# Best depictions of a married couple? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809 "2012-02-05T00:41:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/21 "2012-02-05T14:47:27Z")
Rob and Laura Petrie of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Perhaps a bit too glamorous, but the first convincing couple on TV. Rob and Laura actually had “chemistry”, and you could tell they actually had sex. I don’t yet know how Ricky and Lucy had Little Ricky…and they were married in real life! Also, Grandma and Grandpa Walton are very much like my own grandparents. And from the stories I’ve heard, almost exactly like my great grandparents. And my great grandparents were born roughly the same time Zeb and Esther were born. They are very real to me- very much a loving couple, but they’ve been together so long that they constantly pick at each other and get into minor arguments all the time. They can be completely honest like that because they both know they can’t live without each other. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/22 "2012-02-05T14:55:57Z")
I don’t know if the couple was actually supposed to be married, but Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in **The Break Up.** The movie as a whole was pretty insipid. But there’s a great five minute scene early on, that’s probably one of the best depictions of relationship discord I’ve ever seen, where a disagreement about doing dishes turns into a huge blow up with the characters listing all their grievances. A pretty realistic portrayal, IMHO, of how things can snowball quickly when you’re having a seemingly minor spat with your SO. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/23 "2012-02-05T15:51:28Z")
I was always impressed with **Entourage’s** Ari and the relationship he had with is wife. I drifted away from the show a while ago so I guess I have no idea if they stayed married the whole time, but when I was watching it they always had a good relationship ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/24 "2012-02-05T15:55:25Z")
Mr. & Mrs. Ari Eric & Tami Taylor ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/25 "2012-02-05T16:50:33Z")
Not a movie/tv show, but the description of dialog and events the relationship in Weird Al’s “Trapped in the Drive-Thru” song rings true to me. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/26 "2012-02-05T16:56:21Z")
I’ll second Dan and Roseanne Conner from _Roseanne_. Going back a few years, I thought Frank Furillo and Joyce Davenport from \*Hill Street Blues \*were good too. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/27 "2012-02-05T17:12:22Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > I don’t know if the couple was actually supposed to be married, but Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston in **The Break Up.** > > The movie as a whole was pretty insipid. But there’s a great five minute scene early on, that’s probably one of the best depictions of relationship discord I’ve ever seen, where a disagreement about doing dishes turns into a huge blow up with the characters listing all their grievances. A pretty realistic portrayal, IMHO, of how things can snowball quickly when you’re having a seemingly minor spat with your SO. “I want you to WANT to do the dishes!” Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/28 "2012-02-05T17:15:51Z")
I loved that movie! It was spot-on. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/29 "2012-02-05T17:19:15Z")
The Harts of Hart to Hart and the Cosbys. Not very realistic but quite loving. Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpsons on Newlyweds. This was the first and only Big Brother type reality show I ever watched. It was so obvious Nick loved is pretty, dumb, privileged and useless young wife. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/30 "2012-02-05T17:40:02Z")
Dan and Roseanne again, they could have lived in my neighborhood when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/31 "2012-02-05T17:53:22Z")
> [@grude](#): > > They don’t have to be legally or technically married, just a long term couple. This is seemingly one of the hardest things to authentically capture on film by how many times I don’t buy a supposed couple. > > In Beetlejuice there is scene when the newly dead married couple the Maitlands are navigating the afterlife bureaucracy that makes me laugh everytime where they are chatting back and forth and explaining the handbook’s rules to each other. I can’t stress how perfect I thought that was. > So I was looking for similar pefect captures of how long term couples relate. Also with the Maitlands, when they started rapidly decomposing, Alec Baldwin’s jawbone drops up and Geena Davis thoughtfully picks it back up for him. A spouse’s first thought is to help out, not be repulsed by whatever weird situation you find youself in! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/32 "2012-02-05T18:10:45Z")
Andy Capp > [@LH75](#): > > Dan and Rosanne Conner were a very convincing blue collar couple. Seriously, this. That show struck so many realistic notes. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/33 "2012-02-05T18:17:38Z")
Turk and Carla from Scrubs Wash and Zoe from Firefly ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/34 "2012-02-05T18:17:53Z")
I really liked JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson in _Poltergeist_, dealing both with everyday suburbia family life and then horrific child-endagering Tobe Hooper stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/35 "2012-02-05T19:40:31Z")
John and Abigail Adams in _1776_. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/36 "2012-02-05T20:07:22Z")
I know there are better examples, but the gay couple on Modern Family is a good example of married couple dynamics ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/37 "2012-02-05T20:58:58Z")
> [@Shawn1767](#): > > Not a movie/tv show, but the description of dialog and events the relationship in Weird Al’s “Trapped in the Drive-Thru” song rings true to me. That is a good one. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/38 "2012-02-05T21:09:06Z")
Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie as Mr. and Mrs. Stoller in [Breaking Away](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078902/) are pitch perfect. They could be an Indiana version of my parents. Their performances are really what make this film extraordinary. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/39 "2012-02-05T21:14:20Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Rob and Laura Petrie. First people I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809/40 "2012-02-05T21:31:51Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I’ll second Dan and Roseanne Conner from _Roseanne_. > > Going back a few years, I thought Frank Furillo and Joyce Davenport from \*Hill Street Blues \*were good too. Agreed as to both. I still remember Frank and Joyce wrestling with the issue of her infertility. The married couple played by Ahnuld and Jamie Lee Curtis in _True Lies_ clearly loved each other, then had some problems but worked through them in… an interesting way, and were all the stronger for it afterwards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-depictions-of-a-married-couple/611809.md?page=3)