Are you a Shipper? Confess….

One of the things that brought Tracy and me together is our mutual love for a certain couple on a certain soap.  (See picture to left. Aren’t they pretty?)   And so I, Jeannie, must confess: I’m a definite couple shipper.

I don’t need to love a couple on a show to love the show (like 24, The Following, etc…), but when I love a TV couple I tend to fall very fast, very hard.  It usually becomes one of those undying loves, too, no matter how hopeless they might seem.

When things go wrong for your couple, it’s like your worst break-up all over again. (I was a mess about Lorelai and Luke’s break-up on Gilmore Girls.) — Tracy is breaking in here to add that Mark and Lexie’s breakup and subsequent deaths (ugh – I hate to type that) has kept me from watching Grey’s Anatomy ever again. Sorry, GA fans. I was too heartbroken to tune in again. Back to Jeannie —

Thanks, Tracy.  And I so agree,  Mark and Lexie’s deaths were awful.  I still watch GA, but it’s not the same.

Now there’s always going to be the classics — Rachel and Ross, Paul and Jamie from Mad About You, Cliff and Claire Huxtabel, Sam and Diane, that everyone knows and loves.  But then there are those couples that elevate your love to “shipper” status… the status that puts you in a state where you can’t help but watch their scenes on repeat.  We thought we’d share a few of our best loves— TV couple loves, that is.  (Our past loves would make this an entirely different post…).

Liason (Liz and Jason from General Hospital) — Tracy and Jeannie

Elizabeth Webber and Jason Morgan.  Even Steve Burton, the actor who formerly played Jason (and the photo above), has remarked that they were the story left untold.  This couple essentially had a beginning and an end, but very little middle.  Something or someone always got in the way.

With Jason’s return (played by the amazing Billy Miller), we are both loving the chemistry between Elizabeth and NuJason (affectionately dubbed Jakeson, since Jason has returned without his memory and is going by the name Jake, the name of their deceased child together.  Talk about deaths that nearly stopped me watching the show? That was one of them.  But now, we’re seeing “Liason” revisited with calls to their history together, from Jakeson encouraging her painting, to trusting her about her own life..  Since the track record with this couple hasn’t been so great, I wish I didn’t already love them so much again.  But I do.  Anyone else?

Lorelai and Luke, Gilmore Girls —A Jeannie Fav

Sigh.  Was there a couple ever more perfect for each other?  Luke loved and honored Lorelai’s many, many, many quirks.  Lorelai loved and teased Luke endlessly about his grumpiness.  But when all was said and done, these two were made for each other.  I loved everything about how their relationship was built on the show —a slow build from friendship, to friends who couldn’t live without each other to that moment when Luke realized that Lorelai was already his other half and he didn’t know it.

Can you see her face? Woah.

Best. Moment. Ever.

They were written so amazingly well from day one. And their moments were so worth the years they took to get there – including the one to the left, one of the final moments of the show.

Brandon and Kelly, Beverly Hills 90210 —A Jeannie Fav

Yes I know that most people loved Dylan and Brenda or Kelly and Dylan.  And I loved Donna and David as much as the next person.  But I shipped Brandon and Kelly.   I thought they had that spark, the grown-up love between them and I adored them.  Apparently, Darren Star comments on the DVDs that they’d planned Brandon and Kelly from the beginning, but had to wait until Kelly changed as a person. I never knew that, but I remember seeing such an easy way in their relationship with each other.  They were comfortable/flirty without going overboard.   I was so annoyed at the way they ended their relationship on their wedding day.   And yes, I knew that Jason Priestly wanted to leave the show.  No Brandon, no Brandon and Kelly.  But I never bought into the series finale of the show and Kelly/Dylan ending up together.  And let’s not even talk about the revisted “90210” where it was revealed that Kelly had a child with Dylan.

Angel and Buffy, well… Angel and Buffy —A Jeannie Fav

I’m still sad about Angel and Buffy. While I loved the show Angel went on to, I really wanted things to end with Angel and Buffy finding their way together, somehow.  They were Romeo and Juliet to the extreme – a vampire and the vampire slayer.  But with Angel, Buffy could be herself.  Even Sarah Michelle Geller said Buffy belongs with Angel.  Their relationship was doomed from the start, clearly, but their love was so strong—and their respect for each other stronger.  My favorite scenes is still when Angel returns in the last season when Buffy is fighting, and he just leans against the column and admires while she kicks someone’s ass.  Buffy never needed someone to fight her battles for her, but Angel always had her back when she needed it.

Carrie and Mr. Big, Sex and the City —A Jeannie Fav

I couldn’t let a list go by without mentioning these two, a couple I rooted for from the moment they met and never gave up on.  Carrie and Mr. Big were so different from each other, but they always felt like the right fit.  Even thought many thought she was a fool to let Aiden go—and she was, don’t get me wrong. He was amazing.  But he wasn’t the right man for Carrie, and truthfully, she wasn’t the right woman for him. They wanted completely different lives.  Carrie and Big lived in the same world, they wanted the same life, the same focus.  They matched.  And when he came to find her in the season finale, it was perfect.

And now turning back over to Tracy, for her list…

Damon and Bonnie, The Vampire Diaries – A Tracy Fav

How could I possibly ship Damon and Bonnie when I loved Damon with Elena? Somewhere between the final scene last season when Damon and Bonnie held hands on their way into oblivion and this season when Elena erased her love for Damon from her memory while he pines for he during Groundhog Day circa 1994 (the guy keeps hearing Ace of Base for goodness sake), I have become a Damon and Bonnie shipper. Whether they remain friends or end up something more doesn’t matter – I love their sarcastic like/hate/like relationship and the fact that one will save the other in a heartbeat (as evidenced in the past couple of weeks). This is a power couple – what kind of couple is yet to be determined.

Nolan and Emily, Revenge – A Tracy Fav

I can ship friends and I am so shipping Nolan and Emily! They are fabulous together – on screen perfection, in fact. More like brother and sister, these best friends have each other’s backs. They love each other and yet bicker with the best of them all the while knowing they can always count on the other. They make me laugh, they make me cry and they make me long for their next scene together. This is a ship worth sailing!

Jamie and Claire, Outlander – A Tracy Fav

Saturday nights just aren’t the same without Outlander, Jamie and Claire. What makes them unique? Here is a guy who actually admires the heroine’s imperfections – she is stubborn, she is independent in 1700s Scotland, she curses, has an unruly mop of curls that can’t be controlled and yet he finds her the most attractive female in existence. *sigh* Theirs’ is a love to withstand time and I am shipping them straight to April when the rest of Outlander’s first season returns.

So, who do you ship and why? Set sail, fellow shippers!