Valentine’s Day is a form of nostalgia for a lot of people.

You think back on past loves.

You think back on the magic of a first date – whether it went well or not.

You think back on that voodoo doll you bought if the date went bad.

Invariably, you also think back on how most of the individuals you’ve dated never live up to the ideal.

 

What ideal you may ask?

The one where everyone compares the person they're dating to that perfect couple that captured their heart – whether on the big or small screen.

With that in mind, I thought we’d take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the small screen’s best pairings. Did your favorite couple make the list? It’s time to find out.

10. Chuck and Blair – There isn’t a lot to like about the CW’s ‘Gossip Girl’ anymore. In fact, the only thing to like about the show is Chuck and Blair. The bad girl and bad boy have made their share of mistakes – Chuck once traded Blair for a hotel – but they always seem to find their way back to each other. Both Chuck and Blair have destructive tendencies. They both manage to not only find the line but almost always cross it as well. Yet, somehow, when the duo is together you still can’t help but root for them. With ‘Gossip Girl’ looking to be winding down, I think the only thing fans care about anymore is that Chuck and Blair reunite – well, that and we never have to see the vapid Chace Crawford and Penn Badgely again. You know you love them, XOXO.

9. Luke and Lorelai – From the first time they sparred, fans of Stars Hallow and the WB’s ‘Gilmore Girls’ knew that Luke and Lorelai belonged together. She infuriated him. He annoyed her. She badgered him until she’d get what she wanted. He’d yell at her and storm off. Yet they were always there for each other. It took four seasons for Luke and Lorelai to get together, and once they did fans thought they could breathe a sigh of relief. The inevitable break ups came (one that didn’t stick and one that only seemed to stick), but in the end we were given hope that despite all they’d gone through, including disastrous marriages to other people, Luke and Lorelai would find their way back to each other.

8. Kevin and Scotty – ABC’s ‘Brothers and Sisters’ went through a lot of pairings throughout the years. Sisters Kitty and Sarah had a bevy of men between them and youngest brother Justin actually married the girl he once thought was his sister. It was the show’s central gay couple, Kevin and Scotty, which carried the show, though. They went through a lot – infidelity, class inequality, Kevin’s nosy mother, Scotty’s bigoted mother – but in the end they took their son and adopted daughter and proved that it’s not who you love but how you love that counts.

7. Sydney and Vaughn – ABC’s ‘Alias’ was known for fast action and preposterous plot twists. It also had its own super spy super couple in Sydney and Vaughn. Fans waited a season and a half for them to get together. Then the leading lady was “killed” off and returned two years later to find Vaughn had married another woman. After they killed off his wife (she was a double agent, long story) they reunited only to have Vaughn “die” and Sydney be forced to give birth to their daughter without him. Since no one ever really dies on ‘Alias,’ Vaughn did return to his family in the end. Despite their rollercoaster relationship, I don’t think any fan of the show would have been happy had their favorite couple not been reunited in the end. No matter what Sydney’s stern father thought.

6. Pacey and Joey – Poor Dawson. Never has the main character on a show had such rotten luck. First he lost his leading man status to Katie Holmes’ tortured Joey character – who became the main focus on ‘Dawson’s Creek.’ Then, in the final episode of the long running WB series, he didn’t even get the girl. Instead, his best friend ran off into the sunset with her. When they were first paired, I think everyone liked the way Pacey and Joey challenged each other in one breath and smothered each other with kisses in another. Somehow, though, over the course of the show they became the heart of the entire fictional world. Fans would have revolted if she’d ultimately chosen any other way.

5. Jack and Kate – There are arguably a lot of couples from ‘Lost’ that could make the list. Sawyer and Juliet, Jinn and Sun, Charlie and Claire, Penny and Desmond, Miles and Hurley. Jack and Kate, though, were really the heart of the story and plot of ‘Lost’ for its entire run. Things didn’t turn out well for the couple. They got engaged. They broke up. She went on trial for murder. He died on the island. She left. Knowing they were reunited in the afterlife was small solace to fans – but knowing they would spend forever together was a fitting ending for a couple who were literally destined to be together.

4. Roseanne and Dan – The Conners weren’t rich. They weren’t beautiful. They weren’t smooth talkers. They didn’t have perfect children. They did have a lot of love, though. Roseanne and Dan could fight one minute and have robust makeup sex in the next. That was refreshing since they were more “real sized” Americans, or, as Roseanne herself said “We’re fat Dan.” They had one daughter get married without graduating high school and another get knocked up in Disney World – and there’s not enough time to discuss the problems with DJ – but never once did you worry that somehow Dan and Roseanne wouldn’t make it.

3. Lucy and Ricky – For a couple that was forced to share separate beds and somehow conceive a child, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo had a tough road. Despite the fact that the actors who portrayed them separated in real life, the devotion and laughs that accompanied Lucky and Ricky never faltered. Even today, when you can find a rerun, you can sit and marvel at the way the duo sparkle onscreen together. I think most fans wished the couple’s romance could have survived real life, but it did survive reel life and thanks to syndication you can still catch glimpses of it on a regular basis.

2. Dwayne and Whitley – I don’t think that ‘Cosby Show’ spinoff ‘A Different World’ found its footing until they stumbled upon the magic that was Dwayne and Whitley. They were a mismatched couple from the beginning. He was a nerd. She was a debutante. Somehow, though, she managed to make him cool and he managed to soften her edges and bring her down to Earth. They just clicked. Of course, because it’s television, Dwayne and Whitley did break up – but only so they could have the best reunion ever filmed. When Dwayne interrupts Whitley’s wedding to Byron and asks her to marry him instead, I know I screamed “I do” at the television just as loud as Whitley did at Dwayne.

1. Buffy and Angel – Was there ever a more tortured couple on primetime? Buffy was the chosen one, a vampire slayer who had the misfortune of falling in love with the one vampire in the world (at that time anyway) who had been cursed with a soul. And Angel? I think we were supposed to be freaked out because he was so much older than her. Since Angel was so hot, though, everyone just kind of let it slide. Somehow the couple caught the imagination of, well, just about everyone. They loved. They lost. She stabbed him through the chest and sent him to hell. He dumped her before the prom and then left town. Through it all, though, their loved survived – and so did that sizzling chemistry they demonstrated from their first kiss, when Buffy’s crucifix burned a cross shaped mark into Angel’s chest. Yes, they were that hot.

And, as usual, honorable mentions go to Paul and Jamie Buchman of ‘Mad About You,’ Lee and Amanda from ‘Scarecrow and Mrs. King,’ Maddie and Dave from ‘Moonlighting,’ Sawyer and Juliet from ‘Lost’ and Piper and Leo from ‘Charmed.’

What do you think? What’s your favorite television couple of all time?