Chastity seems all the rage this season on most of my TV series favorites—both old and new. So much so that I wonder—what has sparked such a trend? From where does this loving-from-afar inclination stem? Are viewing audiences simply tired of the “we like each other so let’s hop into bed” motif to which we’ve become so accustomed? What is it about those long, loving gazes that keep viewers coming back, week after week?
1. Pushing Daisies. How could Ned and Chuck—TV’s quirkiest new couple—not top my list? Though the consequences for consummation between Ned and Chuck may indeed be deadly, this doesn’t stop them dabbling with a flirtation from afar that’s not only sweet but seriously sexy. The love and desire is so potent it makes the space between them thick as the honey Chuck cultivates with her beekeeping. Talk about making abstinence sexy.
2. Bones. Will Bones and Booth ever kiss? Well into season three of this offbeat crime procedural (Temperance “Bones” Brennan is a forensic anthropologist—she finds killers via bone remains; Seeley Booth is the CIA agent who calls on her expertise often), this is a series that has crafted the kind of partners-in-solving-crime not seen since the likes of Scully and Mulder on “The X Files.” Supposedly, Tuesday’s new episode finds Bones and Booth under the mistletoe. They’ve near-kissed so many times at this point that I’ll only believe when I see it.

3. Moonlight. Vampire-human relationships have always been tricky (see Buffy & Angel and Buffy & Spike), and the budding romance between the relatively young (at least, vampire-speaking) private investigator/creature of the night Mick St. John and blond bombshell journalist and human Beth Turner is no exception. The dialogue may be a little clunky and a lot cliché, but I have to admit, the romance has me tuning in week after week. Can they ever make it work?
4. Men In Trees. So while last season Marin and Jack had their first kiss and first time in bed all at once, this season has them heating things up with not only little romantic gestures (he chops her firewood and leaves sweet notes behind) but the grand kind too: Jack turns an airplane around to give Marin their first kiss (in ages) goodbye when he sees her running to catch him by the docks before he leaves for 9 months. It took them long enough!
5. Chuck. Oh Chuck! I could write an ode to NBC’s new cross between Freaks and Geeks and Alias! This hour-long comedy/spy series not only hooked me after one accidental watching of an episode, but its lead character Chuck has to be the most adorable guy to hit television in years. Not only is Chuck brilliant and adorably sweet in the geekiest way, but he’s cute and a hopeless romantic! The show has him in quite a relationship bind—his “cover” with beautiful CIA handler, Sarah, is that they are dating—the problem is, their “cover” isn’t enough to cover their developing feelings for each other, not to mention keep Chuck (who hasn’t had a girlfriend since college) off the market to just about any other girl who might be interested. Sarah and Chuck shared a brief on-screen kiss the other night—but only because they thought they were about to die. Will Chuck ever find love again? I hope so!
What do you think of all this chaste romantic tension on TV lately? What other shows are heating things up outside the bedroom?