The Not Love Interest / Live-Action TV

Not Love Interests in live-action TV.

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• 30 Rock: Jack and Liz Lemon. They even get married, accidentally for one episode and still don't see each other as anything but best friends.
• American Housewife: Oliver's best friend Cooper Bradford functions as his love interest in many plots, in parallel to his sisters' actual love interests, Trip and Franklin. Although Oliver and Cooper are both straight and have had girlfriends, they tend not to last very long, and Oliver's relationship with Cooper is always given much greater prominence. Their bromance is so strong that it seems everyone in Oliver's family ships them together, meaning that much Mistaken for Romance and He Is Not My Boyfriend abounds.
• Angel: When Spike joins the cast in Season 5, he quickly takes on a role like this, as his and Angel's complicated history and relationship drives a lot of drama, far more than anything to do with Angel's actual love interest for the season (he starts dating a werewolf named Nina casually). Again it's noted by Joss on the DVDs. "We finally found the right girl for Angel — Spike." Hilariously, the in-universe movie adaptation of After the Fall, called "Last Angel in Hell", gender-flips Spike into Angel's love interest.
• Babylon 5: Susan Ivanova's relationship with most of the male leadership of the station can be described as a form of very affectionate professionalism. Her relationship with Sheridan, in particular, is one of the most important relationships in the show, and despite the complete lack of sexual tension — and it is a complete lack — the storyline makes it painfully clear that they do love each other deeply. Interestingly, in Sheridan's case, this trope is in play despite the fact that he does have a love interest — Ambassador Delenn — with whom he has an equally important and believable relationship. He truly does care equally for both women, simply in completely different ways.
• Battlestar Galactica (1978): Apollo and Starbuck to the point that Starbuck is dismayed upon learning that Apollo and Serina are getting married. The relationship is especially obvious in "War of the Gods".
  Apollo: It's me, Apollo. Remember? We talk about things.
• Body of Proof: Peter is this for the lead character of Megan Hunt. Despite them both being straight, single, and non-family type of partners in a crime-solving drama, there is no hint of them being anything more than friends and co-workers. The writers pull it off quite successfully with very few people passionately shipping them.
• Boston Legal: While midgets, their mothers, foxy judges and prostitutes aplenty will come and go, Denny Crane and Alan Shore will always find themselves back on the balcony sipping Scotch and smoking a cigar at the end of every day. And then they got married. Denny and Alan... well, they are to The Not-Love Interest what The Not-Love Interest is to UST.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In Season 5, Buffy's newly-created little sister Dawn fulfills this role, to the point where Buffy says, given a choice between killing Dawn and letting the apocalypse happen — well, goodbye world, it's been fun. Joss Whedon said on the Season 5 DVD "[Buffy's] love interest for the season was her sister."
  • It sometimes seems like any woman Xander dates is doomed to play second fiddle to the two very important women in his life, Buffy and Willow. Cordelia senses it ("When you're not babbling about poor, defenseless Willow, you are raving about the all-powerful Buffy"), and Anya seems to as well (singing "When things get tough, he/Just hides behind his Buffy" during their couple song in the musical episode), hence her fight with Willow in "Triangle". An imperfect example because both women were in fact love interests for him at some point before becoming strictly platonic, but in Willow's case he only briefly returned her crush on him and Buffy never returned his crush on her.
  • Buffy serves as Willow's not-love interest. Willow moves Heaven and Earth to bring Buffy back to life. After Tara's death, before she embarks on her quest for vengeance, Willow visits Buffy, who was also shot, and saves her life.
• Chuck: Chuck and Ellie (his sister) seem to do a lot more hugging than Chuck and Sarah. A good example of that was shown at the end of the Season 5 episode the Santa Suit. Sarah had been captured and kept hostage by Shaw — a man that had vowed to kill her in the past to avenge the death of his wife — for the entirety of the episode. Once Chuck beats Shaw though, he runs over to give Ellie a hug rather than checking to make sure that Sarah, his wife, is alive and unharmed.
  • In the first season, this was justified — Ellie was originally written as Chuck's girlfriend, and when the script was changed to make her his sister instead, some of her dialogue was left as-is.
• Criminal Minds: Derek Morgan and Penelope Garcia. This conversation from the Season 3 episode "Penelope" (that takes place after Garcia got shot) says it all:
  Morgan: I'm not going anywhere.
  Garcia: I'm fine, I've got my goon squad parked out front.
  Morgan: Goon squad or no goon squad, until we catch this guy, that couch is gonna be my new best friend. Now leave it alone.
  Garcia: Okay, but if you plan on using this to take advantage of me, let me call my doctor so he can come and revive me.
  Morgan: Hey, silly girl — I love you. You know that, right?
  Garcia: I love you too.
• Dexter: Dexter has his sister Debra. He even notes in one episode that if he could have feelings for anyone, they would be for her. However it's revealed that Debra has supressed feelings of the non-platonic kind in Season 6 and later she admits it when Dexter gets a new love interest in Season 7.
• Doctor Who: The Doctor has this kind of dynamic with the majority of his companions. Especially notable are Sarah Jane Smith from the classic show, Donna Noble and the Tenth Doctor in New Series 4, and (once the ship was sunk) the Eleventh Doctor with Amy Pond & Rory Williams. He even went so far as to call them "the people I LOVE!!!" in one episode (to date the only time he has ever invoked the L-word with his companions as usually The "I Love You" Stigma is in place, even with regards to the handful of companions he unambiguously falls in love with — including one he marries. Humorously enough, the companion he did marry is actually Amy and Rory's daughter, so they are technically his in-laws (Amy more so since Ten once got engaged to Elizabeth I and Amy accidentally to Beth's dad in a Noodle Incident). Ian and Barbara also warrant a mention, as they are the companions who teach the Doctor to be less of a Jerkass and he becomes far closer to them than most others — being forever damaged by their departure much like the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors are by losing their companions.
• Downton Abbey: In the sixth and final season, Mary Crawley and Tom Branson became this to each other. They're technically brother/sister-in-law, and after the deaths of their respective spouses they became inseparable (not counting Tom's brief sojourn in America). Together they manage the estate of Downton Abbey, and became a surprise Fan-Preferred Couple within the fandom thanks to the warmth and solidarity of their scenes together.
• Elementary: Joan Watson now portrayed as a woman, many viewers expected Joan to be paired together with Sherlock. They share a very close bond, are near inseparable, and live in the same apartment... But Word of God is they will not fall for each other, and shippers aside they do not seem attracted to each other outside the norm for Sherlock and Watson. Joan is Sherlock's Living Emotional Crutch and he cares for her, but not in a romantic way.
• Eureka: Sheriff Carter and his Deputy Jo Lupo, but instead of a romance developing with those two, Carter ends up being involved with Doctor Blake. Partly subverted, when Allison seemingly travels several years into the future and learns that Carter has moved on after her disappearance and has hooked up with Jo, but this is revealed to be a computer simulation, possibly based on her fears.
• Firefly:
  • Kaylee seems to play this role for most of the crew (with the writers even admitting that the easiest way to create drama for everyone was to threaten her), with the exception of her actual Love Interest Simon.
  • While Simon and Kaylee are an Official Couple, he has his own not-love interest in the form of his sister River. Part of the reason Simon and Kaylee took a long time to get together was because Simon was busy taking care of River.
  • Mal and Zoe. One episode centers around Wash's complaints that there's UST between them. However, at the end of the episode Mal and Zoe's attempted kiss (to "defuse" this so-called tension) is painfully awkward. Even the resident badass Jayne, normally the most lecherous member of the crew, is unnerved.
    Zoe: (dead monotone) Take me, sir. Take me hard.
    Jayne: Now somethin' about that is just downright unsettlin'.
• The Flash (2014): Caitlin Snow is the best friend of Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon since the pilot, and she has never shown any love interest in either at any time. They have never shown any romantic feeling for her either.
• Frasier has the titular character and Roz, his producer and eventual best friend. Despite being the likelier candidate of the two female leads to become Frasier's partner in a game of Will They or Won't They? (the other female lead, Daphne, is quickly established as the Love Interest for Frasier's brother Niles), nothing ever really happens. Their commitment to being Just Friends even survives them actually sleeping together towards the end of the show's run. There's no Last Minute Hook Up, either: in the end they remain best friends, with Roz focusing on her daughter and her career, while Frasier gets with the final Girl of the Week.
• Friends:
  • Joey and Chandler especially in early seasons when they were roommates. Before Chandler starts dating Monica in Season 5, he and Joey were considered to be "the other couple of the series" (along with Ross/Rachel) by some interviewers and even the producers.
  • Joey and Phoebe. Also a Fan-Preferred Couple and often hinting about potentially being together in a future. Besides some isolated kisses, they never actually dated or had sex. Lisa Kudrow and Matt Le Blanc even wanted to throw in a line during Phoebe's wedding episode that implied the two had been having casual sex throughout the show's run but the producers denied them.
• Glee:
  • Kurt Hummel has a perfectly good boyfriend to whom he is devoted, in the form of Blaine, but his father Burt will always, always be more important than anybody else in his life, especially after Burt's heart attack.
  • Kurt also has another one in his "Brassy Hag" Mercedes. They're always there for each other, they do basically everything together, they're incredibly close...but Kurt just happens to be gay and not interested. Early in the first season, though, Mercedes was none the wiser and actually thought they were going out, until Kurt turned her down and later came out to her.
• The Goldbergs: Emmy fits this role to Adam. While they make it clear that they do love each other Adam states that she's like a sibling, and there's no romantic feelings between them whatsoever.
• The Good Doctor: Shaun Murphy and Claire Browne. They have worked together in the hospital since the pilot and she was the first co-worker with whom Shaun befriended. Their friendship goes beyond the merely professional, and even so, they have never shown any romantic interest in each other. Instead, it is Shaun's neighbor, Lea, who ends up becoming his Love Interest.
• Meredith and Cristina Grey's Anatomy. Despite having romantic relationships with men, they are the most important people in each others' lives. Meredith calls Cristina "her person" and, occasionally, her soul-mate. They always go to each other first for help/advice, don't keep secrets from each other, and sometimes sleep in the same bed. Their romantic interests know that they can never get between them and they would always choose each other over them. After Cristina's departure from the show, Alex becomes this for Meredith, yet there isn't an ounce of romantic attraction between them. They clearly treat one another as brother and sister, and Meredith sees nothing wrong with barging into his room and flopping into his bed, when she's upset and wants to talk (even kicking out Alex's actual Love Interest).
• Henry Danger: Unlike most Kid Coms, there are no romantic feelings between Charlotte and Henry. They fill the role of Platonic Life-Partners, and think the idea of dating each other is disgusting.
• House: House and Wilson, given that they're based on Holmes and Watson. Much like Sherlock, there is no doubt that they would die for each other, and House would definitely kill for Wilson. Wilson is the most important person in House's life, everyone else who comes close eventually leaves. He's also the only person House seems to genuinely care about. Wilson even describes them as "a couple", both in terms of the roles they fulfill for each other and how devoted they are (even if he expresses this in a rueful, jokey way). The endgame of the series is their relationship, whether you want to interpret it as romantic or not, as along the way we see them make huge sacrifices for each other, House *spectacularly* so in the series finale.
• In the first series of Kamen Rider Amazons, Mizuki fills the standard "heroine" role for protagonist Haruka, complete with the Will They or Won't They? element. The show and promo material also draw deliberate parallels between her and Nanaha, the girlfriend of the other titular Kamen Rider. Although Mizuki and Haruka are presented as stepsiblings/adoptive siblings, the final episode reveals that they're really blood related after all, since they share the same genetic mother. The potential romantic angle is then dropped in the second series.
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent has police partners Robert Goren and Alexandra Eames. Eames is Goren's Berserk Button and Most Important Person; being something of a Cloud Cuckoolanders Minder, she's the one person who really loves and understands him, and he's shown on several occasions to be lost without her despite his brilliance. They are either Love Interests or this trope; YMMV.
• The Inspector Lynley Mysteries: No one will ever be as important to Thomas Lynley and Barbara Havers as they are to each other, to the point where they have explicitly called each other their reason to get up in the morning. Lynley's relationship with Helen consistently takes a backseat to his relationship with Barbara. If they're not in love with each other, they're this trope.
• Dr. Cal Lightman and Dr. Gillian Foster on Lie to Me, partners who own the Lightman Group and have serious Will They or Won't They? going on. Made explicit in "The Whole Truth", when Cal talks to the fiancee of a man who engineered his own assisted suicide with the help of his best friend (named Leo):
  Clara: What about Dr. Foster? What is she to you?
  Cal: She's my Leo.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel and Sauron have a strong Foe Romantic Subtext going on with them from the moment they met. Now, Galadriel was unaware she met Sauron under human disguise, as Halbrand. They check every romantic box possible, Foe Romantic Subtext, Held Gaze, being Mirror Characters, Belligerent Sexual Tension, holding hands, being each other's confidant, an ambiguous love confession, and Sauron even asking Galadriel to be his queen (whatever he actually meant by that). And yet, according to Word of God, there was nothing romantic between them, just a cosmic connection. Charlie Vickers believes Sauron never felt anything romantic because he is the embodiment of evil and evil only love itself. As for Galadriel, she has a husband that she clearly misses since his disappearance.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Agent Carter gives Peggy Carter a Not-Love Interest of the same sex, Angie Martinelli. She provides Peggy with emotional support after a fellow agent's death, gets upset when Peggy's double life keeps them from spending time together, and helps her escape the SSR agents hunting her without questioning her innocence.
  • Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    • Coulson seems be the only lead character with no potential love interests among the main cast. In relation to the two women on his team who potentially fill the typical role of the hero's love interest, he's more of a Parental Substitute to Skye, and while there are hints of a long-ago history between him and May, they seem to be Just Friends these days. Of course, The Avengers established that he did have a love interest before the show started, but there's a good reason why he and Audrey can't be together just now and an episode was devoted to Ship Sinking them, with Coulson declining to reunite with her so she can get on with her life. He finally gets an actual love interest in the third season, but she gets gunned down midway through. After that, he and May get more Ship Teases and they consider rekindling their old relationship, but for various reasons it stays an Anchored Ship and they don't pursue it further. Even when they finally get together late in Season 5, the fact that Coulson is dying due to his deal with the Ghost Rider puts a damper on it.
    • Another example is Mack for Fitz during Season 2: As Fitz and Simmons go through their Romance Arc, Mack fulfills the role of the Romantic False Lead for Fitz. He and Fitz bond while Simmons is undercover in Hydra and the drama that plays out between the three seems very much like a Love Triangle with Simmons acting very jealous and Mack appearing as a tempting potential partner.
  • Daredevil (2015) and The Punisher (2017): Although Frank Castle and Karen Page do seem to have a lot of chemistry, and a number of their scenes have romantic undertones, and they care for each other, they both have their own personal issues to deal with that mean that they have no chance of getting together. Namely, that Frank is not over the death of his family, while Karen is in love with Matt, and in The Punisher is still mourning Matt after he "died" in the finale to The Defenders (2017).
  • Moon Knight (2022): Even though Marc Spector and Steven Grant are clearly devoted to their wife Layla, Marc's efforts to push her away and keep her at arm's length results in Steven assuming a lot of the story duties a love interest typically would in her place, especially since he's a meek Non-Action Guy who is initially kept out of the dark as to Marc's superhero activities, traits typical of civilian love interests to superheroes. Steven provides an emotional bedrock for the troubled Marc, while Marc tries his hardest to keep Steven separate from his dangerous life as a crimefighter, resulting in their relationship being the most intimate of the ones shown onscreen and following the typically-romantic arc of going from strangers who can barely stand each other to being devoted enough to die for one another.
• M*A*S*H: Hawkeye Pierce was a notorious casanova, but in the later seasons his relationship with BJ was his closest, to the point where their goodbye became the final scene and emotional climax of the entire series. Hawkeye flat out tells him he's the best friend he's ever had. They have also gotten (platonically) jealous of each other's friendships with other men, from Hawkeye subtly distrusting Leo Bardanero in "Last Laugh" to BJ's ongoing jealousy of Trapper. They bicker like an old married couple and their REALLY intense fights ("Period of Adjustment," "Preventive Medicine") are WHAM episodes. They "get back together" before the rolling credits both times.
• Merlin: No matter their differences, the insults flung between them, or the abuse heaped upon one another, Merlin and Arthur are destined to be together. Just not together together.
• Miss Sherlock: Since the series is an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Wato Tachibana (aka Wato-san) naturally fulfills a lot of roles in her dynamic with Sherlock that would go to a love interest in another work. While their dynamic is colder than most versions, their growing bond forms the emotional core of the series. Wato is even kidnapped at one point to get Sherlock's cooperation in an I Have Your Wife situation. Sherlock even gets out of her funk in the finale for the specific purpose of saving Wato and sacrifices herself to save Wato from the Big Bad, with Wato shown to be devastated by her death in the way a Love Interest would normally be.
• Monk: Monk's closest relationship is with his nurse Sharona and later on her replacement Natalie. They are not romantically involved. Given that they were inspired by Holmes and Watson, it's a given. However, in Monk's case, it's because he never really got over his wife's death, which is what messed him even more so. To Monk, he's still gonna be married to Trudy and even takes her daughter as kinda his own.
• Nikita: Nikita and Alex share this role on the titular show in that much of the main emotional arc involves the two of them despite their independent romantic entanglements.
• In Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Alice is on a quest to rescue her Love Interest from the villains, but she's joined by her old friend Will, the Knave of Hearts. It's clear that the two of them have a (platonic) history together, and they have the central relationship of the show.
• Parks and Recreation:
  • Ron and Leslie are very close friends despite their wildly different personalities and Ron's general antisocial nature. But there's no hint of romantic subtext in their relationship. Ron's eventual wife Diane reveals that she feels far more threatened by Leslie than Ron's ex-wife Tammy (who he is immensely sexually attracted to but also hates).
    Diane: She just knows you so well, and I was starting to wonder if I was ever gonna get to that point. I'm worried that maybe there isn't room in your life for another woman.
    Ron: [...] Leslie is a wonderful, loyal friend, who is very important in my life, but I would sooner visit Europe than have something romantic happen between us. Although, if you'd like to visit Europe, I like you so much, I'd be willing to risk it.
  • Donna and Tom provide another example. Donna describes Tom as "her little prince" and the two made up a holiday where they do nothing but try fancy things together. However, other than a possibly flirtatious moment in Season 2 and a single kiss in Season 3, neither ever seem to regard the other in a romantic fashion.
• Proof has Cat Tyler and Ivan Turing. Turing has recruited Cat to help him find hard evidence of the existence of an afterlife, but since he has cancer, it's already likely that he has no romantic feelings for her. Her husband, Leonard Barliss, has to be convinced, so Turing tells him that he's dying, though he wanted it kept secret, so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea about his wife.
  Turing: If things were different... you'd have a fight on your hands.
• Psych: Girlfriends may come and go, but Shawn and Gus will always be the most important people in each others lives. Though the hit slash pairing is Lassiter and Shawn.
  • Hell, the series finale had Shawn, when proposing to Juliet, more or less admit that Gus is along for the ride, even when he meets "his Juliet" in a hilarious speech. Gus and Juliet more or less nod, knowing that being married to Shawn means Juliet is gonna be with Gus (platonically) as well.
• Queer as Folk (US) has Michael Novotny and Brian Kinney. While they don't get the explicit romantic pairing of their British counterparts, it's clear that they're it for each other. Twinks come and go, husbands and children and family are important, but when it comes down to it, the comic-book addicted geek and the slutboi-with-issues are the love story of the show.
• In The Sarah Jane Adventures, the above-mentioned Sarah Jane Smith finds her Not-Love Interest: her adopted son, Luke. Their relationship is the heart and foundation of the show.
• Scrubs has Heterosexual Life-Partners JD and Turk, who lived together for over ten years since meeting in college. They've acknowledged the fact that they're practically married, even after Turk is actually married to Carla. When Turk went on his honeymoon, JD secretly went to visit him there since they couldn't stand to be away from each other, and he couldn't wait to come back home to see JD. Carla has accepted the fact that Turk will apparently never love her as much as he loves JD, and JD told Carla (while drunk) that she can never love Turk like he does. This is why it was such a big deal when JD told Elliot he loved her more than Turk after they finally became an Official Couple.
• In The Sentinel, Blair Sandburg serves as this for Jim Ellison, serving as a support to deal with Jim's physical and emotional problems as a Sentinel and also needing Jim to rescue him every other episode.
• Sherlock:
  • As based on the original source material, John Watson for Sherlock Holmes. Watson's proved to be willing to kill and risk his life for Sherlock, and then he was the final hostage in Moriarty's game with Sherlock. This actually led to Sherlock losing his cool and getting furious at Moriarty for involving him. The reason why? That's his best friend and he wants to look out for him.
  • Mary could be seen as this as well since, despite the fact that she is married to John, she does like Sherlock. Sherlock's not interested in getting married, and isn't as close with Lestrade or Mrs. Hudson, or Mycroft, though is pretty close to Mrs. Hudson, but she's more of a mother figure, Mary as a sister, and, like Mrs. Hudson, Mary seems to get Sherlock as well as John does, despite the fact she shot Sherlock.
  • Now that Season 3 came, Sherlock could be seen as this for John. Despite the fact he's married, he has no surviving family other than his drunk sis, Harry, and no friends other than Lestrade and Mrs. Hudson, though he's not as close with them, but is closer with Mrs. Hudson than he is with Lestrade and Harry, though Mrs. Hudson is more of a mother figure. Also, he's VERY protective of those he's fond of, Sherlock being one of them.
• Skins had this with Emily and JJ in the latter's S3 episode. They helped each other overcome their problems and became close friends and, at the end of the episode, they even slept together. However, Emily made it clear from the beginning that it was a pity screw, simply a response to JJ's earlier statement that if he got to be normal for a day, the first thing he'd do was lose his virginity. The viewers know it's not going anywhere since, like the Kurt/Mercedes example above, Emily just isn't into boys that way.
• Sleepy Hollow has Ichabod Crane and Abbie Mills. The former is married and the latter has a quasi-love interest of her own, but the two of them are the Witnesses mentioned in the Bible's Revelation and their relationship is the centerpiece of the show. That said, neither the actors or the writers have discounted the possibility of a hook-up later down the track. However, her death at the end of Season 3 puts a crimp in the prospect.
• Smallville: Up until around early Season 8, Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan, to the point where real-world journalists who hadn't kept up with the series assumed they were a couple in Season 6.
• Tim and Daisy in Spaced. One of the series's main subplots is the slow-but-steady erosion of the "not" from the phrase. The last scene in the "Skip to the End" documentary demonstrates this, showing them as a couple with a child.
• Star Trek: The Original Series: Kirk and Spock are each other's Not Love Interests, so much so that they inspired the first Slash Fic. Roddenberry himself declared about a romantic relationship: "...we certainly believe that the affection was sufficient for that, if that were the particular style of the 23rd century." Played more straight in the 2009 movie, with Kirk and Spock re-enacting the basic pride and prejudice hate-turns-into-love story... only platonically. Damion Lindelof (producer) even commented on the DVD that the heart of the story was Kirk and Spock "falling in love with each other, in a way, but not in a romantic way, in a Butch and Sundance way."
• Starsky & Hutch are often this towards each other, especially when in danger.
• Strong Medicine:
  • Lu's friend Peter. Never an ounce of Will They or Won't They? tension, just good friendship. With Dana also. Even though he insists on sleeping with her when she asks him to be her sperm donor, it's not the consummation of Unresolved Sexual Tension, just his belief that the natural way to conceive a child is best.
  • Also, Dr. Dylan West. He and Lu can't stand each other, which usually means Belligerent Sexual Tension. Actually, it just means that. . . they can't stand each other. When they finally do start to get along, it's not because they're developing feelings for each other, just that they're learning to work together.
• Supernatural:
  • Sam and Dean make it clear that, no matter what, they are each other's #1 priority. In the Season 8 finale, Dean flat-out tells Sam "Don't ever think that there is anything I would put before you, ever!" while trying to stop Sam from sacrificing himself to trap all demons in Hell permanently, and Sam tells Dean that his biggest regret in life is all the times he's let Dean down. Sam initially gets pissed at Dean for stopping him from shutting the Gates of Hell (never mind that he stopped of his own volition) but eventually admits that he would have done the same thing. They've also been Mistaken for Gay many times in-universe. Dean notes in "The Chitters" that the old married couple bicker in much the same way Sam and Dean do (though he doesn't know the former are a couple yet)."
  • Castiel also fills this role for Dean and vice versa (at least, until it's confirmed in the final episodes that Castiel is in love with Dean after all). Dean spends almost a full year in Purgatory trying to save Castiel and praying for him every day, snaps Castiel out of insanity/brainwashing multiple times by telling him he needs him, mourns him like a lost lover whenever he dies to the point where Sam compares it to the way their father grieved over their mother, and Castiel has given up his life and the favor of Heaven to protect Dean too many times to count. In fact, pretty much the main reason Castiel ended up becoming the closest thing Dean had to a long-term love interest outside of Sam was that he clearly wasn't intended to be a love interest for Dean; as this summary of early Supernatural fandom details, the fans vehemently rejected the show's attempts to create a female love interest for Dean because they feared that a romance would take focus away from Dean and Sam's relationship but they embraced Castiel who was male and thus not a romantic threat to the brothers' bromance, which ironically led to Castiel getting almost the same amount of screentime and emotional energy with Dean that a traditional female love interest would have had.
• Teen Wolf: Life-long best friend Stiles is this to Scott. While Scott does have a Love Interest Allison, their relationship is pretty intermittent and she's often off dealing with other issues or even on opposite sides of the conflict. Meanwhile Stiles is almost constantly by Scott's side, makes it his personal responsibility to hold him together, is Scott's confidant for his secrets and worries and they both use The Power of Love to save each other. Stiles is also the only member of the pack without training or supernatural powers so often needs Scott's physical protection. At one point the season villain pulls the classic I Have Your Wife move and has Stiles kidnapped and beaten because he knows that's the best way to scare Scott.
  Gerard: You have a knack for creating a vivid picture, Mr. Stilinski. Let me paint one of my own. Scott McCall finds his best friend bloodied and beaten to a pulp. How does that sound now?
• In The Tunnel, Karl Roebuck and Elise Wasserman team up in order to hunt down the Truth Terrorist, but never become an item. Ironically, Elise is perhaps the only woman that Karl (currently on his third marriage) doesn't flirt with, cheat with, or show romantic interest in over the course of the show.
• The Villains of Valley View: Due to Amy lacking any real romance in the show, her best friend Hartley ends up fulfilling a lot of roles that would go to a love interest in another show. Hartley is constantly trying to help Amy be a better person and is the only non-family member that Amy shows regular care for. When Shadow replaces Amy, Hartley is the only person who can tell that she is not Amy. Amy also repeatedly says how Hartley has helped make her life better and is the reason that she is becoming a better person.
• Tori and Andre from Victorious. Made more interesting that they've done two love duets, but they're best friends and don't see each other as anything more. The only real moment of Ship Tease between the two resulted from Andre's crush on another character, which had Tori dress up and pretend to be the other character and that only results in an Almost Kiss.
• In Warehouse 13 You have Pete and Myka, in a show like this normally the two main characters have UST, but Pete and Myka have purely platonic feelings for each other and don't think of each other in a sexual way, which Myka states in one episode after they think they had sex.
• Wednesday: Enid fulfills a lot of the roles in the dynamic that would go to a love interest in another work. Enid quickly becomes Wednesday's closest confidant, and their growing bond is one of the biggest threads of the show. Enid is also the one who pushes Wednesday out of her shell and gets her to be nicer to both herself and Thing. When the two actually have a falling out, it hits Wednesday a whole lot harder than most other stuff, with Wednesday being visibly upset by it. Enid even finally transforms into her werewolf form to save Wednesday, and when they both see the other is okay, they have a climactic hug. When Wednesday is departing Nevermore for the holidays, she tells Enid that she has left a big mark on her life.
• The West Wing
  • President Jed Bartlet and Leo McGarry. They act and bicker exactly like an old married couple, spend all the time possible together, tease and flirt (in a joking way), and play a blatantly spousal/parental role in the staff's nuclear family-modeled True Companions. While Jed may have an excellent wife and family outside of the west wing of the White House, Leo is for all purposes the love interest in Jed's "other" family inside the west wing, with the thrill of politics in place of sex and romance.
  • For the vast majority of the series this seemed to be the case with Josh and Donna. They have an extremely close bond and often act like an old married couple; even the press core knows how much they mean to each other (when Donna and Toby's ex wife/baby mama are involved in a terrorist bombing the reporters call Toby for information out of respect for how upset Josh must be). Yet it's not until midway through the last season that they show any actual romantic interest in one another.
• Wire in the Blood had Dr. Tony Hill and his Most Important Person DCI Carol Jordan. Seeing as Tony has difficulty being a real boy on the best of days, Carol kept him grounded and reminded him there was life outside work and serial killers.
• Mulder and Scully of The X-Files were this for each other from the get-go, and they were supposed to stay that way; the original idea was that they would never be more than platonic work partners. However, the chemistry between the actors caused their platonic relationship to look pretty non-platonic in the eyes of the fans, and by Season 5, the writers started playing with the idea that they could be more than friends. By Season 7, they were.

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