Keeping It All in the Family: Infinite Family Plots

In terms of longevity, the current champion is The Simpsons with more than five hundred episodes over twenty-five (?!) seasons. Now that’s a cultural phenomenon. Endlessly inventive and genuinely funny, this series has the genius of Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, and a roster of ridiculously talented comedy writers. But, at the core, this is a show about a crazy, dysfunctional family. Now let’s look at some other long-running series about crazy families, and we can discern that series about families provide us with the potential for unlimited “story engines,” because as long as each family member has a problem, the show has the potential for new conflicts and new storylines.

All series specifically about families are serialized, as family lives continue to evolve week after week. But one of the main differences is that drama series offer us cliffhangers at the end of each episode to keep us coming back for more, while sitcoms tend to bring each episode’s self-contained storyline to a thematic conclusion (often with a subtle moral) to highlight a specific lesson learned. The stakes on family series tend to rest on power dynamics within relationships. In some cases, the serialized dramas gave us life and death stakes—especially after the blockbuster cliffhanger on Dallas hinging on the mysterious murder of J. R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) that hatched the iconic cliffhanger question: Who shot J. R.? Desperate Housewives and many other serialized dramas about families have also centered around a murder-mystery season arc. These darker, edgier, more provocative dramas about families should not to be confused with softer, G-rated “family dramas,” such as 7th Heaven, which are labeled “family dramas” because they’re intended to be watched by parents and their kids.

I’ll Be There for You: Enduring Friendships

Series about complicated, layered, and often funny friendships—including BFFs (best friends forever), bromances, and frenemies—also offer the potential for unlimited story engines. But these shows live or die based upon their iconic characters and fresh storylines (aka, fortunate casting + great writing).

Most friendship shows are heavily dependent on their arenas. Desperate Housewives was rooted on Wisteria Lane and we, as viewers, felt as if we lived there, too. One Tree Hill and Friday Night Lights have/had their respective basketball and football games to anchor their plot lines with the formula of: friendship + rivalry = suspense.

Most of these series orbit around two to three main “regular” locations. We know their (often bizarrely upscale) apartments intimately, as if we live there, too. Archie Bunker’s chair is permanently ensconced in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. And the “M” on Mary Richard’s wall is as iconic as her soaring hat in the Minneapolis wind. And, naturally, these friend ensembles enjoy their favorite hangouts. Beverly Hills, 90210 had the Peach Pit. Friends had Central Perk. How I Met Your Mother has MacLaren’s bar.

The durability of shows revolving around friendships also depends upon additional possibilities for story engines, such as each cast member of Friends and Sex and the City’s workplace antics, new love interests, and new sources of internal and external strife or forces of antagonism to upset the harmony.

Sex, Power, and the Search for “True Love”

There’s a tacit understanding that friendships and familial relationships go through ups and downs but eventually return to the status quo; we learn to accept each other’s shortcomings because we’ve seen each other through good and bad times. Intellectually, we know we’re not going to change each other, but we still offer our well intentioned yet unsolicited advice and insinuate ourselves at inopportune times. We embrace and endure all of this from our family and best friends because there’s a comfort level that allows it. When we negotiate vacations and holiday dinners and special events, we might experience feelings of resentment or animosity from past hurts, but we’re usually able to gather around the turkey together and put aside our differences for the sake of the family or friendship. Yes, I’m oversimplifying and generalizing in order to make a point—which is that when you add sex to any relationship, all bets are off.

Oh, the agony and ecstasy of romantic relationships—especially on television! Of course there’s a big distinction to be made between infatuation, sex, lust, passion, intimacy, commitment, marriage, and love. But for the sake of discussion, let’s start with the physical act of two naked bodies letting down their defenses and being open to the intimacy of another’s touch—coupled with the power dynamics that go along with it. There is dominance and submission in negotiating who’s going to do what to whom and where and when and how. And the post-coital negotiations. Spend the night or vamoose? Cigarette or no cigarette? Is breakfast together “taking the next step” or just a meal? Is he or she going to call? Is he or she going to say yes? Are his or her friends and family going to approve of his/her friends and family? And do we approve of each other’s wardrobes and hairstyles and pop culture references or lack thereof and where/if we went to college or how much money he or she makes, not to mention spiritual and political beliefs and how we want to raise our kids and do we both even want kids—and we haven’t even gotten to our music playlists and favorite movies and TV shows yet. You know what, this just isn’t going to work out. It’s not you; it’s me. Can we just be friends?

Suffice it to say, in romantic (sexual) relationships, everything counts in large amounts. We tend to cut our friends and family a whole lot more slack in pretty much every department because what they do is much less of a reflection on us. Or, to put it another way…

Happily Married

Hey, it happens. And not just as a form of punishment on Married … with Children. Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Modern Family, The West Wing, How I Met Your Mother, Everybody Loves Raymond, Home Improvement, and Downton Abbey all feature functional couples. Sure they argue and get on each other’s nerves from time to time, but there is never any doubt that they’re partners in love and fully committed.

Unfaithfully Yours

Always involves the conflict of secrets and lies which is often accompanied by separation, couple’s counseling, and sometimes eventually divorce. On Breaking Bad, Walter White initially gets into the meth drug trade for the sake of his family—ironically, it’s what tears them apart. See also The Sopranos, The Good Wife, Scandal, Mad Men, Desperate Housewives, Homeland, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, The Americans, House of Cards, and Boardwalk Empire.

In one of my all-time favorite movies, Moonstruck, the answer to the ongoing central question “Why do men cheat on their wives?” is “Because they fear death.” I believe there’s quite a bit of truth in that. The specter of mortality is omnipresent, and so is temptation.

It’s usually the men who cheat on their wives, but Nurse Jackie (Edie Falco), Nancy Botwin (Mary Louise Parker) on Weeds, and Betty Draper on Mad Men negate that gender bias—for better, for worse.

The Slow Burn

Primarily based on the commonly accepted wisdom that opposites attract, this relationship dynamic is all about sustaining the question of “will they or won’t they ever get together?” for as long as possible. These couples tend to clash over almost everything, but there is an undeniable attraction—despite protests to the contrary. “Methinks the lady [or man] doth protest too much” usually applies.

On Castle, best-selling mystery author Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) is initially foisted upon hardboiled homicide Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) to help solve a copycat murder case (based on one of his novels). At first, she’s infuriated to have a writer shadowing her on the job—and attempts to dump him. But she gradually succumbs to his charms, especially when he breaks through his writer’s block and decides to base his new novel’s heroine on her. And he just may be able to help her solve the unsolved murder of her mother.

Examples of slow burn relationships: Cheers (overeducated barmaid and brutish, handsome saloon owner); The X-Files (believer and skeptic); Moonlighting (uptown former fashion model and enterprising smartass); Who’s the Boss? (career woman and her housekeeper/manny); The Big Bang Theory (socially awkward physicist and sexy blonde neighbor); Bones (slick, cheeky FBI agent and uptight forensic anthropologist). For Cheers and Moonlighting, keeping the love interests apart was a huge draw for the audience, and getting them together was detrimental to the future of the series; in the case of Moonlighting, the ratings dropped precipitously. In the case of Cheers, persnickety Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) was out, and new slow burn love interest, the tougher ball-busting manager, Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley), was in—and the ratings climbed accordingly.

Conversely, on New Girl, creator/showrunner Liz Meriwether decided to speed up the pace of Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and Nick’s (Jake Johnson) budding romance. To Meriwether: “It felt like holding it off way longer would have been playing with the audience. It felt organic and the right time to do it [have them kiss]. I don’t believe that they kiss and the whole show is over. I believe it creates new opportunities for stories and conflicts and things going wrong. We kind of felt it helped our show and gave it focus.”

Showrunner Greg Daniels (The Office) points out that you can “miss your window” (by doling out a slow burn romance) “by delaying it for too long.” By giving a potential couple other partners to keep them apart, you run the risk that the audience will get more invested in these new couples instead— and will be averse to going back to the original couple.

Burn Notice inverts the slow burn formula. The title of the series refers to the “burn notices” issued by U.S. spy agencies to expel intelligence operatives or sources now considered leaky/defective and therefore expendable (and in one fell swoop expunging their entire work history, support network, and finances). The protagonist, former covert operations agent Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) gets “burned” and finds himself in Miami (his hometown) in the care of his estranged beautiful ex-girlfriend, a former IRA operative and explosives expert, Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar). Michael basically needs to lay low in Miami or risk being abducted by former allies and persistent enemies. Whereas most slow burn relationships start off platonic and are fraught with tension, Michael and Fiona’s torrid romance is in their past, and the question is “will they or won’t they get back together?” For the roguish Michael, Fiona is too volatile and high maintenance. Sure, they have great chemistry, but theirs was a romance that ended badly, so he’s reluctant to go there again. Fiona, on the other hand, still carries a torch for Michael and enjoys their dangerous missions together. To Fiona, violence is like foreplay, so their partnership is more of a gradual thaw than a slow burn.

Forbidden Love

This subcategory can include a taboo romance between a human and a supernatural being, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer + Angel (a vampire who gets his human soul back via a gypsy curse and becomes Buffy’s unattainable true love); unfortunately, when they finally consummate their passion, Angel loses his soul again and returns to the dark side as an evil vampire, relegating himself into exile. See also The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Being Human, and Smallville.

It can also encompass a romance in which one or both parties are unavailable—physically and/or emotionally. On Scandal, political fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) is having an affair with the married president of the United States (Tony Goldwyn). On Desperate Housewives, trophy wife Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) is having a casual affair with her studly teenaged gardener, John (Jesse Metcalfe); it’s not just naughty—it’s illegal.

The Love Triangle

On Homeland, returned POW/U.S. Marine sergeant Nicholas Brody is still in love with his estranged wife, Jessica (Morena Baccarin), but is also rapidly succumbing to his strong feelings for CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes). Complicating matters is Jessica’s serious relationship with Nicholas’ former best friend, U.S. Marine captain Mike Faber (Diego Klattenhoff), because, after Nicholas’ seven-year absence, she had presumed that her husband was dead.

On the second season of Parks and Recreation, Ann (Rashida Jones) broke up with Andy (Chris Pratt) after living with him because he was irresponsible and self-absorbed, but finds him alluring after he gets a job and becomes more stable. However, by that point, Andy has his eyes set on April (Aubrey Plaza), who just broke up with her two gay boyfriends (who were dating each other) to pursue Andy.

On the first season of True Blood, Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) falls in love with “young” vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), but when an elder vampire, Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) appears, Bill gets surly, and Sookie and Eric hook up.

On the first season of Friday Night Lights, after star quarterback Jason Street (Scott Porter) suffers a debilitating injury on the football field, his steady girlfriend, Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly), finds herself drawn to sexy bad boy Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch), testing both her loyalty and spirit— ultimately leading Lyla from capricious Panthers cheerleader to faithful Christian youth leader.

On season 1 of Once Upon a Time, Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) from the Enchanted Forest fairy-tale realm seem destined to be together in their reincarnations as Mary Margaret and David Nolan in Storybrooke, Maine. Unfortunately, he’s engaged to another woman, Kathryn (Anastasia Griffith), who was also his unrequited love interest, Princess Abigail, in the fairy-tale realm.

In season 4 of 30 Rock, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is in love with both Avery Jessup (Elizabeth Banks) and Nancy Donovan (Julianne Moore)— both of whom don’t know about each other. He tries to date them both while he figures out his feelings. Nancy—Jack’s high school love—gets a divorce for him, while Avery—Jack’s female Republican/battle axe counterpart—fights her instincts to be independent of men. The triangle is resolved when Nancy finds out inadvertently that Avery is pregnant with Jack’s baby, unbeknownst to him. Jack realizes that Avery can offer him everything he wants, and Nancy releases him. Jack and Avery get married, have a baby (in season 5), and end up getting happily divorced later.

Casual Sex: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

Even though it’s the twenty-first century, on TV series, the old double standard tends to apply here: men can have casual sex, take a shower, and move on, whereas women on TV tend to get emotionally involved. Mainstream TV audiences are still fairly conservative, and seem to have a much easier time accepting men as aggressors seeking conquests and women as guardians of virtue. Of course, as times are changing and TV series are evolving, there are a great number of exceptions. But for women on TV series, the thrill of the one-night stand is often mitigated by reality in the cold light of day, followed by neurosis, remorse, and/or a pregnancy scare or even an STD. And men get off (literally) scot-free. Naturally, this all depends on the perspective of the specific characters. For Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) on Sex and the City, women can have casual sex to their heart’s content—just like men!—with no justification or neurosis required. But even the flagrantly naked and promiscuous Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) of Girls needs to deal with some emotional fallout and equivocation.

See also Girls, Entourage, Sex and the City, Grey’s Anatomy. This subcategory can also include sexual addiction: Californication, Nip/Tuck, Queer as Folk, and Mad Men.

Sex for Money, Power, and/or Political Gain

This subcategory includes prostitution on The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Hung, and The Client List.

More nuanced versions of sex as part of the job include Elizabeth and Phillip Jennings (Keri Russell, Mathew Rhys) on The Americans who pretend to be a happily married couple for the sake of their covert KGB assignments.

On House of Cards, Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) has sexual encounters with a deceitful, ambitious reporter for his own political gain (and her career advancement).

On Mad Men, buxom office manager and struggling single mom Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) makes a strategic career move to break through the glass ceiling into the boys’ club when she agrees to have sex with an all-important client. But it’s a bittersweet victory: she wins the prize, but suffers the shame of having slept her way to the top.

On Homeland, we’re not sure at first if CIA operative Carrie is seducing war hero/possibly “turned” terrorist as a strategy to break him or if she’s genuinely falling in love with him. And vice versa. It’s a cat-and-mouse love story, and the jury is still out on who’s playing whom and why.

Serial Monogamy

This subcategory encompasses characters searching hard for Mr. or Ms. Right, not because they are promiscuous but because they’re seeking their “soul mate.” And so, they’re in a perpetual cycle of dating/hoping/rejecting/being rejected (rinse, repeat).

On Girls, Hannah Horvath and her best friends, Marnie (Allison Williams), Jessa (Jemima Kirke), and Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) endeavor to snag their respective men, and then systematically self-sabotage their relationships due to insecurity, neuroses, fear of intimacy, abandonment, and self-loathing. It’s all relatable, often very funny, and heartbreaking—but how long can this smartly written series sustain this trajectory?

30 Rock: If there’s one thing for sure about Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), it’s that she does not give up. From mystery man at the dentist (Wesley Snipes) [Michael Sheen], to nice guys from Cleveland (Floyd DeBarber) [Jason Sudeikis], to handsome pilots with the name of a comedy legend (Carol Burnett) [Matt Damon], Liz has gotten close several times, but something always happens to ruin the dream—including discovering that one boyfriend had been on To Catch a Predator—until she meets Criss Chros (James Marsden), a fellow Star Wars enthusiast, and she finds a way to be a wife, a mother, and a happily working woman.

The Mindy Project: Mindy Lahiri loves romantic movies and big romantic gestures. Her encyclopedic knowledge of popular films fuels her desire to find Mr. Right. She thinks she’s found him in Josh (Tommy Dewey), a sports lawyer who has everything—including another girlfriend and an addiction to drugs. Like Liz, she is undeterred and meets a cute minister, Casey (Anders Holm), who promptly tells her that she’s too self-absorbed for him and in an effort to prove him wrong, she agrees to go on a one-year mission to Haiti with him. Meanwhile, the audience wants to know when she and Danny (Chris Messina), her copartner in their ob/gyn practice, are going to realize that they’re meant for each other. Will the timing be right next season? Will she go to Haiti? Stay tuned.

See also Ally McBeal, Sex and the City.

The Crush

Subcategory for young love. The iconic series The Wonder Years got the nostalgia of puppy love just right—providing us with a dual perspective of Kevin (Fred Savage) as an insecure, flailing kid in love with the seemingly unattainable Winnie (Danica McKellar), and Kevin’s adult self looking back on his life via voice-over.

My So-Called Life, a short-lived ABC series, has now achieved cult status for its nuanced, realistic depiction of romantic high school angst. Its heroine was Angela Chase (Claire Danes) who pines for smoldering, aloof, laconic Lothario Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto). Their intense, slow burn relationship was a complicated courtship of fleeting glances and awkward pauses. There was also Angela’s childhood friend, Brian Krakow’s (Devon Gummersall) underdog/puppy love attraction for Angela further confusing her coming-of-age. The touchstone of My So-Called Life was telling as little story as possible and digging deeper into every small moment.

On MTV’s Awkward, social misfit Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards) has a freak accident in her bathroom that everyone at school misconstrues as a suicidal cry for help. So Jenna decides to turn her misfortune into a blessing via her blog. Soon, she loses her virginity to popular hunk Matty McKibben (Beau Mirchoff), who privately likes off beat Jenna but publicly wants to keep their relationship a secret to preserve his image on campus. Their arrangement works until Jenna develops feelings for Matty’s best friend, Jake Rosati (Brett Davern), and now has a secret of her own. The show’s sensibility is reminiscent of the films made by the late, great movie director, John Hughes, who had an uncanny ability not only to make us laugh and cringe, but also to genuinely move us.

See also Gossip Girl for its depiction of cynical, entitled rich kids and their soapy Dangerous Liaisons machinations; and Pretty Little Liars.

Pushing the Envelope

Whether it’s the Dionysian orgies on Spartacus, Game of Thrones, and The Tudors or the promiscuity on Entourage, Girls, Nip/Tuck, Mad Men, True Blood, and Hung, these sex scenes range from graphic and (arguably) gratuitous to simply implied. These are all edgy cable series that get around the censors (aka “Standards and Practices”) at the broadcast networks with the requisite nudity and provocative sexual situations. See also Queer as Folk, The “L” Word, Dexter, Weeds, Sex and the City, American Horror Story, Nip/Tuck, The Americans, Red Shoe Diaries, and Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

While the love story component isn’t the only reason for a series’ success, it’s certainly a major factor to their longevity. Remove the sexual chemistry from the series and most, if not all, would quickly fizzle. Or as iconic film director and screenwriter Paul Mazursky once said: “All stories are about people trying to get laid.”