Anything But Love (1989–1992)

Back in the 80s, shows with romantic tension between the leads were all over the air: Moonlighting, Remington Steele etc. got it going and within a few years every show was on the same bandwagon. Here, Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis play colleagues at Chicago Weekly magazine who suppress their romantic impulses toward one another so as to preserve their friendship and working relationship, but circumstances keep pushing them together nonetheless. The overall romantic story arc moved slowly and inexorably toward its predictable goal, but the individual episodes were generally well written and funny enough on their own and as a result the show is still watchable.

Be warned: the show was on the air from 1989-92, and you get the occasional very dated joke on a then topical subject. This is rather unavoidable with sit-coms. Also note that the show underwent a re- structuring after episode 6 in which most of the cast got fired. The magazine gets a new boss, Jamie's character gets a new apartment and a new best friend, while her Dad, played by Bruce Kirby, is rarely if ever seen again. The changes worked fairly well, but when watched on a DVD it's a bit jarring, with the second side of the disk looking almost like a new show.