# What is the best slow-burn TV romance of all time?

> Seasons of near-misses, one look held a beat too long, and a payoff the writers kept delaying.

*By YPB Team · Published August 25, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-slow-burn-tv-romance-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Jim and Pam** — score 1000/1000
   The Office's receptionist and salesman, three seasons of glances before the first date.
2. **Jake and Amy** — score 857/1000
   Brooklyn Nine-Nine's rival detectives who bet their way into a relationship.
3. **Leslie and Ben** — score 833/1000
   Parks and Recreation's parks deputy and the state auditor sent to gut her department.
4. **Josh and Donna** — score 769/1000
   The West Wing's deputy chief of staff and his assistant, seven seasons unresolved.
5. **Ross and Rachel** — score 769/1000
   Friends' decade-long on-again, off-again centrepiece.
6. **David and Patrick** — score 755/1000
   Schitt's Creek's shop partners, from a business plan to a wedding.
7. **Mulder and Scully** — score 755/1000
   The X-Files partners whose relationship stayed unspoken for years.
8. **Nick and Jess** — score 755/1000
   New Girl's roommates, whose kiss arrived halfway through the run.
9. **Ted and Robin** — score 667/1000
   How I Met Your Mother's central will-they, stretched across nine seasons.
10. **Chidi and Eleanor** — score 666/1000
   The Good Place's ethics professor and his unwilling student, across several afterlives.
11. **Luke and Lorelai** — score 564/1000
   Gilmore Girls' diner owner and the customer he made coffee for every morning.
12. **Tim and Dawn** — score 444/1000
   The UK Office's original almost-couple, resolved in the Christmas specials.
13. **Niles and Daphne** — score 444/1000
   Frasier's brother and the physiotherapist he pined for across seven seasons.
14. **Sam and Diane** — score 133/1000
   Cheers' bartender and the graduate student who could not stand him.
15. **Andy and April** — score 133/1000
   Parks and Recreation's shoeshine musician and deadpan assistant, married on a whim.

Tags: romance, tv shows, characters