R.I.P. Tim Curry: Top 5 of his most unforgettable performances

Greetings, reader!

First Dolly Parton, and then Tim Curry on the very next day...the giants among us have been dropping like flies this week. While I'm not quite well-versed enough in Parton's body of work that her passing would've called for a blog post, I will say this before moving on to today's main topic: Dolly's unwavering allyship to the LGBTQ+ community and other minorities, her example of devout Christianity being a reason to spread love and not bigotry, and her admirable philanthropy make for one hell of a legacy. She made enough money in her career that she could've become a billionaire, but she was so consistently charitable towards various important causes that she never came close to hoarding that much money for herself - and millions of children across the world are better off for it.

Then for today's main topic - this is a movie&TV blog, so I just have to address what an incredible career Tim Curry had before passing away at the age of eighty. The dude gave us so many memorable performances, and it seems like every stage of my life has featured the discovery of a piece of media where Mr. Curry plays an incredible role. Here is my ranking of the roles that I'll remember him by the most.

Honorable mentions: voicing Auntie Whispers in Over the Garden Wall, and various villains in the Scooby-Doo franchise.

5. Cardinal Richelieu in The Three Musketeers (1993)

As well-cast as the titular musketeers (and fourth wheel D'Artagnan) are in this film, Tim Curry absolutely stole the show in all of his scenes, portraying the legendary villain Richelieu. The 1993 Three Musketeers flick walks the line of being decent adventure cinema while not taking itself too seriously, and Curry's antagonist fit this vision like a glove: he had enough gravitas to make the character a believably serious presence, but also got so wonderfully hammy with it to ensure a good time for everyone watching.

4. Professor in Scary Movie 2 (2001)

While Hollywood has turned out to be upsettingly full of real-life creeps, Tim Curry was by all accounts a decent guy - and the all-time greatest at playing a creep. While the man had range and could pull off a number of roles, I always considered this to be his biggest strength - no one could pull off "creepy" in a manner as deliciously entertaining as him. Throughout his impressive career, Curry showed us many different sides of this trait, making many of his best-remembered characters somewhat creepy in different ways - and in Scary Movie 2, he nails 'funny-creepy'.

There was no one in Hollywood better suited for the role of the cheesy, overtly sinister 'Professor' in this horror spoof than Tim Curry. He had so much fun with the role, hamming it up while still keeping a certain degree of sincerity that builds a wonderful contrast with the more over-the-top performances of Anna Faris and company.

3. Pennywise in IT (1990)

I've been contrasting the careers of the two giants we lost this week, and one of the clearest comparisons is this. Tim Curry's take on Pennywise is like Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You, and Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise is Whitney Houston's cover of Dolly's song. In both cases, the latter can be universally agreed to be 'even better' by many merits - but in both cases, the original still deserves tons of praise for paving the way and still being an absolute banger.

I must admit, with absolutely no disrespect to Curry, that I've always liked Skarsgård's Pennywise even more - but it's a tight margin, and both performances are total all-timers. Appearing in an overall lesser adaptation of Stephen King's masterpiece, what I found particularly striking when watching this was how Tim Curry's frightening performance is so clearly the best part of the miniseries. Curry's acting chops absolutely carry the end product, as he turns his signature acting-creepy talents to its darkest, most devastating lengths (while still being fairly campy with it, because, well, when you get Tim Curry, you get Tim Curry. What a legend).

2. Concierge in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

While I couldn't quite put this at #1, a big part of me wanted to - this is the Tim Curry performance that has affected me the most, and is the first one to come to mind when I think of him. While he doesn't even showcase as much conventionally recognizable acting talent in this film as he does in IT or The Three Musketeers, one has to remember that acting for the right target audience is a skill in itself - so for a family movie, what really matters is how your performance translates to a child watching the film. And let me tell you, as someone who mass-consumed the two first Home Alone films at a young age - Curry's concierge character scared the living hell out of me as a kid.

The best part is that there wasn't anything scarring about it - as authentically creepy as the character is, there's still something so whimsical about it that even as a kid, it doesn't rub you the wrong way. It wasn't a scary villain that will haunt you in your dreams after seeing the film - he was genuinely scary in the moment when you're watching the film, but once the credits roll, it's already a fun memory and not a disturbing one. But yeah, those facial expressions really got to me - and in retrospect, the role is very funny to me because he didn't need to be doing all of that. The concierge isn't the main villain - I'm not sure if he was written as an antagonist at all. Curry just decided to do his thing with the character, doing SO MUCH with his facial expressions and tonal inflections, and the movie is better off for it.

1. Dr. Frank-N-Furter - A Scientist in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

But yeah - it had to be this one at #1. The role that permanently cemented Tim Curry in cinematic history (not to mention queer culture) has everything - dramatic flair, delicious humor, and genuine weirdness. With effortless talent and a magnetic screen presence, Curry could be sexy and charming in one scene, scary and unhinged in the next, and hilarious and absolutely bonkers right after that, while believably remaining in the same character. With vocals and line deliveries on point, and facial expressions that will stay with you long after the credits rolled, he truly made the most out of this role, setting the gold standard for the key role in one of our most beloved musicals.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I celebrate the Star Trek franchise's 60th anniversary by ranking the top 10 reasons why you should get into the greatest sci-fi franchise of all time.

Top 40 love stories from TV

Greetings, reader!

I'm getting married this week!!! To celebrate this splendid occasion, this week's blog post is a special one - I already ranked the greatest TV weddings of all time last year (to celebrate my brother's wedding), so now I'm taking a look at the greatest love stories in general. Well, the greatest ones from TV - there are some from real life that would beat any of these (believe me, I know). Oh, and I limited the list to one couple per TV show, because otherwise the list would be 90 per cent Grey's Anatomy. Also, a spoiler alert is in order, so please skip any entries that have to do with shows you haven't watched but might want to see someday!

Here are my honorable mentions: Cassian & Bix (Andor), Elena & Syd (One Day at a Time), Mike & Rachel (Suits), Miranda & Gary (Miranda), Mo & Maria (Mo).

40. Jon & Ygritte (Game of Thrones)

Most of the memorable couples on Game of Thrones were horrible ones, as the point of the series was very far removed from sweet romance. However, the story of Jon Snow and Ygritte of the Free Folk in seasons 3 and 4 always stuck with me, bringing something pure and innocent into the show's bleak and brutal world (of course, their story does end tragically). The romance clearly carried with the character, as Kit Harington's facial expressions for most of seasons 5-8 can be read as "I never should have left that f**king cave".

39. Frank & Sam (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

I did not expect a show as cynical and embedded in dark humor as It's Always Sunny to provide a genuinely heartwarming love story, especially after they went sixteen seasons straight without doing so! But, in a delightfully out-of-the-box move, the season 17 finale The Golden Bachelor Live gave a genuine love interest to fan favorite Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito) in the form of Sam, played by the great Carol Kane. Who knows how many seasons the 81-year-old DeVito has in him - so it's sweet as hell that they wrote Sam into the show, paving the way for an unlikely but touching happy ending when the time comes.

38. Jim & Maggie (The Newsroom)

Let's face it - all the major couples from The Newsroom kind of suck. MacKenzie is way too good for Will, Don and Sloan do have chemistry but also bring out the worst in each other, and Jim and Maggie's path to being together is littered with red flags. Still, all of the couples also do have their moments, and honestly - I couldn't help but root for Jim and Maggie despite their flaws. Yes, they had exhausting arguments and loads of unnecessary drama, but it's clear beyond it all how much they love each other and fought the odds to be together. They're not the most purely feel-good couple on the list, but an ultimately welcome and inevitable jolt of romance nonetheless.

37. Nick & Jess (New Girl)

And here we do have one of the more feel-good ones! The chemistry between Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel is untypical but whimsically refreshing, and they have plenty of awesome moments together throughout the show's run. It would probably be even higher on my list if New Girl was an overall bigger series for me (I've only watched it through once, and it didn't make as much of an impact as many better sitcoms). Still, good times!

36. Barry & Iris (The Flash)

This romance was a big part of why The Flash worked so well as a happier, more cheesy-comic-book-fun counterpart to Arrow, from which it spun off. Amidst all the zany action sequences and secret-identity hijinks, the gradual love story between Barry and Iris may have been a bit cliché - but it was cliché in just the right way, building even more of the campy old-school superhero genre vibe into the series. Love them together!

35. Raffi & Seven (Star Trek: Picard)

When the first season of The Next Generation's legacy sequel Star Trek: Picard came out, I was not expecting Voyager alumnus Seven-of-Nine (Jeri Ryan) to make a comeback as well - and I certainly wasn't expecting for her to find the love of her life in the series as well! The love story between Raffi and Seven unfolds very much in the background of more fleshed-out plotlines, but the characters are great together and really bring out the best in each other. This one was an endearing surprise, and one that added a lot of heart into the series.

34. Ola & Lily (Sex Education)

There are many couples in this brilliant series, and I consider almost all of the main ones to a bit overrated - and thus no one, from Otis and Maeve to Eric and Adam, holds a candle to these two oddball side characters in my book. Ola and Lily ending up together was a stroke of genius from the writers, and the dynamic between the two of them is just so fun!

33. Marshall & Lily (How I Met Your Mother)

An argument could be made for Ted and the mythical Tracy as the show's best couple, as their larger-than-life love story is why we have a show in the first place and it had plenty of magical moments. But still, the powerful and star-crossed antics of that storyline don't quite match up to the calm, content representation of a rock-solid marriage that Marshall and Lily provide throughout the show's run. Sure, they have their ups and downs, but they're always there for each other when it counts and their love for each other is proved time and time again in a multitude of romantic moments big and small.

32. Riker & Troi (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Yes, I limited these to one couple per series - but the Star Trek franchise consists of multiple different TV shows in the same universe, many of which contain great love stories, so the world's greatest sci-fi franchise will be making quite a few appearances on this list! Probably the most iconic love story from the franchise, if not quite my #1 favorite, is between Will Riker and Deanna Troi on The Next Generation. While they end up spending a very small chunk of the series actually together, there was never a shred of doubt for them being endgame - the lore of their romantic past before the show's events, the tender moments between them, and the swoon-worthy chemistry between the actors were enough to prove that.

31. Darlene & Dom (Mr. Robot)

Hell yeah! Mr. Robot didn't waste too much time with romantic subplots in general, so when FBI Agent Dominique DiPierro entered the series in its second season, I definitely didn't have "she's probably going to be a love interest to one of the characters" on my bingo card. However, as soon as her interactions with Darlene began, there was a sparkle to be felt - and I'm so glad the writers followed up on that, with a subtly built and ultimately beautiful romance between the characters. In an otherwise dark and cynical show, the blossoming love between Darlene and Dom added some much-needed heart that helped make the stakes feel more humane and real by the final season.

30. Bree & Orson (Desperate Housewives)

I know, I know - they did some choices with Orson's character in the later seasons and things got, uh, weird. Yet still, when all is said and done, I'd be lying to myself and to you, dear reader, if I picked any other Desperate Housewives couple as the show's best - because that's how good Bree and Orson were in their prime.

Yes, Susan and Mike were sweet, Carlos and Gabby had brilliant chemistry and McCluskey got a great romance with Roy - but none of them hold a candle to the butterflies-in-your-stomach material that the early days of Bree and Orson provided. With chemistry on point, stars aligned for a great love story and personalities that match (because they're both unhinged freaks), this couple was one for the ages.

29. Maggie & Glenn (The Walking Dead)

Nothing quite like a zombie apocalypse to serve as the backdrop for a dramatic, romantic, heart-melting and ultimately tragic love story. Maggie and Glenn were just similar enough to work, and just different enough to make for an exciting opposites-attract dynamic that helped both individuals grow as characters. There's no Maggie as we know her without Glenn, and there's certainly no Glenn without Maggie.

The romance between these two crazy kids was exactly what the series needed, serving as the beating heart of the ensemble cast from season 2 all the way to when the series famously ends in its sixth season (no, I'm not in denial, I'm just accurately remembering how the show ends with Maggie and Glenn both happy and alive because the whole thing with Negan and the baseball bat was just a bad dream we all had, stop gaslighting me!).

28. Poussey & Soso (Orange Is the New Black)

Okay, we've officially entered a weird streak of genuinely good love stories that didn't exactly have the happiest endings - I swear, there's a lot of storybook stuff ahead! TV writers do love to play with our feelings, so it makes sense that in many shows, the love story with the most potential is the one that is upended for maximum dramatic effect.

But I will say this - as long as they got to be with each other, Poussey and Soso were gold. Their chemistry wasn't an obvious one but felt thoroughly warm and real, and both characters found so much warmth and relief from each other in an otherwise bleak setting. I was cheering for them to end up together from the first flirt, and pumping my fist upon their first kiss, and that's the part I'm choosing to remember.

27. Max & Lucas (Stranger Things)

Oh, hell yeah. There were many memorable couples in Stranger Things, but I didn't have to think very long and hard about which one to put at #1. Everything that went down between Lucas and Max was so real, the actors had unreal chemistry with one another, and the ways in which the romance furthered both character archs was next-level - Lucas was "the boring one" out of the original group in my book before he met Max, and a few seasons of dating the show's best character helped him become the badass warrior we saw in the final season. As for Max, after everything she endured, she deserved happiness more than anyone and got just that in the form of a sweet guy riddled with green flags.

26. Fry & Leela (Futurama)

No, I'm not exaggerating with this placement - just watch the original series finale Meanwhile and you'll see what I'm talking about. What started as a silly crush slowly transitioned into a fun romance, then a genuinely well-written love story, and ultimately one of the show's defining tenets. Fry and Leela were so fun together, and the episodes focusing on their love for one another were outrageously touching for such a generally goofy series.

25. Bill & Frank (The Last of Us)

Yeah, it's only one episode - but so what? This out-of-the-box narrative detour furthered the worldbuilding of The Last of Us in a rather unique way, showcasing the mellow, deep and ultimately heartwrenching love story between two men who found solace in each other in a post-apocalyptic society. Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett provide excellent guest performances, and the episode's score and cinematography really help elevate an already powerful love story to even further levels.

24. Leslie & Julie (Ted Lasso)

The same goes for TV and real life - even a romantic such as myself has to admit that the best love stories aren't always the dramatic, Shakespearean ones where two star-crossed lovers fight astronomical odds in order to get together. Sometimes it's the more quiet and subtle couples, that don't make a big deal of themselves but clearly keep each other genuinely happy with a healthy, steady dynamic.

One of the better examples of this is Leslie Higgins and his wife Julie on Ted Lasso - we never see their actual love story unfold from start to finish like we do with many of the show's more central couples - what we do see are glimpses into a balanced, mature marriage, that is clearly the result of a lot of work and of two people who were absolutely right for each other finding happiness in each other. A very underrated couple, and one that always puts a smile on my face!

23. Kelly & Yorkie (Black Mirror)

Somehow The Last of Us doesn't even have the best LGBTQ+ romance confined to a single episode in TV history - there's no way around it, this one is even better. San Junipero is one of the most unforgettable episodes in the anthology series Black Mirror, and this is largely due to the passionate, emotionally charged love story between Kelly and Yorkie, and how the episode's creative sci-fi premise is used to make the romance as raw and hard-hitting as possible. Watching this episode is sure to make a viewer like myself cry like a baby, but in an ultimately nice way.

22. Adira & Gray (Star Trek: Discovery)

Ah - these two make my heart swell, and if you watch Discovery, chances are they'll make you heart swell too. The third season of this Star Trek spin-off continued the franchise's long history of inclusion and diversity, introducing the franchise's first major nonbinary character Adira, as well as its first trans character Gray. The existence of these characters, and the nonchalant way in which they're treated, is a brilliant testament to the utopic future setting of the franchise: in this enlightened version of the future, where humanity has grown past hatred and discrimination, there isn't any transphobia or antigender attitudes, so everyone is super chill with these characters, as it should be.

Anyhow, the story of Adira and Gray is pretty great. They have each others' backs, they develop a unique and quite literally star-crossed bond, and they work on overcoming their obstacles. They're both among the show's best characters, so all of their scenes and storylines together are a pretty special treat (not to mention how the 'family unit' formed by them and the show's second-best couple Paul&Hugh is just such a cozy and safe-feeling element in the show's atmosphere for us LGBTQ+ viewers).

21. Charlotte & Harry (Sex and the City)

For a show largely about relationship drama, most of the major relationships were...kind of bad. Which actually makes sense, because that always made for killer drama! But amidst all of that, there were a few genuinely great love stories to be found...and it's hard to imagine why anyone would pick any other as their #1 than Charlotte and Harry. This one hit hard on all the levels - the two characters were just similar enough in order for the relationship to work like magic, and just different enough that they both learned a lot from each other and grew significantly via each other. If I were to rank the top 10 sweetest romantic moments from the series, I'm guessing that seven or eight of the moments would belong to this one couple, because that's how perfect for each other they are.

20. Abed & Rachel (Community)

Some might call this ranking too high (as in "Veikko, you've gotta be TOO HIGH if you really think this deserves top 20"), but I'm standing by it. You might say that I'm biased as a Community fan and as someone who identifies with the character Abed - and you know what? You'd be right. So what? It's my subjective list.

Abed and Rachel never got all that much screentime together, because Brie Larson blew up as a big-scale movie star right after the character was introduced, so we only ever got three episodes of her. But, my God - each and every one of those three episodes moves me to tears every time. Their initial flash of electric chemistry in season 4's Herstory of Dance, the surprise romantic twist in season 5's Analysis of Cork-Based Networking, and Abed's standing-in-the-rain rom-com speech in VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing...it's all so good, and in my head, they remained together despite the character being off-screen for all of season 6. If Brie Larson reprises her role for the eventual Community movie, I'll be squealing with joy!

19. Andy & Lucy (Twin Peaks)

Ah, this is one of those cases where you wish you could inject into your veins that feeling that you get when watching their scenes together - pure, innocent and adorable euphoria. If ever there were two characters that were meant for each other, it's these two lovable dorks - and while their journey to being together wasn't the most straightforward, it was an absolute joy to follow and rooting for them is an essential part of the Twin Peaks experience.

One of my favorite details about their relationship is that in Twin Peaks: The Return, we meet their son - and in what is possibly the greatest casting choice of all time, he's played by Michael Cera. After seeing that, you'll be convinced that Cera was created in a lab to be the absolute embodiment of these two characters, because goddamn, he's more believable in that role than anyone in anything!

18. Ross & Rachel (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.)

Relax, I'm kidding. These two SUCKED.

18. Chandler & Monica (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.)

Yeah, this is the real F.R.I.E.N.D.S. couple (some might prefer Phoebe and Mike, which I honestly get, but still - it'll always be Chandler and Monica for me). In one of fiction's greatest usages of the friends-to-lovers trope, these two characters spend the four first seasons subtly growing their chemistry via a genuine, unassuming friendship - and when they suddenly hook up, it's as much a surprise for them as it must have been for first-time viewers back then. There was no obvious build-up, nor does there need to be - the sudden romance comes out of nowhere, yet immediately makes all the sense in the world...and the rest is history.

This relationship is so monumental that a lot of fans, myself included, divide the trajectory of the series into two eras in their mind - before Mondler, and after Mondler. The fifth season is the show's best largely because the dawn of their relationship is utilized for incredible comedy but also for some heart-melting depictions of falling in love, and from thereon out, we get legendary stuff like Monica's proposal, the two-part wedding episode, and the eventual adoption storyline. The characters grow together, elevate each other in the good times and help each other out in the bad, and become the ultimate versions of each other thanks to the relationship that became the backbone of the series.

17. Tom & B'Ellanna (Star Trek: Voyager)

I'm looking forward to re-watching Voyager with Martta, because there's a lot that I remember kinda hazily - back when I first watched the show, I watched it simultaneously with all other existing Star Trek shows, which was a cool and nerdy experience but also made this particular series feel like a fever dream (a f**king great fever dream, that is). The relationship between helmsman Tom Paris and the half-Klingon engineer B'Ellanna Torres is a great example of this - I don't really remember how their romance was built up, when and how exactly they got together, or other such details about their trajectory. I just remember that it was a wild ride, and I absolutely loved it.

While I know they weren't together from the start, the couple grew to be such a staple of the series that by its end, it felt like they've been together forever. I remember re-watching the pilot and thinking that both individuals (but especially Tom) feel like completely different characters without the context of their relationship. But that's what a great relationship does - when I look back on myself pre-Martta, I recall a guy that had many of my traits but is ultimately an unfinished shadow of the man I am today. The right partner can really help you find yourself, and that is definitely what happens with these two crazy kids on the voyage of their lives.

16. April & Andy (Parks and Recreation)

Making these two goofballs into a couple was stroke of genius from the Parks & Rec writers. It was difficult to choose my #1 favorite love story from the show, as there are so many great ones - I love Lesie and Ben, I grew invested in Ron and Diane, I felt deeply for Chris and Ann, and hell, even Tom and Lucy ended up being a pretty great story in the end. But, at the end of the day, it has to be April and Andy - the relationship is so unique, so delightfully chaotic, and a perfect balance of "opposites attract" and "actually, they're pretty similar despite their surface differences when you really think about it".

15. Maury & Connie (Big Mouth)

There are many fantastic couples in the animated coming-of-age sitcom Big Mouth - Matthew and Jay helped each other grow, Missy and Nate had some heart-melting moments, and Jay and Lola were a fan-favorite ship for good reason. If you want to look outside the box, there's great stuff to be found beyond the adolescent main characters, such as the healthy and passionate marriage of Nick's parents Elliot and Diane. But my favorite couple from the show, if I'm being honest with myself, is way out of the box - out of left field, even. You see, it's the Hormone Monsters.

For those who haven't watched the show, I won't even bother going throught the intricacies of Hormone Monsters as a concept, because it's a whole thing. But, yeah - despite initially appearing as mere narrative support characters for the human protagonists, Maury and Connie became fan favorite scene-stealers on an individual level, but they also made for one hell of a couple. While far from being a central love story in the series, I just really genuinely enjoyed their chemistry, and found myself getting choked up by the bits and pieces we learn about their special relationship.

14. Josh & Donna (The West Wing)

It's a good thing that I'm posting this a few days before the wedding, so Martta will have some time to cool down after learning that I placed Josh and Donna this high (she's not a big fan). Honestly, I get it - Josh and Donna have their issues, and aren't for everyone. But as a flawed-yet-worth-it romance between two flawed-yet-lovable characters, I became absolutely enamored with their story upon watching The West Wing, and they remain one of my favorite TV couples.

One of the reasons for the romance's divisive nature is that it takes the "slow burn" narrative format to its ultimate, most excruciating form - the characters only ever end up together in the tail end of the seventh and final season, and oh man, the journey to that point is a lot. I can see why this would get exhausting to many viewers, but I was personally seated for every second of it - the build-up over the seasons becomes unbearable, but in such a good way, that it makes a viewer like myself yearn for the romance to happen, almost as strongly as the characters yearn for each other.

There are many legitimate criticisms to be made about the couple, but it can be at least somewhat countered by this: I'm not sure if any two characters in TV history have cared for each other as deeply as these two clearly did. And after years and years of being total idiots when it comes to realizing your feelings and doing someting about it - when it finally happens, in Election Day: Part 1, it's one of the greatest romantic payoffs in TV history. O, how I punched my fist in the air with joy when Josh picked up that hotel room key!

13. Root & Shaw (Person of Interest)

In the second season of this underrated sci-fi crime drama, there's an episode called Relevance, in which we meet Sameen Shaw for the first time. She'd go on to be one of the show's major characters, becoming a part of the main cast from season 3 onward, and she immediately comes across as a serious force to be reckoned with in her first episode. At that time in the show's narrative, Samantha "Root" Groves is purely a villain, so no one's first though would be "hey, these two should end up together". But, already in that episode, the seeds are sown, in a fleeting moment of sudden flirtation and sexual chemistry, that may seem abrupt for a first-time viewer - but, when re-watching the series with the knowledge of the adventures these two would go on, feels so right and downright prophetic.

The character archs of Shaw and Root as individuals are wild and chaotic, so it makes sense that their trajectory as a couple is completely f**king bonkers. But it works. I won't spoil any details here, but the fifth season utilizes this love story for some of the most tear-jerking moments in the entire series - the way in which showrunner Jonathan Nolan intertwines this blast of beautiful lesbian love with the show's genius sci-fi elements makes for some seriously powerful storytelling.

12. Phil & Claire (Modern Family)

Choosing the best Modern Family romance is a TOUGH job. All three of the main married couples have their issues, but the good outweighs the bad in each case, making them into ultimately wholesome representations of the ups and downs in married life. I even considered looking outside that Big Three, and came very close to picking Haley and Andy - as a love story, it has every single element of greatness - except the ending. Now, that's not a requirement - quite a few of the couples on this list are ones that didn't end up together in the long run due some cruel twist of fate. But still, as Haley ended up with Dylan (I'm Team Andy but I can't be too mad, because Dylan is such a legend as well), it would've felt slightly weird choosing a short-lived romance over the unions that weather the storms and stand the test of time.

Mitch and Cam may have the biggest romantic moments and high points in the series (the proposal, the wedding, the "I'm lying next to mine" scene) - but they definitely have the biggest lows as well (I spend so much time, especially in the later seasons, feeling bad for Mitch). Then you have Jay and Gloria, who many true fans consider to be the best out of the show's main couples - and I totally get it. They're a real "beat the allegations" couple, seemingly riddled with red flags but constantly turning them into wholesome lessons about not taking things at face value. And then there's Phil and Claire - the lazy choice, the first one to come to mind, and an easy one to overlook after you've re-watched the show and noticed all sorts of flaws in their marriage.

Yet they're the one I kept coming back to.

Yes, they aren't perfect, but is any couple really? Life is complicated, the generation the characters come from is weird, and let's be real - if the couples treated each other perfectly and were 100% respectful and considerate to each other at all times, we wouldn't have a show. Or at the very least, it would be boring as f**k. What I will say about Phil and Claire, though, is this - they are so very right for each other, their chemistry is impeccable, their personalities are such a fun match both in terms of differences and similarities, and it's pretty clear that they love the living hell out of each other. Also, I love how I see so much of my parents in them - and watching the series with my parents is extra-hilarious because my Dad always laughs a bit too hard at certain jokes about Claire while my Mom does the exact same for certain jokes at Phil's expense. God bless them.

11. Kira & Odo (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

This emotional rollercoaster will take you through every single feeling possible for a human (or a Bajoran and/or Changeling) to experience, absolutely wrecking you while still making you feel inexcplicably warm and fuzzy whenever fate is on their side.

10. The Doctor & River Song (Doctor Who)

There's star-crossed lovers, and then there's whatever next-level stuff this is. Doctor Who utilized its time travel premise to create an ingeniously written, emotionally charged love story, largely reliant on the fact that the two time-travelling characters keep meeting each other 'out of order'. When The Doctor first meets River, she has already met him several times, because their encounters have happened in a different order relative to the time travels of both individuals.

This means that in each and every encounter, the two have slightly different amounts of information, and different experiences with each other. This makes for many utterly heartbreaking moments, but also intensely beautiful ones - so much fate goes into this against-the-odds romance that the end result will move you profoundly.

9. Janine & Gregory (Abbott Elementary)

The chemistry between these two is absolutely sublime, making sure that the viewer is rooting for them from day one. When they eventually get together, their relationship is fiercely respectful and inspiringly healthy - whatever roadblocks they face, they get through via mature communication and growth. Definitely one of those couple dynamics that we could all learn something from.

8. Tony & Michelle (24)

This couple had one of those trajectories where the characters are originally just friends who work together, and the viewer starts to appreciate their chemistry and possibly 'ship' them just at the same time that the show's writers start building up their romantic relationship, which makes the story of them getting together hit hard with just the right pace and timing.

Tony and Michelle fall for each other hard, just as the viewer falls in love with this pairing, and it becomes quite clear in the subsequent seasons how strong their love for one another was. Like, dangerously strong. Like, "If a terrorist kidnaps you and asks me to compromise the lives of multiple strangers in exchange for your life, I would still choose you" strong. Or even "If I lose you, that will radicalize me and turn me into a villain and the viewer will kind of get it" strong. Before things took a turn for the tragic, this couple had many fantastic moments together, and brought a lot of heart into an otherwise bleak series.

7. Jake & Amy (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

One of the things that I love about Brooklyn Nine-Nine is how modern and evolved it is, as witnessed by the way in which it avoids so many negative tropes from similar sitcoms in the past. A great example is the show's central love story - instead of going down the Ross&Rachel / Ted&Robin route, where the "fun will-they-won't-they" tension is kept up via years and years of emotionally excruciating fights, break-ups, reconciliations and cheating scandals to the point where the viewer quite simply isn't on their side anymore, Brooklyn Nine-Nine went "What if these main characters end up together, and then just, like, stay together?".

Now, it's still no fairy tale - Jake and Amy do find their share of obstacles, but they always find a way to deal with them because their love always wins. And oh boy, when times are good - the proposal, the wedding episode and many others are among the finest romantic moments in sitcom history. The duo has impeccable chemistry, they complete each other with their delightfully contrasting personalities, and are always devoted to each other in an inspiring fashion.

6. Lorelai & Luke (Gilmore Girls)

I can't believe this is only at #6 - it feels like it should be a no-brainer for my top three, but there are just so many good ones out there. But yeah - Lorelai and Luke rule. Well, except for season 6, but I like to kind of remember around that part.

The entangled journey that leads to the characters ending up together is the perfect slow burn, built across four seasons, with the romantic tension in the final episodes of season 4 being thoroughly exciting and magical. There's something about this match-up that just feels so written in the stars - the way in which Luke brings trust and calm into Lorelai's chaotic life, and the way in which Lorelai helps Luke open up and keeps his life interesting...it's just so damn beautiful. I'm near tears when just thinking about moments like Luke’s "I'm all in" speech, or the way he always showed up in the moments when it mattered the most.

5. Desmond & Penny (Lost)

Lost never even spent all that much time exploring the romance of supporting character Desmond and his love interest Penny - but regardless, hardly any other TV couple has had as many larger-than-life iconic moments of romantic payoff as these two. With fairly little screentime spent on the romance, the writers and actors managed to efficiently tell a truly spectacular love story, conveying themes of longing, endurance and hope against the odds. When I think about moments like Desmond reading Penny's letter in the season 2 finale, the legendary phone call scene in season 4's The Constant and the couple's eventual reunion after years and years apart - that stuff is astronomically romantic, and touching to the utmost degree.

4. Eleanor & Chidi (The Good Place)

"There is no answer...but Eleanor is the answer". If you've seen the show, just being reminded of that scene should be enough to justify the #4 placement. These two characters are so wildly different from each other, but oh man - their chemistry is electric, unstoppable and inevitable. The relationship hits hard in the show's second season, when we find out that in countless re-sets and timelines, they kept finding each other - not always in a romantic way, but always in a way where they became important to each other and fought the good fight together. And when their prime versions eventually fall in love - it's a beautiful, tear-jerking testament to the nature of love as a transcendent force in the universe. No notes.

3. Jim & Pam (The Office)

"I knew we needed a back-up plan. The boat was actually plan C, the church was plan B, and plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago - pretty much the day I met her"

Yes, the 'basic answer' for TV's greatest romance is worth all the hype. One of the major pillars of this generation-defining sitcom is the romance between Jim and Pam, and really - it's so f**king good. Every stage of their story is interesting, from the 'forbidden romance' workplace flirting when Pam was still with Roy, through their initial dating and eventual engagement, through that 10/10 wedding episode and all the way to the realistic portrayal of a rought spot in the marriage - and the fight to get through it - in the final season. These two are absolutely swoonworthy, and quite the ultimate 'couple goals'.

2. April & Jackson (Grey's Anatomy)

The couples that make up today's top two both happen to come from TV shows that Martta introduced me to - and this is profoundly fitting, because in every sense of the phrase, I didn't know what true love was until I met her.

Now, Grey's Anatomy has MANY love stories in it (I once did a post where I ranked all 70), and there are several that could be argued to be the show's best - there's the cultural impact of Meredith and Derek, the steadfast perfection on Bailey and Ben, the star-crossed dramatics of Mark and Lexie, and my emotional support lesbians Callie and Arizona. But, at the end of the day, there's no way around the fact that no romance from the series touched me quite as powerfully as Jackson and April.

For one thing, their trajectory is absolutely f**king bonkers, and was made even better due to my viewing experience. In what is fiction's greatest example of the friends-to-lovers trope, the characters aren't obviously built up as a romantic item at first - and when I first thought that I noticed some meaningful glance and made a prediction, Martta decided to gaslight me and be all "What? You're reading into things" so that the eventual romance would remain a surprise and hit even harder. I bought that, kind of giving up hope that the couple would become a thing, although I did keep clinging to the idea that something should happen and that I would definitely write a romantic arch for Jackson and April if I were in charge of the show. Well, when sparks finally started to fly, I was speechless - those few scenes are pretty much the hottest, most electric chemistry ever seen on the show, and it felt so right.

And then, after a while of bliss, the fuckers broke up. In stead of saying "Hey, don't worry, you never know what's gonna happen", Martta looked me dead in the eye and said "Yeah, sorry, they're better as friends" with the utmost credibility, and once again I bought it like a sucker. Hope was lost again - but little did I know that she was once again manipulating me to give me the best possible viewing experience. She really knows me, and knew what a payoff their big romantic reunion would be, and wanted to make it extra special because that's just the kind of person she is.

And so we got to *that* scene, in the season 10 midseason finale, which is honestly a top 3 moment of the entire series for me. The use of Total Eclipse of the Heart in the soundtrack, Jesse Williams' acting, just everything - tears, man. Absolute cinema.

Of course, the f**kers break up again later on. Seasons after that, April was written off the show, and to the last seconds, I was clinging to what felt like a fool's hope that things would work out between her and Jackson after all that time - but off she went. And once again, all hope was lost...but, as I know now, the writers were playing the long game all along - for in the seventeenth f**king season, as Jackson is in the midst of his own exit arch, they pull off the final miracle. It was nice to see April again, but I wasn't dreaming that anything would happen with the couple anymore at this point - until she mentioned that she had broken up with Matthew, and my heart f**king leapt. And so it came to be - against all odds, and after so much baggage, they found a way to bring #japril back together as both characters rode off into the metaphorical sunset together. This love story is a goddamn roller coaster of every emotion in the book, but in the end, what you're left with is a testament to love so strong that it endures absolutely anything.

1. Daphne & Niles (Frasier)

For those of you who know me and my soon-to-be wife, it must be SHOCKING that I would be moved by the love story of a an odd, effeminate and socially awkward geek and a silly, stubborn and fiercely unselfish woman. But, yeah - if you haven't seen the show, there isn't any individual point I can make or any one episode that I could recommend that would give you the proper picture about what a legendary love story this is. I'm afraid you have to watch all 11 seasons for that (highly recommended, if you ever feel like constantly laughing your ass off while also wiping away the occasional tears).

But for those who have seen the show, I feel like watching pretty much any scene with these two in it should be enough to tell you why they are and will always be #1. The build-up to them eventually ending up together in the season 7 finale is a magnificent crescendo, filled with unforgettable and heart-melting moments like the titular dance from season 3's Moon Dance, the magical chemistry of the vegetable-chopping scene in season 5's First Date, and the downright larger-than-life hints about Daphne's romantic future in season 6's Visions of Daphne.

Frasier is one of Martta's all-time favorite shows, and I hadn't seen it when we started dating, so we started to watch it together in the spring of 2024. And as fate would have it, we arrived at the aforementioned season 7 finale on the very night that we got engaged. If that's not a good sign from the universe, I don't know what is.

There are many reasons to love Daphne and Niles - their cute chemistry, their expressions of love for one another and mutual growth via each other, and the romance's role as a crucial component of the series. But the biggest thing for me personally has always been how I see so much of myself in Niles, and so much of Martta in Daphne, that it really feels like a beautiful reflection of my favorite real-life romance - the one that I'm lucky enough to be living through.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I rank the biggest movies of the 2020’s - based on how annoying the discourse around them was. 

My 2026/27 Premier League predictions

Greetings, reader!

Well, the Premier League season is about to start - so, as is tradition, here is my annual prediction for what the league table will look like at the end of the season!

20. Ipswich Town

I have many sacred traditions within these annual predictions, one of which is this: from the three teams that were just promoted from the Championship, I’m betting that one has an incredible streets-won't-forget run, one barely stays up with a nail-biting 17th-place finish - and one goes straight down. Due to a number of factors, my guess for the unfortunately short-lived league spell is going to Ipswich Town, who came in 2nd in last season’s Championship. Here’s hoping the scrappy underdogs prove me wrong!

19. Nottingham Forest

After an epic promotion to the Premier League and a few shockingly good seasons, Nottingham Forest have been doing poorer now, and were in the relegation battle for a while there before finishing 16th last season. Having lost their most important player, Elliot Anderson, to Manchester City in this transfer window, I’m guessing their struggle will continue - of course, they might end up spending the Anderson money well and building a fresh new team, but I’m skeptical.

18. Leeds United

There aren’t all that many obvious picks for relegation ahead of this season, but after pondering long and hard, I realized that Leeds dropping down would shock me significantly less than most other teams. They just don’t seem to have greatness written all over them at the moment, despite the team’s rich history and passionate fan base. Their transfer window so far looks like a net negative to my eye, what with the departing players including defensive cornerstone Pascal Strujik and the arriving players including solid-but-slightly-mid material like Harry Wilson.

17. Hull City

There’s always a method to my madness when I pick and choose which recently promoted team will take which slot in my predictions - I’m such a romantic that I always choose the team with the most gritty and romantic underdog narrative to be the one that barely survives the relegation zone. This year, that was an easy pick - while Hull City were a Premier League mainstay in my childhood, they’ve had a rough few years in the lower division, and their climb back up was quite remarkable.

In last year’s Championship, they didn’t finish third, fourth or even fifth, but sixth, just barely making it to the promotion play-offs - which they won against all odds. A team that manages to do that at the end of an otherwise uneven season has certainly proved to have grit, so I’m saying that they’ll lose a bunch of matches but win and tie just enough to live to fight another season in the Prem.

16. Newcastle United

I'd feel bad for these f**kers if it wasn't for the team's shady Big Oil ownership and generally unsportsmanlike playing in the past few seasons. After a steady rise and a bunch of hype for Newcastle being "the next big thing", their uninspiring 12th-place finish last season was a nice reminder that money alone doesn't always get you far in the beautiful game. Their transfer window is looking to be an absolute disasterclass, as they're losing key players like Tonali, Guimares, Gordon and Trippier, and their deals for any replacements keep falling through. They'll do well enough to steer clear of relegation, but only barely.

15. Brentford

Brentford has become a tough lot to predict in the past several seasons: their team is never all that great on paper, and their transfer windows aren't too exciting - but year after year, they end up playing solid football and placing significantly higher than one would think. They finished ninth last year, so I considered putting them in the upper midtable - but this year's Prem is looking stacked, and there are so many teams that should be doing better than this ragtag group of misfits. So, I'm putting them in lower midtable, but I won't be heartbroken if they prove me wrong!

14. Brighton & Hove Albion

As per usual, Brighton is having a tacitcally sound, slow-and-steady transfer window. Nothing too headline-grabbing, but getting rid of some past-their-prime material (James Milner, the streets will never forget you) and putting in some solid-if-not-too-flashy names (Pascal Strujik might bring a lot to their defense). The team finished eighth last season, and I reckon they'll still be winning a good amount of games - but at the same time, they'll be outperformed by a handful of teams that are pulling bolder strokes in their transfer windows and/or coaching staff.

13. Sunderland

Sunderland enjoyed an excellent, thoroughly expectation-defying campaign last season, finishing 7th in the league despite being freshly promoted from the previous season. Such a jump in performance quality makes a team's following season difficult to predict - some such cases lead to the team crashing and burning right after, whereas for others it's the start of a new golden age. With Sunderland, I'm going with neither extreme but rather a boring compromise - they'll have enough of last season's momentum to get solid results and remain a tough team to beat, but some of the underdog glory will have worn off. They'll have a good season, but not one as magical as 2025/26 was for them.

12. Bournemouth

They had a brilliant season two seasons ago, but they lost a bunch of key players in the transfer window so I put them significantly lower in last year's predictions - and the expectation-defying fuckers finished sixth. Still, being the stubborn guy that I am, I decided to double down and continue predicting a downward trajectory for the Cherries. Andoni Iraola, who coached them to the success of the past few seasons, left for bigger arenas this summer - and although Marco Rose is a solid replacement, it often takes time for a new manager to find their rhythm with the team.

11. Crystal Palace

Now this is a big deal: as long as I've done these predictions, I've always put midtable merchants Crystal Palace at exactly tenth, due to years and years of precedent of the team finishing around those markers. However, I decided to make a sweeping change this year: after finishing 10th in 23/24, 12th in 24/25 and 15th in 25/26, the team seems to be in a bit of a downward trajectory. Now, one can't overcorrect one's course or be too reactionary, so I'm not putting them at 15th or below - I'm just shifting my "always begin by placing Palace in the middle" with one placement, and will be doing so for the next few seasons unless the trajectory switches back upwards again.

10. Coventry City

Frank Lampard was a fantastic player back in the day - and although his managerial career didn't get to the best start (Chelsea might have been too big of a fish at the time), he has been getting results as the head coach of Coventry. The fresh and excited squad won the Championship last season, and out of the three promoted teams, I'm choosing them to be the dark horse that does really well. It's not just because they finished first - there just seems to be momentum at Coventry at the moment, and I think they'll be able to capitalize on that.

9. Everton

As I've been saying with a deep sigh in my predictions of the last several seasons - Everton are back. This causes mixed feelings in me as a Liverpool fan - on one hand, it's a joy to see Everton in the trenches, but on the other, I almost miss the days of my youth when it was a respectable enough team that the rivalry made sense and wasn't a total beatdown.

Those years might be rolling up again - after hitting rock bottom and barely escaping relegation in the 22/23 season, Everton's league finishes have been slowly climbing, culminating in a whopping 13th-place finish last season. I'm guessing that this will be the year that the Moyes boys break back into the top ten, which is a bad thing but also a good one - they're the villain you love to hate.

8. Tottenham Hotspur

In the past few years, I've had my fun with the ongoing crises in underperforming big teams like Tottenham - but now I'm making an exception, and expecting a big comeback from them. Of course, 8th is still not great when considering that they've been in multiple title races and a Champions League final in the last decade - but relative to their seventeenth-place finish and barely avoided relegation last season, 8th would be a whopping positive surprise for the club's sad present-day state.

Their transfer window is looking promising, with the purchases of talents like Tonali, Dubravka, Van Hecke and my man Andrew Robertson (they better treat him well). I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the Spurs continue to struggle, but more likely than not, they'll bounce back at least to some extent.

7. Fulham

There are always some fun underdog tales in the upper midtable, and this year, I'm counting on Fulham to have a brilliant run that'll secure them a Conference League spot! Unless they make some big pulls at the end of the transfer window, it looks like their summer has been more focused on selling than buying, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez weren't performing relative to expectations, so getting rid of 'dead weight' might be a blessing in disguise and a pathway for less experienced fresh faces to prove themselves.

Also, if I were a Fulham fan, I'd feel optimistic about Alvaro Arbeloa's appointment as head coach! He wasn't exactly a miracle worker as Real Madrid's interim manager, but I'd hardly blame the situation in that toxic locker room on him alone - given a slightly smaller team, I have a feeling that he's gonna cook.

6. Manchester City

This year's predictions are full of hot takes, and chief among them is this one - relative to expectations, Man City is gonna have an absolute stinker of a season.

Sure, there a few signs of promise - after losing last year's title race (and the one two years ago), the team will be hungry for revenge after their four consecutive league titles in the early 2020's. Another thing they have going for them is the purchase of Elliot Anderson, who has the potential to be a truly generational midfield player.

However, I feel that the cons outweigh the cons in their pre-season. Longtime manager Pep Guardiola left the team this year, and no matter how talented of a coach Enzo Maresca may be, you simply can't go through such a transition phase without some growing pains - I'm not sure if the Man City players and staff know how to exist without the presence of Pep, who embodied the club for a decade. Furthermore, as exciting as Anderson's transfer was, the outgoing transfers hold more weight in my book - with the departures of club staples like Rodri, John Stones and Bernardo Silva along with Pep, the club is in serious need of restructuring. I am guessing they'll be back to the title race in two or three seasons, but 2026/27 will be a weird reboot period for them.

5. Manchester United

And then there's these f**kers. Train Wreck FC is always a difficult one to predict, as there's always some drama and unsuccessful transfers and other bullshit going on - but there are also moments of brilliance in the mix, such as the remarkable form Bruno Fernandes was in last season. The club finished third in 25/26, so there might even be title race potential there - but I don't quite have that much faith in Michael Carrick's coaching. Still, I'm predicting that they'll finish above Man City for the first time since 2012/13 - the last time United won the league. And isn't that a major trophy in itself?

4. Liverpool

"And yes, I know what this means - if Liverpool doesn't win the league, you can blame me. Among other things, this is a test - if Liverpool wins, it means that my curse is broken, and I don't have to let my fear of magic correlations rule my annual predictions in the future. If they don't win, that'll confirm to me that the curse is real, and I'll never put Liverpool at #1 again"

That was me in last year's predictions. I am genuinely sorry, fellow Liverpool fans - I feel personally responsible for how our 2025/26 season went. It was sheer hubris that made me put them at #1, despite years of precedent that they hadn't won whenever I put them at #1 and actually did win that one time when I didn't.

Well, I won't be making that mistake again! I'm optimistic about Andoni Iraola's appointment as head coach, and the transfer window has been looking promising with signings like Victor Munoz, Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo. Still, the departures of figures like Salah and Robertson will affect the vibe of the team, and building a new era takes time. Placing fourth would be a slight improvement from last year's fifth-place finish, and then the upward trajectory could continue in the coming years. Obviously I'm hoping they prove me wrong and finish even higher, but #4 is where I'm putting my beloved Reds at!

3. Chelsea

No, no - let them cook. I know that Chelsea FC has been an active dumpster fire that no one can pretend to predict for about five years now, and who knows if Xabi Alonso is the right man for the job? It depends on which Xabi they're getting - the Xabi who lifted Bayer Leverkusen to a flawless season and historical Bundesliga title, or the Xabi who saw the devolution of Real Madrid into a toxic mess of cliques and egos under his watch.

Somehow, my money is more on the former - God only knows how deep-seated the issues at Real are, so you can hardly blame just the coach for them. Nothing can take away from what Xabi accomplished with Leverkusen - something only a truly brilliant manager could accomplish. I think he might just be the man to rein in this chaotic Chelsea era - there is a multitude of talented players there (even more so now that they've signed names like Morgan Rogers and Maxence Lacroix), who haven't been able to be the best versions of themselves. Maybe this is the season - if nothing else, I'm at least counting on the Blues to outperform their 10th-place finish from last season.

2. Aston Villa

I've seen enough - fourth in 23/24, sixth in 24/25 and fourth in 24/26...this Aston Villa momentum isn't a fluke, but the start of a new era that is playing a key part in destroying the myth of the 'Big Six'. And from the promise I've seen in this Villa generation, I dare say that the direction is more likely to continue up the table than down.

Unai Emery is such a magnificent coach, and he's been banging out results with this fresh, energetic team. I think that this is the season where they'll genuinely challenge for the title, and although they'll fall slightly short, it'll be enough for a close title race (who knows if Chelsea is in it as well? Or it could be Liverpool or ManU, since I don't actually know shit and am making these predictions largely off vibes). I really like the look of Villa's transfer window, focusing not on the biggest and most expensive names, but rather signings that appear tactical, well-researched and like the people in charge really know what's best for the team. The loss of Youri Tielemans to Manchester United will be felt, but it's looking like they're spending the money wisely to keep their level.

1. Arsenal

Yeah, I'm calling it - it's gonna be two for two. Well, more like two for five, when looking at how many consecutive years Arteta's Arsenal has been a genuine competitor in the title race - but still!

I wouldn't be too mad if this happened - obviously, I'm rooting for Liverpool, but if it's going to be someone else, I'd rather see Arsenal's glory continue for a while than for Manchester City to make a comeback or ManU rise from the grave (honestly, if Aston Villa has it in them, their victory would make me happier than Arsenal's - but these are my predictions, not my hopes).

Arsenal's league title didn't exactly come with comfortable margins, but it was still a very deserved win - they were the best team, and probably will continue to be that for another season. Trusting the process really did work, and I don't really see why this season would be any worse for them - if anything, the fact that they've now proved themselves capable of the big feat will build the young squad's confidence a great deal to decrease the chance of potential end-of-the-season bottle jobs. They have the league's best centre-back pairing in Saliba&Gabriel, the league's best midfielder in Declan Rice, and if his form from last season continues, the league's best keeper in David Raya. The Gunners might want to fortify their attack in the remaining weeks of the transfer window, but even with the material they have, it's not exactly a crisis - Bukayo Saka is a wizard with the ball as long as he stays fit, and Gyökeres started to look like he's finding his form towards the end of last season.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I celebrate my upcoming wedding by ranking the greatest love stories from TV.

Top 10 Insights into our 24 Marathon: Part IV

Greetings, reader!

It is 09:12 P.M. as I am writing this - during one of many 'commercial breaks' in the latest instalment of the ongoing 24 marathon I'm doing with my best friend Atte. We're up to season 4 now, and as is tradition, I'm using a select few of these short breaks to write down my thoughts about this point in the marathon tradition. Here is Volume IV of my insights into our larger-than-life nerd escapade!

10. A recap on how it works, for anyone interested

Let's start with the basics: 24 is a legendary TV series, with the groundbreaking premise that it takes place in real time. Each season consists of 24 episodes, following a 24-hour span of events, with each episode taking up the span of exactly an hour. Now, the episodes aren't 60 minutes long, but about 42 - because when it aired on TV, there had to be spaces for commercial breaks. Therefore, when you watch the show via streaming or DVD, a standard episode will feature 3 (sometimes 2 or 4) moments where the old commercial break clearly used to be, as the clock jumps a few minutes ahead between scenes. This is important, because it's what keeps the marathon doable.

I originally watched the series as a teenager, with my Dad, in the regular way. But I always fantasized about marathoning one of the show's seasons, keeping with the show's real-time frame. Eventually, my best friend and I arranged to do just that for the show's first season - and it was a blast. Soon after the marathon was over, we realized that there was a way to make the experience about a hundred times more epic (and ridiculously nerdy): instead of leaving it at one season, we should continue and do the whole series in real time. You see, there's always a time jump between seasons, and they always tell how long the time jump is (and not with a day-specific accuracy but a month-specific one, which has made this a lot more merciful to plan).

So, I sat down and mapped out when we're supposed to watch each season (and all of the in-between stuff like movie sequels, spin-off seasons and DVD extra scenes), so that we keep with the show's original timeline relative to when we watched the first season. And that's what we've been up to since the summer of 2020 (and will be continuing until the Lord's year 2042). Oh, and when I mentioned earlier that the 'commercial breaks' are important - that's because we treat them the old-school way, pausing for the right amount of minutes every time one appears. That makes the experience more doable (a 4-minute break is perfect for going to the bathroom, warming up some food or making a batch of strong, black coffee), and it makes it more epic as well, as we keep completely in sync with the events of the series (the transition from one episode's end to the next one's beginning is always a rush).

9. Season 4 was, just as I remembered, a decent one

My recollection before this re-watch was that the show's fourth season is firmly placed in the middle section of my ranking of 24's seasons, and that it took a while for me to warm up to with its uneven first half but then became absolute fire in the endgame. Well, as it turns out, my recollections were right on the money!

The opening act of the fourth season isn't bad, but it's far from the series at its best. However, it gets SO. FUCKING. GOOD. after the halfway mark, and particularly for the last 9 episodes. The Air Force One sequence, the Paul Raines moral dilemma, the emotionally charged season finale - that's peak television right there, especially for its era.

8. Morning-to-morning is DEFINITELY the least painful option

Season 1 takes place from midnight to midnight, so that's how we watched it in our initial marathon. Following the exact timing of the series, we then watched the second season as it takes place from 08:00 A.M. to 08:00 A.M., and the third from 01:00 P.M. to 01:00 P.M.!

From those three wildly different types of 24-hour-marathons, my big takeaway was that based on one of each, I found the morning-to-morning variety of season 2 to be the easiest. Now that we got to do that again, for season 4 takes place between 07:00 A.M. and 07:00 A.M., it confirmed my initial take - this is, by far, the easiest version. Midnight-to-midnight is tought because you've been awake for a whole-ass day when you begin, and you have to stay up all night and then the following day. And afternoon-to-afternoon was tough, because of how long one has to struggle to stay up after the all-nighter.

But morning-to-morning is nice - you have a 'regular' day, you stay up all night, and then you get to go to sleep. Here in the midst of summer vacation it was extra sweet - I got to sleep from 7 in the morning to noon, which isn't all that different from a regular night's sleep during the summer, so it didn't throw me off my rhythm all that bad. Thankfully, most of the later seasons follow this pattern - that is, until season 8 throws a major curveball with its 04:00 P.M. - 04:00 P.M. bullshit.

7. Refined caffeine strategies

It is 02:39 A.M., as I continue to write this. This is our fourth 24 marathon - well, technically it's still the first and only, because this whole project can be seen as one massive 22-year-marathon, and the long time jumps between intensive periods are just longer pauses. But in any case, this is the fourth season that we're watching in this manner, and as you can imagine, we've gotten better at some of this stuff.

The skill of caffeinating oneself in just the right amount for this sort of ordeal is a real form of art. You'll want to have plenty, but not too much, as that'll have all sorts of side effects. With the experience of the previous 24 marathons, I'm really starting to have this down to a science - I had one extra-strong coffee right after breakfast, another regular coffee after lunch, then two energy drinks spaced out over the afternoon and early evening, and a third cup of coffee a while after dinner going into the night. That hit the spot!

6. The prequel was cool

As I briefly mentioned earlier, it's not just the eight seasons of the core series that we're including in the marathon - it's everything canon. Among other things, this includes the 'Prequels' - seasons 4, 5 and 6 all have one, originally released with the season's DVD as a bonus feature to flesh the story out and nowadays found on YouTube for anyone to watch.

There is no extra stuff like that between seasons 1&2 or 2&3, so the Season 4 Prequel was our first brush with this niche stuff between seasons. Thankfully, there was intel to be found on how the prequels fit into the timeline when I made our timeline plan. The 10-minute-long mini-episode is divided into three scenes; the first one takes place three months after season 3, the second one a year later from that, and the third and final one three months later - and just 6 hours before Day 4 begins. This fleshed the marathon out in a nice way, and boy, was it easier to find the time to watch a 3-minute scene together during a certain month than it was to make way for a whole 24-hour-sitting!

5. I care - like, a weird amount - about Tony Almeida

Obviously, me getting invested in fictional stories and caring about characters isn't anything new - yet sometimes the sheer amount of emotion startles me. I already felt this way when watching the series for the first time, but it has only gotten more and more pronounced upon re-watch - from Jack Bauer to Chloe O'Brian, there are many characters that I care deeply about in the show's mythos, but one that has a particularly special place in my heart is the complex antihero Tony Almeida.

I don't know whether it's Carlos Bernard's understated performance, the character's loyalty to Jack, the heartbreaking trajectory of the Tony-Michelle relationship or the overall tragic backstory and character arch - hell, it's probably a combination of all those things. In any case, I know that I had a tear in my eye at the very moment when Almeida made his dramatic comeback in the seventh episode of season 4, and many of his moments from thereon out hit me right in the feels. Poor guy.

4. Thank goodness for my weirdly good TV memory

When a TV series is A) good enough, B) entertaining enough and C) memorable enough, the plot events stay with me in an odd manner - years and years later, I'll be able to tell you what happened in each episode, down to what the episode was titled (and possibly what rating it had on IMDB). Atte and I have both seen the series once before, separately from each other but around the same time, about a decade ago - and with each marathon it becomes clearer that he remembers the events less and less clearly (it has been brought to my attention that this is how normal humans function) while my recollections remain strangely vivid.

Now, a part of me is envious of Atte, who gets to experience many of the plot twists and dramatic moments all over, whereas I sort of know what's coming. But a bigger part of me is grateful for this gift of mine - first of all, it's all sorts of fun to re-watch a show like 24 when knowing all the secret loyalties and double-crosses before the reveals take place, and second of all, anticipating and following my fellow viewer's reactions makes for an endless treasure trove. Season 4 has so many iconic moments that I was looking forward to revisiting, only to find that Atte didn't remember them up to the moment of their happening, and following his reactions was so much fun - (SPOILER ALERT) the payoff of Tony rescuing Jack, the shock of Air Force One being shot down, the whole Chinese Consulate break-in debacle, the ultra-tragic moral dilemma that results in Jack letting Paul die, you name it.

3. A look back...

We've been doing this for six years now, and what a time it has been! The season 1 marathon in July of 2020 was an unforgettable experience, meant to be a one-time-thing until we got to thinking that it could be expanded upon. Following the 18-month time-jump in the show's timeline, we picked up with season 2 in January 2022, after which there was a whopping three-year-break before going into season 3 in January 2025. One prequel interspersed across three sessions and a full 24-hour season 4 marathon later - here we are.

The lore-accurate time jumps make the experience so fun - the same amount of time goes by for us as it does for the characters, which really puts things into perspective. The lives of me and Atte, just like those of Jack, Chloe and company, have undergone all sorts of changes in between these intensive periods, and this makes the role of the marathon as a constant in our lives all the more special.

2. ...And a look into the future

And where do we go from here?

Well, the season 5 prequel is all one scene, and it takes place one year after Day 4. While we ended up doing this part of the marathon in August, it was originally meant to be in July (find out why by reading today's #1), so we'll probably course-correct to the original plan by watching the Prequel in July of 2027 (but late July, so that the "1 year later" still works when you round to the closest amount of months).And the rest goes like this:

- Season 5 in January 2028

- The Season 6 Prequel in August 2028

- Season 6 in September 2029

- Whatever the f**k "Day 6 Debrief" is, divided into five parts in the few hours after the season 6 marathon has ended

- 24: Redemption (the movie (yes, that exists)) in May 2033

- Season 7 in July 2033

- Season 8 in January 2035

- Something called 24: Chloe's Arrest on the morning after the season 8 marathon

- The reboot season 24: Live Another Day in January 2039

- The short videos 24: Solitary and 24: The Raid in July 2041

- And finally: spin-off series 24: Legacy in January 2042

And if they keep making new shit, we act accordingly.

1. A slight deviation - for the BEST of reasons

Okay, so technically, our season 4 marathon should've been in July of this year, not August. This deviation by a few days would be a big deal to my completist-nerd brain under pretty much any other circumstances - but the reason for it is something so once-in-a-lifetime that I'm more than willing to let it slide.

You see, as far as I was concerned, we had arranged to have the marathon on a certain weekend in July, and I was all set for it. Only, the thing is - I'm getting married this year, and Atte is my best man, so it turned out that the weekend we had booked for the 24 marathon was just his perfect cover to make sure that I had the weekend booked...for what turned out to be my bachelor party. The crazy bastard even incorporated a bunch of motifs from 24 into the weekend - the reveal of the weekend's actual agenda was in the form of a mysterious phone call where I was asked to perform a series of tasks in the next 24 hours in order to prevent a cataclysmic event, and many of the weekend's activities (the helicopter ride and shooting range in particular) were action-packed enough to fit the 24 vibe.

There are very, very, very few reasons that I can think of that I'd count as acceptable reasons for not having our traditional 24 marathon at the planned time - but yes, this was the greatest possible one. I love that the bachelor party weekend was a total surprise to me, and I love that I got to spend that time with my closest friends, celebrating the fact that I'm about to get married.

Also, I did the math, and technically this wasn't a deviation! You see, we're going by a monthly accuracy in the time jumps because that's the most accurate timeframe given by the series - and the previous item we watched (the second scene of the Season 4 Prequel) was marked for April, and we happened to watch it in the latter half of the month. And the best information out there for the timing of the fourth season is "Three months later" - so, the first few days of August can absolutely be rounded down to be accepted as "Three months later" from late April.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for yet another tradition of mine - I mark the beginning Premier League season by sharing my predictions for the 2026/27 Premier League.