# Best--and worst--onscreen chemistry **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2007, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694 "2007-06-12T12:36:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/41 "2007-06-12T20:33:07Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Almost certainly best. The corruption of Lex Luthor is the second most interesting thing about that show and is almsot enough to make me watch it. [/QUOTE] Almost, right? I won’t watch it either - because I really have no interest in a young Superman. But that aside, what is the first “most interesting thing” about that show? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/42 "2007-06-12T20:34:23Z")
[QUOTE=Veuve\_ClicquotNJ] Zero between Annette Bening & Warren Beatty in “Love Affair”. VCNJ~ [/QUOTE] I never saw it, but that’s funny, considering that she’s the woman who finally pinned him down! [QUOTE=SaharaTea] Really? I thought Patrick Swayze had refused to do a sequel unless he could be reunited with the original cast, including Grey. Did they kiss and make up? [/QUOTE] I had always heard they couldn’t stand each other, based on some other movie they had worked on together, and had to be talked into doing Dirty Dancing. But it could be that Swyaze knew changing the cast would be death to a sequel, so he was willing to deal with it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/43 "2007-06-12T20:35:01Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] I’ve never seen it. Are you voting them for best or worst? [/QUOTE] I vote for best. They’re really, really hot. I’m not usually into slash, but Lex/Clark are smokin’. The subtext is long, hot and hard. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/44 "2007-06-12T20:35:31Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Almost certainly best. The corruption of Lex Luthor is the second most interesting thing about that show and is almsot enough to make me watch it. [/QUOTE] Ding ding ding! (And a vote for worst: Clark and Lana, sweet Jesus, just _stop_ already, _please_.) On the same channel / at the same studio, it’s Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles together that really makes _Supernatural_. I thought Jack and Audrey on _24_ really played well off each other, and never really got the same vibe from Kate in season 2. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/45 "2007-06-12T20:35:43Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] Almost, right? I won’t watch it either - because I really have no interest in a young Superman. But that aside, what is the first “most interesting thing” about that show? [/QUOTE] Chloe! She’s just like Lois Lane, except that she doesn’t inspire you to root for the bad guys to kill her. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/46 "2007-06-12T20:39:31Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] Chloe! She’s just like Lois Lane, except that she doesn’t inspire you to root for the bad guys to kill her. [/QUOTE] So…not at all like Lois Lane, in fact? 😃 (BTW - who is Chloe in the story? I’m afraid I really have no idea of the dynamic. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/47 "2007-06-12T20:40:27Z")
TV Guide itself once remarked on the “homoerotic subtext of Clark & Lex’s relationship.” ---
**Author:** ![Flea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d78d45/32.png) [@Flea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flea)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/48 "2007-06-12T20:41:22Z")
Excellent chemistry, David Addison and Maddie Hayes as played by Bruce Willis and Cybil Sheppard in _Moonlighting_. I love the episode where they spoof _The Taming of the Shrew._ Awful chemistry, Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder in _Superman_. I never for a second believed that they were in love. Ditto for anyone on Grey’s Anatomy. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/49 "2007-06-12T20:44:14Z")
[QUOTE=Anaamika] So…not at all like Lois Lane, in fact? 😃 (BTW - who is Chloe in the story? I’m afraid I really have no idea of the dynamic. [/QUOTE] No, she’s very like Lois (and in the story she’s Lois’ cousin and Clark’s best friend from high school.) Just imagine Lois with the virtues of intelligence and bravery, just enough insecurity and brattiness to make her sympathetic, and without the screeching harridanity that made people want to kill Noel Neill. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/50 "2007-06-12T20:56:16Z")
Someone’s going to shoot me, but I like Jack McCoy/Jamie and Jack McCoy/Abby. Claire kind of just mooned after him, but Jamie and Abby stood up and got in Jack’s face. I’ve often wondered at the casting choice of Frannie and Stu in _The Stand_. I got a crush on Gary Sinise after that mini-series, but Molly Ringwald was not strong enough to play Frannie. It seemed like they were going through the motions, and the love scene was (dare I say it?) booooooring. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/51 "2007-06-12T21:04:42Z")
Well, sorry that my entries will come mostly from recent stuff… Bad chemistry: Neo and Trinity in Matrix II and III. How did anyone miss this at all. When I saw them have sex I was thinking…why? Half the plot revolved around their love and I just found it so unbelievable. It would have been a lot better to have been reworked around their limitations in that dept. Great Chemistry all around? Gotta be a non-sexual thing for me. George and Jerry Almost any combination of characters on Arrested Deveolpment Dwight and Jim on the Office. Also Jim and Andy ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/52 "2007-06-12T21:11:34Z")
Red and Kitty Foreman! -Joe! ---
**Author:** ![nevermore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@nevermore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevermore)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/53 "2007-06-12T21:42:58Z")
I came in here to say John Travolta & Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. I was totally convinced of both the magnetism and the agony of not being able to do anything about it. I gotta disagree with whoever said Cuddy & House have bad chemistry… he devours her with his eyes every time she walks in the room! And she, I don’t know, no one can knock her off her game like he can. She doesn’t get flustered with anyone but House, and she gets this sparkle in her eyes when they argue, and a softer (but similar) one when he does or says something nice. To me, it looks way more like an active effort (on both their parts) to ignore chemistry than a lack thereof. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/54 "2007-06-12T22:01:08Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] I’ve often wondered at the casting choice of Frannie and Stu in _The Stand_. [/QUOTE] I’ve often wondered at **all** of the casting choices in _The Stand_. :dubious: With the exception of Jamey Sheridan (who did a credible job in a nearly impossible role) and Bill Fagerbakke (who was BORN to be Tom Cullen; I pictured him in the role from the first time I saw _Coach_), I thought the casting choices blew chunks. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/55 "2007-06-12T22:01:21Z")
If we can talk Disney: \*\*Zero Chemistry: \*\* Mickey and Minnie Mouse Aladdin and Princess Yasmine **Lots of Chemistry:** Hercules and Megara. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/56 "2007-06-12T22:05:56Z")
[QUOTE=cmyk] Non-Romantic Sci-Fi: Best = Marty & Doc Brown in the Back to the Future series. [/QUOTE] [You sure it’s not romantic?](http://youtube.com/watch?v=8uwuLxrv8jY)😛 ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/57 "2007-06-12T22:18:35Z")
Isn’t this thread for Best and/or Worst chemistry? Many of you are just naming a couple without any explanation. For some of those I sure hope they are meant to be Worst. Heroes Best: The Brother’s Petrelli Hiro and Ando Worst: Matt Parkman and his wife. He had more chemistry with Ted and Mr. Bennet. Nikki and D.L. oh, hell, Nikki and anyone. ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/58 "2007-06-12T22:26:19Z")
Another old pairing: George Burns and Gracie Allen had good chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/59 "2007-06-12T22:31:06Z")
Well, most of the popular slash pairings are inspired by good, non-romantic chemistry. (it’s really usually not just any two random cute guys, no matter how much it sometimes seems) Some of the most popular influenced by on-screen chemisty: Classic: Kirk & Spock Starsky & Hutch Jack O’Neill & Daniel Jackson Dan & Casey (SportsNight) Newer: Rodney McKay & John Sheppard Merry & Pippin as well as Sam & Frodo Clark & Lex House & Wilson Dean & Sam Winchester I don’t have a lot for worst since I’m mostly a slasher. I did think Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogan in "Knocked Up’ had unimpressive chemistry. I didn’t buy them as a couple at all. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694/60 "2007-06-12T22:48:04Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Wost: House & Cuddy. Best: House & Wilson. [/QUOTE] Wow, you guys must be watching a different show than I am… Best: House and Cuddy Tied for Best: House and Wilson Worst: House and Cameron. Talk about zero chemistry. House and Cuddy smoke up any scene they’re in, IMO, while House and Cameron…they don’t even seem like they’re in the same room with each other. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-onscreen-chemistry/407694.md?page=4)