Review
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Review
Pop Culture Happy Hour
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
LINDA HOLMES, HOST:
You know how it goes. Two television characters, obvious chemistry - maybe they look at each other longingly. Maybe they fight. But you know deep down that there's only one question - will they, or won't they?
AISHA HARRIS, HOST:
Sometimes, you wait a season or two seasons or more than that. Maybe it never happens at all. And sometimes, honestly, it shouldn't. I'm Aisha Harris.
L HOLMES: And I'm Linda Holmes. And today on NPR's POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR, we're talking about will-they-or-won't-they relationships.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
L HOLMES: It's just the two of us today. So what got us thinking about this topic is an essay Aisha wrote in our newsletter about the will-they-or-won't-they idea and how it applied to some of TV's buzziest shows. Aisha, you describe yourself as kind of a grump about this kind of phenomenon. Talk to me a little bit about what you mean by that.
HARRIS: Yeah, I'm a grump in part because I just feel like it's overdone at this point. And what got me sort of thinking about this was the most recent season of "Abbott Elementary." Well, really the last three seasons of "Abbott Elementary," which have, from the very first episode, suggested that, you know, Janine and Gregory, who are played by Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams, are, like, meant to be. They're the one true pair. Blah, blah, blah.
And, you know, I think that this has been the one - my one sticking point about this show is that it just feels like we are trying to Jim and Pam it, which they kind of were - Jim and Pam from "The Office".
L HOLMES: Yeah.
HARRIS: And by Season 3, I was, like, every time they brought this storyline up again, I was just like, oh, come on, either put them together or don't, but, like, let's not drag this out.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ABBOTT ELEMENTARY")
QUINTA BRUNSON: (As Janine Teagues) So moving forward...
TYLER JAMES WILLIAMS: (As Gregory Eddie) It's my favorite direction.
BRUNSON: (As Janine Teagues) Right (laughter). We're good. Right? Like, whatever happened, that was a nothing thing.
WILLIAMS: (As Gregory Eddie) Yeah, it's best to just throw it out.
BRUNSON: (As Janine Teagues) That's what I was going to say, just throw it out.
WILLIAMS: (As Gregory Eddie) Yeah.
BRUNSON: (As Janine Teagues) Yep.
HARRIS: And thinking about it more, I have sort of put together a taxonomy of how this works. But before we kind of get into that, I'm curious, like, how you've felt about this Janine-Gregory dynamic on "Abbott Elementary."
L HOLMES: I have not seen all of "Abbott Elementary." I have seen some of "Abbott Elementary." I have felt in this one similar to you in that it doesn't feel necessary...
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: ...To me. It doesn't feel like a key component of the show. And It's interesting 'cause being the rom-com person that I am, I think people often expect me to be very pro this kind of coupling...
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: ...And very pro this kind of thing, and sometimes I am. I was with Jim and Pam.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE OFFICE")
JENNA FISCHER: (As Pam Beesly) I shot him down, and then he did the same to me. But you know what? It's OK. I'm totally fine. Everything is gonna be totally...
JOHN KRASINSKI: (As Jim Halpert) Pam. Sorry. Are you free for dinner tonight?
FISCHER: (As Pam Beesly) Yes.
KRASINSKI: (As Jim Halpert) Alright. Then it's a date.
L HOLMES: I followed that story with absolutely all of the, like, little starry eyes that anybody would want. But I am actually more of a grump about it than most people are. There are many situations in which I do not want it, and I do not think it should happen. There are some pretty famous cases that we can get into where everybody seemed to think this needed to be a love story.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: And I mean, I thought it was a love story already. It just wasn't a romance.
HARRIS: Right.
L HOLMES: Tell me about your taxonomy. I love a taxonomy.
HARRIS: (Laughter) Me too. Well, OK, so I'm glad you mentioned rom-com because when I think about the will-they-or-won't-they, I think it's basically, like, a rom-com or even a melodrama dramatic movie stretched out into episodic form. And I think one of the biggest issues I think that makes me a grump about it and sounds like you too, to some extent, is just how long do we stretch this out? You know, like, how long is this going to keep going? I think there are, you know, different kinds of will-they-or-won't-they situations, and some, I think are more of a crutch or feel more tedious than others. So the first one I want to posit is the one-sided unrequited romance that eventually becomes requited. I'm thinking of, like, Niles and Daphne on "Frasier." I am in the middle of it right now.
L HOLMES: Perfect.
HARRIS: I'm on, like, Season 6, so they haven't gotten together yet. I know they do - spoiler for this 30-plus-year-old show.
L HOLMES: Sure. Yes. Sure.
HARRIS: But, like, Niles is the one who's, like, pining for Daphne. And it leads to a lot of jokes. You know, you roll your eyes about it, but, like, Oh, my God, make jokes where I'm hiding my love for you. But, like, here it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FRASIER")
DAVID HYDE PIERCE: (As Niles Crane) I thought you were going to put on some of Maris' clothes, you know, something bulky from her wool collection.
(LAUGHTER)
JANE LEEVES: (As Daphne Moon) Yeah, I was, but she's quite a bit smaller than me. This was all I could find that fit. Should I have gone for something else?
HYDE PIERCE: (As Niles Crane) No. Yes. No. Oh, no...
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: You know, So there's that. There's also Laura and Steve on "Family Matters," which gets more into sexual harassment when you look at it. He stalks her.
L HOLMES: Yeah.
HARRIS: He's kind of a terrible human being.
L HOLMES: Yeah, that story is kind of its own thing.
HARRIS: It's its own thing. But, like, that is one version of it. It's like the one-sided unrequited romance. Are there others that you can think of that, might come up for you in that same realm?
L HOLMES: I think that in the first season of "Dawson's Creek," Dawson and Joey would have been like that. And this is before they had a whole other bunch of romantic complications later. But in the first season, it was a fairly straightforward boy and girl best friend - she's in love with him, and he's oblivious.
HARRIS: Yes.
L HOLMES: And everybody else knows except him.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: And it's very obvious, and she's suffering, and she's in pain. But he doesn't notice her because she's a brunette is basically how - basically how deep these shows go. Right?
HARRIS: Yeah. Yeah.
L HOLMES: I mean, why would you notice her? She looks like Katie Holmes? That's sarcastic to be clear. Yes, yes.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DAWSON'S CREEK")
KATIE HOLMES: (As Joey) I just think our emerging hormones are destined to alter our relationship, and I'm trying to limit the fallout.
JAMES VAN DER BEEK: (As Dawson) Your emerging hormones aren't developing a thing for me, are they?
K HOLMES: (As Joey) A thing? No, I'm not getting a thing for you, Dawson. I've known you too long.
L HOLMES: That's one that comes up for me in that, like, one sided thing. It definitely is in that first season.
HARRIS: Yeah, I mean, I think there are pluses and minuses to this. Like, I think the Niles and Daphne of it all, like, yes, I'm rolling my eyes a lot, but I don't know. It still feels kind of fun. It goes on for too long, I think.
L HOLMES: Yes.
HARRIS: When we're not focused on that, it's not the focus of every episode. And I think also there -you'll usually have like one throwaway line or something where it's like, we have to...
L HOLMES: That was always a B-story at most.
HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Yeah. Whereas with, like, Laura and Steve on "Family Matters," it's like...
L HOLMES: Right. You're getting it all the time.
HARRIS: ...Felt like all the time. So I guess...
L HOLMES: Yeah.
HARRIS: ...That's the downside to it. So there are pluses and minuses to the one-sided romance thing.
L HOLMES: Right.
HARRIS: So that leads me to my second one. The couples that actually do get together, but don't necessarily stay together throughout. So there's the on-again-off-again. So there's Ted and Robin on "How I Met Your Mother," with the Barney detour.
L HOLMES: The whole show's a detour.
HARRIS: Yes.
L HOLMES: That's fine.
HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. It is. Ross and Rachel on "Friends."
L HOLMES: Yes.
HARRIS: And then, for me, one of the ultimate ones is Meredith and McDreamy AKA Derek on "Grey's Anatomy."
L HOLMES: Oh, sure.
HARRIS: Because when you go back and you watch the first few seasons of that, obviously, the pilot episode is they think they're going to be a one-night stand, and then go to work...
L HOLMES: Right.
HARRIS: ...The next day, and it's like, oh...
L HOLMES: Right.
HARRIS: ...We're working together. Then at the end of Season 1, she finds out that Derek's still married. And then of course, there's that classic moment in Season 2.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GREY'S ANATOMY")
ELLEN POMPEO: (As Meredith) I love you - in a, pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window. So pick me. Choose me. Love me.
HARRIS: I mean, the desperation, the reference to "Say Anything..."
L HOLMES: I never liked this couple. I never liked them. I'm sorry.
HARRIS: Wait. Why? I want to hear.
L HOLMES: I was of the kind of frame of mind that she was very self-absorbed and irritating. And I thought he was unfair to her in a bunch of different ways.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: So I didn't particularly like either of them.
HARRIS: OK.
L HOLMES: The fact that he was still married was, like, a very valid thing to be angry about.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: And somehow it was something that she very quickly went back to, like, oh, but the point is really my competition with your wife. And, like, lots of other things on that show I found compelling. But them in particular - I was like...
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: Whatever.
HARRIS: Yeah. I mean, the way you framed that - it makes - it reminds me of Big and Carrie in "Sex And The City" where it's like they're both kind of terrible people or they've done terrible things. And it's like...
L HOLMES: Yeah, I couldn't stand them, either.
HARRIS: For some reason, I had, like - had a higher tolerance for it. But maybe it was just because there were so many other, like, crazy things happening on that show at the same time.
L HOLMES: That is true.
HARRIS: It was the focal point, but it wasn't. Like, I'm curious. Did you watch "Happy Endings"?
L HOLMES: I did. I did watch it and think it was very funny.
HARRIS: Yeah. I mean, that also sort of qualifies in a way because when you think about it, Dave and Alex, who are played by Zachary Knighton and Elisha Cuthbert - and famously, they break up in the very first episode at the altar, no less. And, you know, what I found interesting about that dynamic is that throughout the three seasons that it came up, they - it was kind of like, well, now they're trying to figure out how to preserve their friend group and also preserve their friendship. I liked that will they or won't they because it felt sort of organic or, like, more realistic and natural. Like...
L HOLMES: Yeah.
HARRIS: Of course it's going to be hard...
L HOLMES: Yeah.
HARRIS: ...Especially if you all have the same friend group, to, like, just let that go.
L HOLMES: Right.
HARRIS: And then...
L HOLMES: Right.
HARRIS: ...Of course, at the end of Season 3, they break up again. But that show was unceremoniously canceled, so we don't know if they would or wouldn't. We know that they...
L HOLMES: Write your own ending.
HARRIS: Yeah, yeah. Write your own ending. So the last one that I wanted to bring up within the taxonomy of this all...
L HOLMES: I feel like I know what this has to be, but you can say.
HARRIS: Ooh. OK. Well, it's unresolved sexual tension. Was that what you were going to guess or something like it?
L HOLMES: Well, I was going to say the fighting ones...
HARRIS: Ooh.
L HOLMES: ...Which are sort of similar.
HARRIS: Yeah, it's kind of similar. And, you know, you could say that Janine and Gregory sort of fell into that. So unresolved sexual tension feels a little bit different from the other two just because, yes, there is, like, the bickering and fighting. But there's the acknowledgment that they are into each other. You know, that's like, very crucial here. And so I'm thinking "Community," Jeff and Britta. They actually comment on that directly - because this is "Community"; it's a very meta series - in Season 1, where they are always bickering.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "COMMUNITY")
DANNY PUDI: (As Abed Nadir) To be blunt, Jeff and Britta is no Ross and Rachel. Your sexual tension and lack of chemistry are putting us all on edge, which is why ironically - and hear this on every level - you're keeping us from being friends.
GILLIAN JACOBS: (As Britta Perry) Jeff and I do not have sexual tension. We just argue all the time.
YVETTE NICOLE BROWN: (As Shirley Bennett) Oh, just like Sam and Diane. I hated Sam and Diane.
JACOBS: (As Britta Perry) Who are Sam and Diane?
BROWN: (As Shirley Bennett) OK, we get it. You're young.
HARRIS: I love that little moment because it really does kind of sum up all of the different kinds of will-they-or-won't-theys. You know, I think Jeff and Britta - for me on "Community," they always felt a little bit weird and forced.
L HOLMES: Yes.
HARRIS: So did Jeff and Annie 'cause they had a whole thing as well.
L HOLMES: Nobody should date that guy.
HARRIS: No one should but especially Annie. Of course, like, it did give us one of the best moments of the series, which was Annie performing a "Santa Baby" parody in an attempt to seduce him...
L HOLMES: Yeah.
HARRIS: ...In one episode. But, yeah, there's - the unresolved sexual tension is one that I think works the best because it gives those characters a chance to not, like, pretend that they aren't into each other, which I think...
L HOLMES: Sure.
HARRIS: ...Was kind of my issue with Gregory and Janine on "Abbott Elementary" - is that for so long, they don't really admit it. And then when they do, they pretend that they're still not into each other. For me, the, like, perfect, like, encapsulation of this is "Living Single," where you have Max and Kyle, who are basically the Beatrice and Benedict in "Much Ado About Nothing," where they are just always taking shots at each other constantly.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LIVING SINGLE")
T C CARSON: (As Kyle Barker) You want me to be your man. That's what I heard.
(LAUGHTER)
ERIKA ALEXANDER: (As Maxine Shaw) Just for tonight, just through dinner.
CARSON: (As Kyle Barker) Do you know what this could do to my reputation?
ALEXANDER: (As Maxine Shaw) Yes. And you can pay me later.
HARRIS: But the show does not drag that out. They actually resolve their sexual attention at the beginning of Season 2. And I love that because then they keep going back and forth throughout the rest of the series. But they acknowledge that they are into each other, but they also are repulsed by each other, which I think is, like, really fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LIVING SINGLE")
ALEXANDER: (As Maxine Shaw) This is moving way too fast. Let's just - let's slow it down.
CARSON: (As Kyle Barker) Maybe you're right. Maybe we should take this one step at a time.
ALEXANDER: (As Maxine Shaw) Is this really going to happen?
CARSON: (As Kyle Barker) It's been happening.
HARRIS: I think to me, this is probably my favorite iteration of this if we're going to have to do it, you know?
L HOLMES: Well, this is where Grandma comes in with some of the old examples, including...
HARRIS: Yes, please.
L HOLMES: In that "Community" clip, they mentioned Sam and Diane from "Cheers."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CHEERS")
TED DANSON: (As Sam Malone) You know, I always wanted to pop you one. Maybe it's my lucky day.
SHELLEY LONG: (As Diane Chambers) You disgust me. I hate you.
DANSON: (As Sam Malone) Are you as turned on as I am?
LONG: (As Diane Chambers) More.
L HOLMES: The thing that often, I think, gets dropped in thinking about will-they-won't-they couples and Sam and Diane in particular is they got together at the end of the first season. And that show ran for 10, 11 seasons.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: And she stayed for several more.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: And the show is still good. All this stuff about it can't be good once they get the people together is all nonsense. It's all based on misremembering history because they got that couple together and then broke them up and got them back together and broke them up and got back together because there were a bunch of episodes that were good that were about them trying to be a couple. There were a bunch of episodes that were good about them kind of having conflict, and they got them together at the end of Season 1. The other kind of - the one that comes up a lot is "Moonlighting," right? And for everybody out there who's really proud of me for getting this far into this episode without saying the word "Moonlighting," congratulations. Yeah. You get it.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: Thank you. But in that show, the main couple, David and Maddie - they were fighting from the beginning, but also, he was sort of constantly coming onto her. It's not a show you could make now because he's, like, constantly horny in the workplace and all that stuff. But it's clear that they, you know, are into each other and have an attraction. They eventually resolve it by - in the sense that they have sex. But then people often say, like, that show sucked after that, right? But the bigger issue was around the time of that show, she went off and had kids, so she was off the show for a long time. He went off and made "Die Hard," so he was off the show for long time.
HARRIS: OK.
L HOLMES: So they weren't actually making episodes together. So there got to be this kind of myth based on that show that, like, you can't put the couple together because it'll just ruin the show.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: So you have to drag it out indefinitely. And that's when you get these ones where it'll take seven seasons, eight seasons. Some of these kind of procedural shows where there will be, like, a man and a woman working together on, like, cop stuff or something...
HARRIS: Oh, my God, Olivia and...
L HOLMES: And that's a good segue, actually. Olivia and Elliott on "Law And Order: SVU" are actually a good segue into the next thing that I want to point out, which is a lot of times, I really dislike turning everything into a romance. When Olivia and Elliott started working together, of course they had tremendous, like, personal chemistry. But also, he was - loved his wife, and he had kids. And they just had this very, very close bond. And the fact that in the last few seasons since he came back into the "Law & Order" universe a few seasons ago, they disposed of his wife so that they could go back to making this a romance...
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: ...In waiting, which for some people, oh, it always was. And they were always looking for those little clues and everything.
HARRIS: Right.
L HOLMES: But I never was. I always felt like that's a bond that is outside of romance, sex, whatever. It's just a very, very deeply human, personal bond.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: I was absolutely opposed to Mulder and Scully on "X-Files" having any sort of sexual relationship because what I used to say about them was, I don't feel like they would be any closer based on how close they managed to convey that they were by a couple of seasons into that show.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: It felt unnecessary to me. It felt sort of superfluous and forced because they were already, like, the same person, practically.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: It was, to me, just a very profound bond that didn't have anything to do with romance necessarily. And it brings me back also to one of the ones that you talked about in the essay, which is "The Bear." By the way, as we record this, we have not seen the third season. The third season is still on its way.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: I am also profoundly against...
HARRIS: Carmy and Sydney, yeah (laughter).
L HOLMES: ...The idea of Carmy and Sydney being - I don't think of them that way at all.
HARRIS: No, no.
L HOLMES: First of all, once again, don't date that guy.
HARRIS: (Laughter) Seriously.
L HOLMES: Like, again, it's this really profound and interesting, close bond. And I dislike it when a show implies that if you have a really close bond between people who are compatible with each other in terms of their sexual identity, I guess, they have to fall in love and get married. And one of the things that I have sometimes talked about with people is, did you ever watch any - have you ever seen any "Three's Company"?
HARRIS: That was one of those shows, when it was on Nick At Nite or TV Land or whatever...
L HOLMES: Yeah.
HARRIS: ...My parents wouldn't let me.
L HOLMES: Yeah, yeah. That makes sense, that makes sense.
HARRIS: (Laughter) So I never watched it, no.
L HOLMES: So the general idea of "Three's Company" was, you know, three single people who lived together as roommates and one of them is a guy, which is not that uncommon now but was quite uncommon then.
HARRIS: Pretending to be gay, right, at one point?
L HOLMES: Well, they told the landlord he was gay.
HARRIS: OK.
L HOLMES: He wasn't more broadly pretending to be gay.
HARRIS: OK.
L HOLMES: But they told the landlord he was gay. So if you made that show now, people would be obsessed with figuring out which of the two girls...
HARRIS: Oh, my God.
L HOLMES: ...He should end up with.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: And it would've been Janet, the brunette, the more down-to-earth one. And there would've been tremendous pressure, and maybe there was at the time, but they never did anything with it. Like, he doesn't end up with either of them. They all just stay incredibly close friends.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: But I don't know that you could do that. In our current age of fandom digesting television the way it does.
HARRIS: Yeah, I mean, I feel like the point we're both circling around here is that, like, so much of it, especially now - I feel like Hollywood, in some ways, has primed us or primed some of us to expect this in everything we watch.
L HOLMES: Right.
HARRIS: And so it comes right back to, like, the whole "When Harry Met Sally..." thing, can men and women just be friends? It's like, yes, I have straight male friends who are just friends, you know? Again, it leads me back to sort of my disappointment a bit with the Janine and Gregory situation. Because I've always just felt like, oh, I would love to just see, like, a Black man and a Black woman who are both straight who can just be friends and just, like, help each other out and help each other out on their journeys of, like, not being so uptight (laughter), you know?
L HOLMES: Yeah, yeah.
HARRIS: And it is what it is. I do want to also just point out that one of the things I love about "30 Rock" is the fact that they - again, another meta show where they were very aware of that expectation of people, some people, thinking, like, oh, Liz and Jack should get together. And it's like, they played with that. The writers play with that a lot. The fact that they accidentally got married once and they're, like - there's no hint of sexual tension whatsoever. They're just like, how do we fix this, you know (laughter)?
L HOLMES: No.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "30 ROCK")
ALEC BALDWIN: (As Jack) Of course, it's everyone else's fault that the minister thought the lady in the white dress and the veil was the bride.
TINA FEY: (As Liz) It was a men's tennis shirt and a government-sanctioned head net.
BALDWIN: (As Jack) You kept holding onto my arm.
FEY: (As Liz) It's hard to balance on sand.
BALDWIN: (As Jack) Who wears shoes on a beach?
FEY: (As Liz) Only Rocky and Apollo Creed during the training montage.
L HOLMES: Should we cover, once again, don't date that guy?
HARRIS: Oh, yeah.
L HOLMES: I think there's a difference between ones like - clearly, on "Abbott Elementary," I think it's been clear from the beginning that they were...
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: ...Going in that direction with them.
HARRIS: Yes.
L HOLMES: And I think with "The Bear," it's much less clear that there's any intent to do that, versus there's fan...
HARRIS: Right.
L HOLMES: ...Enthusiasm for it among a certain subset of fans.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: But I don't know that they actually do intend to do that, because to me, I mean, what a mess of a thing to do. But also that relationship to me is so interesting.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: Because he is the more established person. He is the more powerful person in many ways. But also, she is so critical to his ability to do what he's doing and to his ability to survive.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BEAR")
AYO EDEBIRI: (As Sydney) You could do this without me.
JEREMY ALLEN WHITE: (As Carmy) I couldn't do it without you.
EDEBIRI: (As Sydney) Yeah, you could.
WHITE: (As Carmy) I wouldn't even want to do it without you. You know, you make me better at this.
L HOLMES: It always sounds like I'm saying, like, it's better than sex. And I'm not saying that.
HARRIS: (Laughter) Yeah.
L HOLMES: I'm saying, like, to me, it's just a completely different axis.
HARRIS: Yeah. Yeah. The only - and I'm totally on board with that and I don't want them to get together. But the only thing I do find somewhat unrealistic about "The Bear" is the fact that none of the people on this who work at that restaurant seem to have hooked up at all.
L HOLMES: Yeah, no, that's true.
HARRIS: Because (laughter) I've worked to the service industry. It's, I mean...
L HOLMES: I definitely think that is a fair thing to point out, for sure, yes.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: And perhaps we can lay all of this at the feet of "Friends," which eventually connected almost all of its friends with each other at some point or another, and now everybody thinks you have to do that with everyone.
HARRIS: Yeah.
L HOLMES: So maybe it's their fault.
HARRIS: As we've already noted, there's a better way to do it and there's a more tedious way to do it. And I think finding that balance can be difficult. But, you know, I think one of the biggest rules is don't drag it out too long...
L HOLMES: Yes.
HARRIS: And also make sure those people actually have chemistry, 'cause that's not always true (laughter).
L HOLMES: Don't mistake all chemistry for sexual chemistry, either.
HARRIS: Yes, yes.
L HOLMES: Amazing chemistry - here's another one. Amazing chemistry? Ron Swanson and Leslie Knope on "Parks And Rec."
HARRIS: Yes.
L HOLMES: But not a romance...
HARRIS: Yes.
L HOLMES: ...Even though those actors have tremendous and remarkable comedic chemistry and sort of, like, affectionate chemistry. But it wasn't romantic chemistry.
HARRIS: Yeah. That's a great rule to live by. Not all chemistry is sexual (laughter).
L HOLMES: Not all chemistry is sexual. All right, well, we want to know what you think about will they or won't they relationships in pop culture. Find us at facebook.com/pchh if you're still really mad that nobody got together on "Three's Company."
HARRIS: (Laughter).
L HOLMES: And that brings us to the end of our show. Aisha Harris, thanks so much for being here, obviously, my friend.
HARRIS: Oh, thank you so much, Linda.
L HOLMES: This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katzif and edited by Jessica Reedy. Hello Come In provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all tomorrow.
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