handle each one with class and perfection... somewhat.

7. Ross & Rachel (Friends)

This on-again, off-again couple entertained us for a decade. They've been married together, they've been single together, they've even had a child together... it seems whatever route either took, it led them back to each other. It seems that no matter what happened with the other four, these were the two you had to pay attention to.

8. James & Florida Evans (Good Times)

Through the roughest of times, you had James and Florida Evans. While living in the projects of Chicago, when others were down in the dumps, they did their best to keep the family unit together. When James died, it would have been easy to have the family fall apart... but because of the strength of their union, Florida, along with help from the community, was able to keep the family in tact.

9. Niles & Daphne Crane (Frasier)

After years of hinting and hiding about being in love with Daphne, Niles finally gets together with Daphne and eventually marries the girl. This was one of those relationships you thought would never happen, but finally did. They worked well as a married couple, and the commonality of accents gave it a nice touch.

10. Dan & Roseanne Conner (Roseanne)

From Hicksville, USA come the Conners. They're strong enough to handle anything, their way. They didn't care about what people thought of them, they were just real people who led a real life. I think this couple could relate to more people than any of the other couples I've mentioned.