tv: top forty ships (part one)

[congo]

First things first. I've been meaning to make a picspam / meta-ish ramble about all my ships for a long, long time. Now, I'm fairly liberal with the definition of 'ship'. Some of these pairings below I've never been fannish about and only thought 'Hey, I like them!' when I saw them on screen. Others I'm completely crazy about and have read (and written) loads of fic for. And everything in between, really, is what's represented here. Don't give my ranking skills too much credit. I pretty much know who my four OTPs are (FTPs?), maybe even five, but after that, things get very fuzzy (and it literally took me months to figure out who even was my #1 ship), not to mention the fact that how high up a ship is in this list often depends on how long it's been since I watched a certain show. I'm in the middle of a West Wing rewatch at the moment, for example, which accounts for one of the ships being fairly high up, higher than it would be if I was watching something else right now. My ship preference change almost daily. And, last but not least, I multi-ship like it's my job. So if you find a character in here twice, or even three times, it's very likely that they're my favourite character on their show and that I ship them with anything that breathes. Well, not animals or plants, I suppose. Maybe.

General Disclaimers: (General Disclaimers! *salutes*)
I'm primarily a het shipper. Well, that's not quite right. I love slash ships just as much, in general, but I'm a very canonical shipper, and since most ships in canon are het, that's who I ship nine times out of ten. I usually need at least some level of canonity to be able to ship something. Just so you're warned. I know the quotes I chose for the ships don't always fit the images. It's usually the scene and the quote that, in some way, represent the ship for me. Just go with it. In a similar vein, I've added a bit of 'why I ship these two' to each image. Sometimes that ramble will fit the image (and thus scene) I chose to go with it, and sometimes it won't. Sometimes, it'll be really long and well-thought-out, but most of the time, I predict it will be helpless flail. Also, be prepared for lots and lots of kissing. Because it's the beee-heeest. I'm also making tumblr-versions of the picspams available, if anyone's interested. Just follow the little '★' link after the show names.

Spoiler Warning:
This is very important. These picspams are going to be utterly fraught with spoilers. (See above: Kissing.) I'll put the shows the respective posts are spoiler-y for at the top of each post, behind a blacked-out box. You'll have to highlight to read them, for those who don't want to know what's ahead.

IN THIS PART, YOU MAY BE SPOILERED FOR THE FOLLOWING SHOWS (highlight to read):

Castle, Cougar Town, Downton Abbey, Dr. Quinn MW, Firefly, Friends, McLeod's Daughter, Rome, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Star Trek TOS.

TOP FORTY SHIPS

#40; zoe/wash, firefly ★ Zoe and Wash are one of those ships that I don't actively ship. I don't think I've ever read a fic about them, let alone written one myself. But they're just such a delightful (and delightfully snarky) couple. They're honest with each other, and clearly love each other while still able to hold their own in a fight. And they're both criminals, which is just ridic cool. Plus (spoiler alert for this entire picspam!), I have a weakness for bickering. And these two can bicker with the best of them. #39; castle/beckett, castle ★ These two could, without a doubt, be much higher up if not for the drag in the current season. Not to draw any premature parallels here, but if they don't get it on soon, I'll probably start watching because I don't think I can stand another Bones. I love how they set up this relationship. It's certainly not original, but it does have its moments, and really, I only started watching the show for Nathan Fillion, who is always good enough a reason to watch something. We're right back to the bickering when I try to pin down what I like about this ship. And while I love where they went with Beckett after that certain finale, I realllllly need them to change direction soon. And just screw each others brains out. #38; phoebe/mike, friends ★ Ahhh, these two. So adorable. Again not a ship I ~actively ship (then again, Friends isn't a show I'm generally fannish about), but they are so goddamn cute. And Paul Rudd! I think I wouldn't really have liked that they paired Phoebe off with somebody outside the group (not that I wanted her with somebody in the group) because I don't like people messing with my little family after nine or so years, but Paul Rudd Mike is just so charming and (yes, again) adorable that I don't mind a bit. #37; atia/antony, rome ★ First of all, it's POLLY WALKER. (See also: The only reason I even watched Rome.) As if I wasn't going to ship her with somebody. And ugh, let me write novels about how much I love Atia. Love her, and love to hate her a little bit, too. Which seems to be a theme for me and POLLY WALKER characters, but more on that later. She's so wonderfully bitchy, a great change from the characters I usually like. And she obviously, despite the show she puts on about not really caring about anyone, loves Antony. He's her flaw, her weakness, but she even manges to turn that around. Which is absolutely great to watch. (Look how I made this entire thing about Atia instead of Atia/Antony. Go me!) #36; michaela/sully, dr. quinn ★ Baby's first ship! Yes, it's entirely possible that this was my first (human, i.e. not counting Simba/Nala when I was five) ship. I watched DQMW with my grandmother growing up, and god, this scene right here. I think that was my first genuine moment of shipping. I may have squeed. I eventually lost interest in the show (just started rewatching it the other day, but gave up in season four, it just got boring), but this scene here is still one of my favourites. Not just for the kiss, but also because it's where the town finally starts accepting Dr. Mike. And then Sully gives her that saddle and they kiss and seven-year-old me is just as delighted as twenty-two-year-old me. #35; anna/bates, downton abbey ★ Ah, my heart. Why can't you two just be haaaaapppy? If anyone deserves it, it's these two characters. I'm ashamed to admit that, now that they're married, my interest is waning, but god, that first season was glorious. Stolen little moments, almost-kisses, the whole nine yards. Or what counts for whole nine yards in early-20th-century England. I think my favourite bit might be how obviously infatuated they are with each other. You don't always have that in (canonical) ships. I just hope they'll get their happily ever after. And soon, too. (Sob.) #34; grayson/jules, cougar town ★ Again not really active in this fandom at all (which seems to be the norm for me with sitcoms), but they're just adorable. I've loved Courteney Cox ever since Friends (and even tried to watch Dirt for her, but that was just too horrible), and just. This entire show is so fabulous and completely, utterly underrated. If you liked Friends, I can guarantee you you'll love Cougar Town. If you didn't like Friends, get out of here this very minute and don't come back, you might love Cougar Town anyway, because it's basically Friends, only more grown up and with loads of wine. But back to the ship. Jules probably isn't the most original character on the show, but I think she's great, and my god, Grayson. I love him. And I'm really glad the writers decided to proceed this ship instead of sticking with the original premise of the show, which included Jules sleeping with younger guys. That was just awkward and got old after one episode. But this, here, is amazing. #33; spock/mccoy, star trek tos ★ And we've reached baby's first slash ship. I grew up on TOS (have yet to watch any of the other Treks, but they're very near the top of my list!), but it wasn't until I rewatched the films at a certain age that I started shipping these two. I know the more popular ships in this fandom are others, but I don't care. I adore these two. I even wrote fic for them once. Horrible emo fic, but whatever, it counts. I can't wait to get back into TOS. Though I doubt I'll ever write fic for them again (or anyone else in the fandom), I'll always remember them fondly as my first slash ship. WITH THE BICKERING. Yes, it really is a theme. #32; stevie/alex, mcleod's daughters ★ The first ship on this list that I've actually written more than one (horrible) fic for! Though I don't care about the show at all beyond these two, or even beyond Stevie. I remember it being on telly every day when I got home from school, and somehow, I ended up staring at that pretty redhead all the time, but as I wasn't interested enough to watch the whole show, I just hunted down all the Stevie scenes on youtube. That was one great week, not even gonna lie. Again with the snark! And I also have a weakness for friendships that turn into something no longer platonic at all. Do want! #31; lee/amanda, scarecrow and mrs. king ★ Admittedly, I mostly ship Lee/myself. In fact, and I intend absolutely no offence by this, I can't stand Amanda, or the actress who plays her. Which is why, in my head, I've replaced her with a favourite actress of mine, and all is well. It's just personal preference. And once I started doing that, I shipped Lee/Amanda a lot, hah. Or maybe more like, once I started reading fic for them. I'll never be fannish about them myself, but there are some fics out there that are 482847236 times better than the actual show. Long story short, I don't actually know why I ship them. Probably because they're canon, inevitable, and so ridiculously sweet it makes your teeth fall out. (Not that I should expect anything else from a Bruce Boxleitner character / ship, I guess. Hah.) Realistically, I don't see this relationship happen at all. Which is fine, because it's television and not supposed to be realistic, but sometimes, it's just too much for me to take it seriously. Plus, some very questionable things happen later on in this relationship, but I won't go into those now. They're just too weird. But especially the early episodes are so cute that I can barely stand it. The perfect thing to watch on a cold, rainy weekend.

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