The Interaction

First off, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for my lackluster posting as of late. I'm on vacation which has turned out to be more busy than I expected, but most vacations turn out that way for me. Anyway, I'm onto a more important topic, or rather query that has infiltrated my mind as of late courtesy of shows like Being Human: is it possible to have a scripted television show (to clarify: no cartoons, sketch shows, or game shows are considered) where there is no sort of love/romantic relationship?

How I Met Your Mother, CBS

Most sitcoms rely on the sexual tension and romantic relationships of the lead characters, in fact there are many that are built specifically around this like How I Met Your Mother. It would be incredibly difficult for Ted Mosby to tell the story about how he met his wife if you didn't talk about love and relationships and whatnot. Is it necessary though? Does it draw us in like that heavenly blue glow of a bug zapper? For those sitcoms it probably is. It would be hard to watch Seinfeld, a show about nothing, all the time if there wasn't some way to get emotionally invested in how those characters interact in relationships or when they go on dates. All of that works in the 20 minute runtime to the point where it can be addictive, but to fill 42 minutes requires a heck of a lot more drama.

Moving away from sitcoms and comedy, if we look at science fiction shows like Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, and Being Human you can still find that interplay and tension in those sitcoms, though probably not on the same level. In Being Human, Aiden, the vampire, has to deal with Rebecca, a girl he killed when he lost control and succumbed to his vampiric urges, but she was brought back as a vampire by another as a way to gain leverage on Aiden. It's a bit complicated, but Aiden feels responsible, wants to help her, and he still cares about her. Now, on the other side of things, you have Josh, the werewolf who was on the road to marriage before he was turned and is not struggling to pick up the pieces of a normal life and another relationship. I'm not a huge fan of vampires or werewolves, or even ghosts, but this show has me hooked because of these character interactions. I yell at the screen "What the hell are you doing?!?!" or "Just tell her!" or other things that usually include some obscenities, but that doesn't mean I don't like it, I actually do. I think it is because of those confusing things about the characters's relationships as I mentioned before. My life is in no way as complicated, as I hope yours is not as well, but the situations that these characters are in find you attached and pulling for them. I have a hard time seeing how this show could work without this element of interaction between.

Being Human, Syfy

Even in BSG and SG1, SGA, or SGU you still find characters seeking love or some sort of sexual relationship with someone else. Science fiction is no different from ordinary drama in that regard. You could compare this tension to that of Booth and Bones on Bones, or House and Cuddy on House, it seems near impossible to find an example without that. In fact, if you do have an example, please let me know because I would love to see how it works. As humans, we thrive on interpersonal relationships and our interactions with other people, particularly involving the concept of love since we don't really entirely understand it (at least I don't). Every show tries to approach it a little differently, and sometimes it takes the characters forever to get together, but everyone can always see it coming these days. Why is that? Because that is what we want to see, and by we I mean the general we, not necessarily you, the particular reader.

In conclusion I'd like to restate my question: is it possible to have a television show where there is no sort of love/romantic relationship? Whatever show this may be would need to be completely comedy, completely action, or just completely something. The characters could never hint at something sexual, they could never kiss, hugging might even be out of the question since we all know how suggestive that can be. What type of show would this be? Probably a show about something militaristic, and probably dry in humor since a large part of humor these days is sexual to some degree. "That's what she said" being the prime example. So I guess the answer to my question is yes, you can make a show that doesn't involve some type of romantic relationship or sexual tension, but would you want to watch it? Probably not.

Dream on.

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