'Cheers,' 'Office' Feature Some of Television's Greatest Kisses

by Aprille Hanson

What makes a good kiss? Fresh breath, the taste of cherry lip gloss, the touch of your love’s hand on your face? Perhaps. But what makes a great TV kiss is not so much about the technique, but the story and emotion built around the characters. Watching love blossom on the small screen for a few episodes or even several seasons and having it bubble over into a kiss, the simplest and most honest expression of love, can make fans smile, laugh, jump for joy or even cry.
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In honor of Valentine’s Day, get ready to swoon over my list of the greatest television kisses.
 
Frasier, “Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Part II”
For seven seasons, fans of the lovably pompous Frasier Crane watched his younger brother Niles pine for Frasier’s housekeeper, Daphne, despite being married to a mysterious, stick thin, snobby mess named Maris (who we never get to see). During the show’s run, the attraction on Niles’ end made for some wonderful bits of comedy and moments of pure tragedy. He was the ultimate Charlie Brown, trying to work up the nerve to kick (or kiss) that football (Daphne) but never could … until Season 7. High on painkillers, Frasier lets it slip to Daphne that Niles is in love with her, but things are complicated. He is now married to another woman and Daphne is about to wed a sweet man named Donny. The night before her wedding, both have a moment alone, knowing full well that the secret is out. Under the stars, Daphne embraces Niles in a kiss that was seven years in the making. It’s only momentary joy however, as she tells him she can’t leave Donny. The next day, as Niles sits in the cab of the family’s Winnebago, unable to face the wedding, Daphne shows up in her wedding dress. That kiss was the beginning of one of the best romance stories in television history.
 
M*A*S*H: “Comrades in Arms: Part I”
Set in the 1950s at the MASH 4077 unit during the Korean War, a group of surgeons laughed, cried and dreaded seeing the horrors of war unfold in front of them. Never in the history of television has a show captured the essence of comedy and drama so elegantly, so real. Hawkeye Pierce, lead surgeon and the unit’s funny man, always enjoyed picking on Hot Lips, head nurse Margaret Houlihan. While he loved joking around with her like they were school children, much to her dismay, there was always this veiled longing that didn’t bubble to the surface until Season 6. Trapped behind enemy lines alone in a hut as bombs are blasting all around them, the two suddenly embrace and share a kiss. It was a passionately tragic moment for the characters, realizing that they might die right there. It was a kiss stemmed from fear, respect and love for one another. The characters survived and a relationship never materialized, which is what makes the kiss even more perfect. 
 
Gilmore Girls: “Raincoats and Recipes”
 
Luke Danes, the local diner owner in the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut, is an opinionated, grumpy-old-man-type character, who falls for Lorelai Gilmore, the free spirit who has a close-knit relationship with her daughter Rory, who she had at just 16. As fans watched Lorelai float through men that were all wrong for her while her perfectly, imperfect man was just down the street at the diner, it made it all worth it at the end of season 4. On the steps of her new Bed & Breakfast, “The Dragonfly,” he embraces her in a kiss. The episode itself includes a sleep-walking (or running rather) naked townsperson, a fight between Lorelai and Rory and other unexpected mishaps. But it’s that one, sweet quite moment that makes fans just adore that episode.
 
Cheers: “Showdown, Part One”
“Cheers” is a show that is imbedded in our pop culture. Not only did it spin-off the successful, Emmy-winning show “Fraiser,” it made us fall in love with this bar where “everybody knows your name.” The characters made that show a classic and the hunky baseball-player-turned-bartender Sam Malone and the snooty, highly educated waitress Diane Chambers were perfection. When they say opposites attract, these are the characters they’re talking about. In the penultimate episode of season one, Diane starts to date Sam’s brother. But he’s too late to the party – Sam and Diane have already had this electric chemistry from the get-go. In the midst of a very heated argument between the two in his office, the two finally let go in an angry, passionate kiss. It’s a significant moment in their relationship and the series as a whole.
 
The Office: Casino Night
There will never be a sweeter, funnier office comedy then, well, “The Office.” Throughout its eight-season run, the show’s humor captured audiences, but we all stayed for the romance between paper salesman Jim and secretary Pam. Though she is engaged to Roy, a horrible choice for someone like her, Jim pined for her. Finally at the end of season two, during a casino night during at the paper company’s warehouse, he admits his feelings for her. She turns him down, apologizing for him mistaking their natural chemistry for love. But when it’s true love, you don’t give up. He winds up going back into the office and the two share a sweet kiss. It marks the first in their long love story.
 
The Mindy Project: “Desert”
Mindy Kaling is a master at building a love story. She proved it most when for three seasons, the rom-com obsessed obstetrician/gynecologist Mindy Lahiri (played by her) is searching for love only to fall for fellow doctor and close friend Danny Castellano. It’s a love storyline that could go either way – they start out kind of getting on each other’s nerves, then it develops into a close friendship and finally, in season three, we see Castellano give in to his emotions. He’s just gotten done having a reunion with his long-estranged father and has helped Mindy write an email to her boyfriend who just broke up with her, to win him back. They’re on a plane back to New York when Mindy is in the back of the plane, grabbing him a bottle of water. The plane jolts as he’s seated (it’s an ode to a previous episode where he grabs her hand on a plane) and his face says it all. He runs to the back where she’s at, catches her off guard and passionately kisses her. She stops and gives in and the scene fades back with them a tiny little make-out session which is sweet and perfect.
 
The Big Bang Theory: “The Tangerine Factor” & “The Locomotive Manipulation”
There’s just this desire in American pop culture for the nerds to get the girl, which is why I can’t just pick one kiss from “The Big Bang Theory.” The first is between physicist Leonard Hofstadter, who has been pining for the bleach blonde waitress Penny, who lives across the hall. They strike up a friendship, but Leonard wants more and finally works up the nerve to ask her out. They agree to go out on a date, but throughout the whole episode, the two stress about it, asking advice from the robot-like scientist Sheldon, who explains the theory of “Schrodinger’s Cat.” When Leonard picks Penny up, he tests the theory immediately with a kiss. Penny says, “the cat’s alive,” and the two go onto their date and subsequently, a relationship.

Season seven just saw a television miracle – Sheldon Cooper, a man who is strictly science, has no concept or use for physical or really even emotional connections with anyone, kissed his long-time girlfriend Amy Farrah Fowler. Out of anger, but still, when he gets to her lips, we see for the first-time a human, spontaneous side to Sheldon. Upset that Amy’s intentions of a vintage train ride were simply to be romantic with him on Valentine’s Day (how dare she), he starts spewing off things that are romantic – wine drinking, staring into each other’s eyes – it’s a full-blown tantrum. Then he says, “Oh, kissing,” and lands on her lips. She may be shocked, but the viewers are even more, especially when he decides to lean into the kiss. It’s exciting for the future of the show and for nerds everywhere.