Dr. Joel Fleischman and Maggie O'Connell, "Northern Exposure"

Rob Morrow's New York City-born general practitioner was mightily vexed that the Alaskan scholarship that put him through Columbia University Medical School forced him to spend a few years as lone doctor in the 49th state's tiny, eccentric Cicely instead of Anchorage. (Of course, what Joel really wanted was to be back in Manhattan.)

It didn't help that his Cicely landlady, bush pilot Maggie (Janine Turner), rubbed him the wrong way and was generally caustic about Joel's big city airs. But anyone could see a spark of attraction between the two, through all their verbal sparring and exchanged insults.

Eventually, tolerance grew as they got to know each other and, by Season 5, Joel and Maggie were struggling to make a go of it. They had a brief, unconventional romance (including a memorable flight on a Russian jet to St. Petersburg), but in the end they were destined to be not permanent lovers but great supports for one another's unique destinies.

Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, "Star Trek: Voyager"

While in pursuit of a Maquis ship under the command of Chakotay (Robert Beltran), Janeway's starship Voyager is thrown thousands of light years into the galaxy's Delta Quadrant.

Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) loses much of her crew, forcing her to declare a truce with the Maquis (rebels seeking freedom from the heavy-handed Federation). Chakotay and his people join Janeway's staff, and in an effort at diplomacy, the captain appoints the Maquis leader her first officer.

During the series' seven seasons, Janeway and Chakotay enjoyed a mutually respectful relationship on Voyager's long, long journey home. But they also developed a great trust that brought them closer as people, and "Trek" fans could certainly feel the show's writers dangling the possibility of, say, a permanent cessation of hostilities between at least one Maquis warrior and one Starfleet regular.

Things came to a head in one of the show's best episodes, "Resolutions," in which Janeway and Chakotay are left alone on a planet after contracting an incurable virus. With no crew to worry about, the pair drops formalities and starts to make a life for themselves. (Chakotay even builds Janeway a bathhouse. Woo-hoo!) But just before nature takes over entirely, those Voyager busybodies return with a cure (gee, thanks, guys), and the near-lovers resume their old close-but-no-cigar connection.

Maddie Hayes and David Addison, "Moonlighting"

After ex-model Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) finds herself the victim of a business manager's embezzling, she has little left in her portfolio besides the Blue Moon Detective Agency.

Tempted to sell, Maddie changes her mind after meeting the company's quirky employees, especially private eye David (Bruce Willis), who talks her into keeping the sleuth shop.

Thus begins a taut and highly verbose relationship, with a tip of the hat to Hollywood's screwball comedy era. The chemistry between David and Maddie was classic love-hate: Maddie was icy and prone to yelling, while David was flippant, constantly making sexual advances and jokes.

"Moonlighting" creator Glenn Gordon Caron was rewarded with high ratings for the show, and he tweaked the formula in all sorts of creative ways, including blatant in-jokes and a full-dress version of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew."

The audience ate it up and waited through two seasons before David and Maddie finally consummated their partnership. The episode was awkward, however: Maddie thought she was about to bed down with another man (Mark Harmon), but she found David between the sheets instead.

Their romance was bumpy over the long haul, however. There were other lovers and a miscarriage, but what really threw things off were scheduling problems that kept Willis and Shepherd from appearing in the same episodes.

Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty Russell, "Gunsmoke"

Did they ever get it on? Well, they certainly knew each other well over the series' two decades, and there were plenty of indications of how Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake), who owned the Long Branch saloon in Dodge City, felt about the lawman.

In the 1966 episode "The Jailer," for example, a vengeful and observant Bette Davis kidnaps Kitty draw Dillon (James Arness) into a trap, and keeps referring to the marshal as her hostage's "man." Dillon comes running, for sure.

CBS left it all to the viewer to decide, and "Gunsmoke" was indeed the kind of show that takes root in the fertile ground of a fan's imagination. So, yes, indeed, for some of us there had to be more to Kitty and Matt's story than meets the eye. But it was definitely offscreen and behind closed doors.