Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Best on-screen chemistry?

I have recently discovered something about my viewing tastes. I rarely watch TV, but when I do, I latch onto a show religiously and with fanaticism. One of the aspects which inspires this sort of devotion in me, that tides me through crappy/ boring plots and storylines through the seasons is the chemistry between the leads.

I don't just mean good chemistry. I mean INCREDIBLE chemistry. I mean chemistry that you couldn't deny even if you hired O.J Simpson'd lawyers and blackmailed the judge. Chemistry so strong that you can't IMAGINE one without the other.

When I say chemistry between the two leads, I don't just mean romantic leads. Here's my list:

Lois and Clark. Considering which board I'm on, I don't think I need to explain this. The way that Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain's palpable chemistry explodes off the screen is something I don't think can be duplicated anytime soon. Frog eating clones, what? How can you STOP yourself watching these two?


Maddie Hayes and David Addison of Moonlighting was the Lois and Clark of the eighties and the first of its kind that I ever watched. I was born too late to do more than watch them in re-runs during my tender prepubescent years, but I do credit them with leaving me primed and prepped for the advent of Lois and Clark into my life. The chemistry between Bruce Willis' rugged charm and Cybill Shephard's cool blonde sophistication wasn't something you'd buy on paper, but was so powerful on the actual screen that it managed to withstand progressively bad writing and production setbacks for a full five seasons and still endures as a cult classic.




Sam and Dean Winchester from Supernatural. My current obsession, and it's not because I am an avid fan of horror and urban legends and muscle cars and guns, either. (Quite the opposite, actually.) It's just that Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles portray the most realistic and three-dimensional sibling relationship on TV, and their brotherly banter and dysfunctional family issues are so well acted that it's easy to forget you're watching a TV show. Interestingly, some fans theorize that they aren't staging the chemistry at all, as Jared and Jensen are reputedly as close as brothers in real life.





Lorelai and Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls. This mother-daughter relationship is so idyllic that it's almost unbelievable sometimes, and yet it's a real testament to their believability as mother and daughter that we never think so. The occasional incomprehensibility of their rapid-fire dialogue and pop-culture references aside, what really carries the show is how naturally and seamlessly Lauren Graham and Alexis Bldel play off each other.



Kwai Chang Cain and his son Peter Caine from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues represents the ultimate father-son bonding experience. Long-lost families reuniting is always a significant draw for viewers, dodgy Shaolin powers or not, but couple it with a clash of culture, ethnicity and destiny and you have a winning formula. Played to flawless perfection as by David Carradiene and Chris Potter, this show always held a special place in my heart as a child.



And finally Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny who portrayed a partnership that made pop-culture history in a TV show that created the phenomenon of "mass scale cult hit", where before the terms "mass scale" and "cult hit" were thought by studio execs to be mutually exclusive.



So, what are the TV pairings that you consider the be-all, end-all of their show's success?

ETA: C_A's right. These posts demand pictures!