Sex! Sex! Sex!
Why we love to watch.
      by Rachel Hyland

Some Great Loves of Genre TV History:

Buffy and Angel: Impossibly beautiful.

Buffy and Angel: The forbidden love of this impossibly beautiful pair has made the WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer the success it is today. Their tempestuous, tortured love -- well, it does involve a teenage demon-fighter and a centuries old demon -- has lasted through evilness, betrayal, separation and even Marc Blucas. The bitter-sweet Angel episode "I Will Remember You" fulfilled the dreams of Fan Fiction writers everywhere and made Angel human, free of pesky sex-restricting curses -- but did anyone really think that situation could last? While Buffy may have since returned to the camouflage-clad arms of Riley, for now, we all know that Angel is far from being out of her heart. And as for Angel -- well, if he gets together with that boring "She" chick, I will be very unimpressed. He can do better.

Delenn and Sheridan: As Babylon 5's leading couple and joint defenders of the galaxy, President Sheridan and Ambassador Delenn had some trying times. When the series ended, and the appointed hour for Sheridan's death approached, their soft words to each other couldn't help but bring a tear to even the most jaded of eyes.

Sheridan: "Good night, my love, the brightest star in my sky."
Delenn: "Good night, you who are my sky, my sun and my moon."

Sob.

Riker and Troi: Tension through past history.

Riker and Troi: Right from the very first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation we knew that there was some history between these two officers. Over the series' seven year run it was only occasionally explored, but there were always enough Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) moments to keep the shippers happy. And then came the payoff; Star Trek: Insurrection may have sucked as a movie, but it will always be notable for the Bath Scene that finally enabled those who cared to see Troi and Riker bathe together. What do you mean that doesn't include you?

Dax and Worf: In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Looking for Par'Mach in All The Wrong Places" (Does it help if I explain that "par'mach" means "love" in Klingon? Or does it just disturb you that I know the meaning of a word in Klingon?) Dax (Terry Farrell) and Worf (Michael Dorn) got into some serious ritual Klingon mating -- requiring a trip to the Infirmary and a good lie down afterwards -- and, in a later episode, got themselves legally wedded. But the course of true love is just not allowed to run smooth, dammit, so Jadzia died and Worf practically went into a decline. Klingons, huh?

Dax and Julian: Lest you think that Dax was a total hussy, I hasten to add that it was Ezri Dax (Nicole de Boer) who, in the final, stirring days of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finally realised Dr. Bashir's (Alexander Siddig) series-long ambition of discovering whether or not those Trill spots went all the way down. (But how come he didn't know? Some doctor he is!) This was a classic case of friends becoming lovers, and not even their utter lack of palpable chemistry could diminish their cuteness. Plus, that Alexander Siddig is a babe.

Mulder and Scully, in blatant disregard of all the good that UST has done them.

Scully and Mulder: The poster-children for UST, no one could make a random glance or gesture convey a world of caring like Dana Scully and Fox Mulder of The X-Files. Okay, so they're now mockeries of their former selves, but, really, when Mulder sat by Scully's hospital bedside that one, oh, dozen times -- and vice versa -- holding a pale hand and gazing soulfully at the sleeping form, how could you help but get choked up?

Plus, The Kiss! The Kiss, baby! It was so sweet... and, in Mulder's words "The world didn't end." Then again, Scully sure looked like she wouldn't have minded an apocalypse at right about that moment, which can't help but make one wonder about Mulder.

Michael and Nikita: Yes, it's a spy thriller, and yes, it's on USA, but there is something infectious about the digitized conspiracy world of La Femme Nikita -- most probably the searing relationship of Operatives Michael (Roy Dupuis) and Nikita (Peta Wilson) themselves. Their dangerous liaison is full of heat, and though the acting is merely serviceable, when the beautiful Nikita and oddly-compelling Michael are locked in a passionate night of post-mission...er... de-briefing, that is of no concern. Of course, there are those who scoff at La Femme Nikita for being merely a show based on an under-appreciated film... the word Buffy mean anything to you people?

Now and Again's Michael and Lisa. Can't type, drooling...

Michael and Lisa: In the very cool CBS series Now and Again, John Goodman traded in his body for that of the delicious Eric Close, and then got his mourning wife (Margaret Colin) in a clinch that was pretty much designed to sustain any viewer's pulse-rate even through a full hour of Diagnosis Murder. These characters were married for years, yet not only did they get to kiss for the first time, but they did it so well that the tops nearly exploded off our heads. On CBS? Meanwhile, the claim that Eric Close's character of Michael Wiseman is the perfect man? Well, no argument here.

Nick and Natalie: In a tragic final episode that left no one in doubt of a "Save Our Show" campaign's futility, Detective Nick Knight and Dr. Natalie Lambert realised, at least, the very depths of their great love for each other -- and died. As Nat gave her life for vampire Nick, a heart-wrenching "NO!" was ripped from the lungs of discerning viewers everywhere, and not even the wholesale carnage wrought in the series from the second season on could have prepared the true Forever Knight fan for this sudden proof of the title's complete inappropriateness. Leave it to the Canadians...

Mr and Mrs Robinson: Sadly, we never got to see it, but you had only to look at the sizzling chemistry between Mom and Dad Robinson to just know they were madly rocking that Jupiter II whenever those idiot children had gone off and gotten themselves captured by aliens or whatever. They may have been Lost in Space, but they were also lost in each other. And, considering the hairstyles? Well, it must have been love.

Were these couples the only reasons we watched the shows? Well, no, obviously, 'cause what about Willow and Oz? Picard and Crusher? Dr. Smith and the Robot? However they, and others like them, were -- and are -- a big part of the reason for our fascination. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sex, sexual tension, sexual desire -- and various other states of being with the word "sex" in them -- are all a part of our lives, and so it is only natural that we respond well to characters who share the same wants, the same needs. And, okay, it doesn't hurt that they all look good. Damn good.

But the question becomes, is it all about sex? Are we really watching TV for the voyeuristic, Boogie Nights-esque pleasure of seeing our favourite characters get it on -- or is it actually about watching them become human? As these characters fall in love -- be in love -- we quite often fall in love with them ourselves. And even as genre shows steadily become swirling pools of unalloyed lust, at their very core is the most basic of human impulses, that most primal of physical urges. The need to have cable.

So, as the music swells and the lights dim, as lips lock and chests heave, we see everything our heroes are feeling, and we can feel it too. Love, lust, whatever it is, is compelling viewing, and keeps us coming back for more like nothing else on Earth. It makes us watch the shows we should hate and makes us love the shows we watch.

Like the song says: Let's do it. Let's fall in love.

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