TELEVISION programs have long had plots involving opposites attracting and forbidden loves.
The trope has been used for both comedic and dramatic purposes.
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When actor Dean Butler played Almanzo Wilder on Little House on the Prairie from 1979 to 1983, his character fell in love with Laura Ingalls Wilder, played by actress Melissa Gilbert.
However, Dean was 23 at the time of the casting, while Melissa was just 15 – an age difference not lost on the now 67-year-old.
“When I first met Melissa, there was no hint of a woman there at all. She was a young girl,” Dean told The U.S. Sun exclusively.
“I don’t know that you could make that today. Melissa and I have talked about this a lot over the years. You couldn’t do that casting.”
Yet, in the years since, plenty of other plotlines have involved romances between characters of differing ages.
Do you remember these classic storylines?
FRIENDS
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One of the biggest recurring storylines on the sitcom Friends was the relationship between Courteney Cox‘s Monica and Tom Selleck’s Richard.
Richard started out as a friend of Monica’s dad, but the two eventually fell for each other.
Although there was a 21-year age gap, the two displayed incredible chemistry that nearly came between Monica and her eventual friend-turned-lover Chandler.
MODERN FAMILY
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Another groundbreaking sitcom with a May-December romance was Modern Family.
Here, the relationship between Ed O’Neill’s Jay and much younger wife Gloria, played by Sofia Vergara, was one of the backbones of the show.
Over the course of 11 seasons, viewers discovered the relationship was indeed built on love, and the two even had a baby of their own later in the show’s run.
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
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Talk about an age gap.
Buffy Summers is just 16 years old when she first meets the vampire with a soul, Angel.
He initially tells her he is 24, which would be creepy enough, except that’s a lie.
Angel is really 241 – an age difference of 217 years.
GAME OF THRONES
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Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish, 36, longed for Sansa Stark’s mother Catelyn on Game of Thrones.
But after she died, he turned his attention, and affection, toward her daughter, who was in her teens at the time.
Eventually, Petyr kissed Sansa, which she did nothing to stop.
Sansa would soon realize Petyr could not be trusted, and she had him executed.
YOUNG SHELDON
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The love story of Georgie Cooper and Amanda McAllister on Young Sheldon proved to be so popular with fans, it’s led to its own spinoff.
Mandy joined the show in Season 5 when she began a relationship with Georgie.
However, much to her surprise, Georgie, who said he was 21, was actually only 17 when they met.
And in a turn, much to Georgie’s surprise, Mandy is not really 25, but actually 29.
The two eventually have a child out of wedlock, and their love is set to be explored after Young Sheldon ends later this year.
DAWSON’S CREEK
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One of the first major subplots of Dawson’s Creek was the forbidden relationship between high schooler Pacey Witter and English teacher Tamara Jacobs.
Tamara entered the show right away in the pilot episode.
When their eventual relationship became public, the adult was dragged off to court, and forced to leave town due to the scandal.
GILMORE GIRLS
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Rory Gilmore’s roommate at Yale, Paris Geller, entered into her own affair with an older teacher – this time professor and a novelist, Asher Fleming.
Asher is a friend of Rory’s grandfather, Richard, and is close to him in age, meaning he is old enough to be the freshman’s grandfather.
Asher is later revealed to be a bit of a womanizer and often sets his sights on younger women.