As flower deliveries are made and those cute, yet terrible tasting candy hearts are consumed—everyone in the HR space seems to be talking about office romances, so I thought that I’d chime in and share some funny office romances from some of my favorite (and not so favorite, but relevant) TV shows.
As always these are in no particular order. (There are spoilers so, consider yourself alerted)
- The Office—when it comes to the crew at Dunder
Mifflin, office romances are in fullforce—in fact I’m not even sure I can name them all, but I can tell you that my favorite couple is Pam and Jim (cliché I know).
- Wings—Thanks to reruns on the USA Network, Wings has become part of my late night TV repertoire and so has the relationship between the cute lunch counter owner, Helen Chapel, and Joe Hackett, the owner of Sandpiper Air—a one plane operation—hilarity ensues.
- 30 Rock—Liz Lemon has had at least two office romances (that I can think of)—Danny (the new cast member) and the more devastating—Floyd, played by the hilarious Jason Sudeikis. Their relationship started in typical fashion when Floyd attempted to send flowers to his girlfriend Liz Lemler on Valentine’s Day, but they instead ended up in Lemon’s office.
- New Girl—While this show is new, everyone seems to be smitten and so was Jess (Zoey Deschanel) when she started dating her colleague, Paul (Jason Long). Their quirky relationship couldn’t have been cuter.
- Glee—I don’t watch this show anymore, but the on-again-off-again relationship between the cute Glee Club sponsor, Mr. Schuster and the OCD guidance counselor, Emma Pillsbury seems to involve the kids at school a little too much if you ask me.
- Mad Men—As for the office romances among coworkers at this fictional 1960s ad firm, there are TOO many to list (and I don’t think I can name one that isn’t scandalous) but all I can say is when it comes to boundaries the employees at Sterling Cooper have none.
- Roseanne—George Clooney was on Roseanne—shocking, I know! But it’s true, Aunt Jackie, dated the dreamy Booker Brookes (portrayed by Clooney), her boss at Wellman Plastics in season one.
- Friends—When Rachel worked at Ralph Lauren, she hired an assistant named Tag. His only qualification was that he was cute.
- The West Wing—I guess that working for the President of the United States leaves you very little time for a social life, so it’s not surprising that many of President Bartlet’s staff eventually ended up together or with people they met while working at The White House. My favorite couple award would go to Josh and Donna—I waited seven seasons for them to get together, so I had a lot invested in that relationship.
- Ugly Betty—Everyone at Mode Magazine seemed to be having an office romance, whether it was scandalous or legit, my favorite would have to go to Betty and Henry—America’s cutest nerds.
So if you’re thinking of engaging in an office romance, you probably shouldn’t take your cues from TV shows—but in general they’re probably not the best choice. Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!
