Screech compares the news that they'll be “going with each other” to the fall of the Berlin Wall, but Zack's behaviour is comparable to David Hasselhoff's fist-pumping performance among the rubble. As harshly executed as it was, the writers' plan was always to split the two of them up, as there's far more televisual mileage in the chase.
— Stuart Millard on Saved by the Bell, So Excited, So Scared
For media couples like us, relationships aren't important, but sexual chemistry is! It's like Mulder and Scully, Steed and Emma Peel, the red and the purple teletubbies... it's the whole "are-they-or-aren't-they thing"
Well, well, if it isn't Inuyasha? How's that Kagome thing working out?... Ohhh, 200 episodes and you guys haven't even gotten together. HAHAHAHA!
When you two are done releasing sexual tensions we have got a meeting we need to finish!
— France, Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genis: Okay, Emil, just be straight with me. How do you feel about Marta?
Emil: How do I feel? Well, I guess...
Tenebrae: Don't say it!
Emil: Huh?
Genis: Are intraparty relationships off limits?
Tenebrae: It's not that. Such questions must never be answered plainly. Any response should be vague, so as to create intrigue and suspense. Is this not the essence of any good soap opera?
(the others sigh)
Genis: You know, "spiteful" may be the perfect word for Tenebrae.
— A skit from Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Penny: Look, Sheldon, sometimes it's more fun for things to be uncertain. I mean, look at Leonard and me. We met, we dated, we broke up, and now we're back together and who knows what's going to happen!"
Sheldon: Oh please. We all know what's going to happen.
— The Big Bang Theory, "The Werewolf Transformation" demonstrating both the logic and an inherent weakness in this trope.
Well, romantic tension is about 33.3% of all anime.
— An commenter on this thread
.
. Ozpin: LISTEN.
Ozpin: I WOKE UP IN BED WITH SOMEONE.
Ozpin: SOMEONE I SHOULDN'T HAVE.
Qrow: was it goodwitch?
Qrow: it was about time, oz my friend.
Qrow: it was insufferable, really.
Qrow: seeing you both have eyesex across the room.
Ozpin: WHAT? NO.
Ozpin: GOD NO. GLYNDA'S A GREAT FRIEND.
Qrow: the tension was so thick a knife could cut it.
Ozpin: I DON'T WANT A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP RIGHT NOW.
Qrow: it was disgusting.
Just fuck already!
— The Internet
"Unresolved sexual tension. It's the engine that makes television run."
— Michael Weatherly, in an NCIS episode commentary
Aeryn: I know the pressures of living close...how it can affect the safety of an entire battalion—(slips and falls back into Crichton) ...unless tensions are relieved.
Crichton: (pressing his mouth against her cheek) So what do you suggest?
Aeryn: Well in the Peacekeepers it was common practice to ahh... reduce fluid levels.
Crichton: Fluid levels. Like...well like Valvoline, like brake fluid?
Aeryn: Like sex. We can have sex if you want.
Crichton: You know what? Ahh, now is not a good time. How about I, uh... check my diary and get back to you later in the week?
Aeryn: It would...relieve the tension.
Crichton: Is this for you or for me?
Aeryn: For both of us.
Crichton: You know what? I got two hands. I can alternate. I can release all the tension I want. I don't need your charity.
Aeryn: And I don't need your emotions. But we can have sex if you want.
— Farscape, "Suns and Lovers"
Papa Shirogane: In fact, there are even folks who, despite already being in love with each other, spend an entire year worrying about which one of them should be the one to confess.
Tsubame: Wow, they sound pretty insufferable...
Tsubame: Wow, they sound pretty insufferable...
Murray Bowman: CHILDREN! CHILDREN! CHILDREN! This interminable bickering was amusing at first, but it's getting very stale and we've still got a long drive ahead of us. So, why don't you two cut the horseshit and get to the part where you admit your sexual feelings for one another?
Jim Hopper: WOAH!
Joyce Bryers: You are way off base, buddy!
Murray: Oh, spare me, spare me, spare me! (to Joyce) Yes, yes, he's a brute. I know. Probably reminds you of a bad relationship, and gosh, you'd really like a nice man to settle down with, but, admit it, you're real curious to know what he's like in the sack. (to Hopper) And you. HA! Well, you're just a big manbaby who'd rather act tough than show his true feelings, because the last time you opened your heart, you got hurt. Owie. (to both) And now, rather than admit these feelings, you're dancing around one another with this mind-numbing and frankly boorish mating ritual. So, please, for my sake, either quit your bickering, or pull over, tear off those clothes, AND GET IT OVER WITH ALREADY!
(beat)
Muray: (Deep Sigh)
Alexei: (in Russian) What was that?
Muray: (in Russian) I told them they should have sex.
Alexei: (in Russian) They have not had sex?
Muray: No.
(beat)
(both start laughing)
Carapace: You think they are?
Rena Rouge: No way they're not. Or haven't.
Viperion: They're not.
Purple Tigress: Nah, I'm with Rena on this. It's been way too long for that much sexual tension not to have broken.
Carapace: Or maybe it hasn't, and that's the issue.
Viperion: They're not fucking.
Pegasus: There is a very small chance that a male and female that have worked together for so long so intimately and are attracted to each other have not had some sort of sexual encounter.
Viperion: Attracted to each other?
Rena Rouge: It's not like it's any secret.
King Monkey: It really isn't.
Viperion: What the fuck are you talking about? She's never wanted anything to do with him!
[Ladybug shoves Chat Noir off the roof]
Purple Tigress: That's some serious tension.
— Defeated
