They come into our living rooms for years on end. We wonder will they or won’t they, and when they do, it’s usually the end of the show. Here’s a look at 7 TV couples that illustrated love on the small screen.

1. David Addison and Maddie Hayes from Moonlighting
Never have we wanted two people who so annoyed each other to get together. The sparks flew every week at the Blue Moon Detective Agency and the audience ate up every spiteful minute of it - until Dave and Maddie made it official ... then the show was over.

2. Buffy Summers and Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Theirs was a forbidden love - a vampire and the slayer, but he had a soul and things looked okay until they consummated their love and a gypsy curse robbed him of his conscience. Relieved of his humanity, Angel went on a murderous rampage culminating with Buffy killing him. Of course, he came back the next season, but their love was too dangerous, so he got a spin-off.

3. John Steed and Emma Peel from The Avengers
"Surely not!" you say. Steed and Peel? Her husband had vanished and he was ... well, a confirmed bachelor, but when Mr. Peel showed up in Emma’s swan-song episode - he was the very image of Mr. Steed. Repression, thy name is The Avengers. They were just too English to give in to what the audience already knew.

4. Dana Scully and Fox Mulder from The X-Files
Series creator Chris Carter made a mantra of never letting the two F.B.I. agents get together, but the interrupted kiss in 1998’s feature film signaled the crumbling of Carter’s anti-relationship wall. Three seasons later, Scully would be with child and there was little doubt who was responsible.

5. Ross Geller and Rachel Green from Friends
The best measure of a successful TV romance is how many people will shout at the TV when a final episode seems set to deny a happy ending. The massive sigh of relief issued the world over when Rachel appeared at Ross’s door at the end of May’s finale is a testament to one of TV’s most enduring on again off again couples ... no more breaks!

6. Jamie and Paul Buchman from Mad About You
Eight seasons of mostly marital bliss is what the Buchmans offered audiences in the 90s. They were funny, they loved each other and the audience loved them for it. Unfortunately, they had a child, and the show was doomed.

7. Barnabas Collins and Josette du Pres from Dark Shadows
For a generation growing up in the late 60s, love was exemplified by a man who endured centuries as a vampire in pursuit of a seemingly endless series of reincarnations of his lost love Josette. Often killing, torturing or imprisoning people in basements, Barnabas was unfailing in his love for a woman who, let’s be honest, seemed awfully prone to jumping off cliffs.

Their love spans seasons, and they become like old friends who visit once a week. They have their ups and downs, but they are our most pervasive icons of what love should be.