If a kiss is worth a thousand words, then we should have 35,000 of them, courtesy of TVLine’s list of the best first kisses on television. (Don’t worry, we’re not actually going to make you read that much to get to the steamy smooches.)
Our picks run the gamut from classic lip-locks on M*A*S*H and Cheers to a recent viral sensation on Nobody Wants This. And the Netflix rom-com’s Hot Rabbi isn’t the only hot religious man raising body temps among our selections.
Plus, who could forget those long-awaited first kisses from The Vampire Diaries, Gilmore Girls, The X-Files and Alias that had ‘shippers losing their cool? We certainly couldn’t, even after all these years!
Whether they were sweet and innocent (like on The Wonder Years) or passionate and fiery (hello, True Blood!), these are all moments that live rent-free in our minds.
Scroll down to review TVLine’s 35 Best TV First Kisses — listed in alphabetical order, by show — and hit PLAY on the included videos to rewatch each scene. Then share your favorites in the comments, plus any that didn’t make the cut! And if you’re still in the mood for more smooches, we suggest our list of TV’s longest-awaited first kisses to see just how many episodes it took the biggest will-they-or-won’t-they couples to finally lock lips.
It’s a good thing that Buck and Tommy are both firefighters, because the sparks from their first kiss were hot enough to burn down all of Los Angeles. The chemistry between the two men was electric as Buck nervously processed his complicated feelings, only for Tommy to (finally!) silence him with a kiss, resulting in a sexual awakening seven seasons in the making.
The setting of a first kiss can be just as important as the actual act, and the living classroom provided a beautiful one for Janine and Gregory’s big moment. Plus, you gotta love the tender way Gregory planted one on Janine, who followed up by pulling him in by his lanyard for another kiss. We could all learn a thing or two from the teachers’ passionate lip-lock.
The ABC drama’s post-Super Bowl episode began with a lingerie-clad Sydney fighting bad guys on a flying aircraft. But it was the way the episode ended, with Syd and Vaughn finally coming together amidst the ashes of SD-6, that had ‘shippers flying high.
How do you make amends for busting up Olicity’s first date with the arrival of a shoulder-fired missile? By later interrupting Felicity’s “Don’t Give Me Maybes” lament with the sweetest, cupped-face kiss — and for good measure, have Oliver then say, “Don’t ask me to say I don’t love you.”
Yes, Amy had drunkenly kissed Sheldon back in Season 4. But the couple’s first real kiss came aboard a train to Wine Country in Season 7. Even better, it was Sheldon who initiated it — and he liked it! It came as a total shock to Sheldon, Amy and the studio audience.
Forget the mistletoe moment in Season 3. During the Fox drama’s 100th episode, we learned that Temperance and Seeley had drunkenly, briefly and hawt-ly smooched soon after meeting each other. “I feel like this is going somewhere,” he murmured before their big moment. Booth, if you only knew…
Topanga has always called the shots in her relationship with Cory, a precedent she set back in Boy Meets World‘s first season by pinning her future husband against a locker and giving him a first kiss he’d never forget (no matter how much that trifling she-devil Lauren wanted him to).
Yes, the pair had some sorta kisses before they locked lips in “Once More, With Feeling,” but let’s be honest: Their musical smooch is the one that matters. Buffy just wanted something to make her feel, and boy, did she get it.
Did Rick pull Kate into this sudden clinch in order to ward off a ne’er-do-well? Yep. Did Kate in turn play along? Yep. Do those facts diffuse at all the heat of their unarguably and mutually enjoyable mash session? Nope.
It took Diane dating Sam’s brother to push this love-hate pairing to its feisty first smooch, which took place in the middle of a no-holds-barred backroom argument. While some of the language hasn’t aged well, the heated lead-up —”Are you as turned on as I am?” “More.” — remains a classic.
Fearing that a bomb was about to detonate and end both of their lives, Sarah took Chuck by surprise and kissed him. The shock factor didn’t throw Charles Carmichael off his game, though: He pulled her in tight and made their first (and potentially only) kiss count. Thankfully, there’d be many more, including the one that definitely brought Sarah’s memories back.
As Neil Young’s “Birds” set the scene, Bernadette — leaving town for a plum job with the U.S. Border Patrol — shared a parting kiss with Jim Chee, after which both commented on the near-miss that was their almost-romance.
In 2000, the teen drama delivered the first “passionate” kiss between two men on primetime television when Jack laid it all on the line. Ethan may not have reciprocated Jack’s feelings, but the moment remains an unforgettable cultural touchstone.
He was smarting from the discovery that Denise Huxtable was married, with child. She was in a funk about her father’s remarriage. Add a flat tire and being stranded in a blizzard, and you have the makings of a sweet first kiss — one of what would be a lifetime’s worth.
We were all praying for Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s saucy title character to hook up with Andrew Scott’s charming man of the cloth in Season 2, and those prayers were answered when she came clean in his confessional booth about all of her insecurities — and he responded by ordering her to “kneel” before pulling her into a passionate make-out session. Holy [bleep], that was hot.
There was no shortage of iconic Ross/Rachel moments throughout Friends‘ decade-long run, including a first kiss that was years in the making. (Well, not counting what happened at the laundromat, of course.) Even after a fight with Rachel, when he suggested that her romantic feelings were too little, too late, Ross returned to Central Perk to kiss and make up — literally!
The Dragonfly Inn’s trial-run weekend was disastrous in a lot of ways — except for the sweet porch kiss that Luke and Lorelai finally shared after four frustrating seasons. Never have the words, “Will you just stand still?” been so romantic, and never have Kirk’s night terrors been so poorly timed.
There’s a lot to love about this long-awaited smooch: Blaine admitting that Kurt moves him. The tenderness with which he kisses Kurt for the first time. And, of course, Kurt’s playful reply when Blaine suggests they should practice their Warblers song. (“I thought we were!”) But our favorite detail is Kurt’s flexed right hand, which so adorably reveals the character’s shock and glee (heh) at being kissed by his crush.
Five seasons before they swapped vows in Central Park, Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf swapped spit (and other fluids) in the back of a limo, launching one of The CW’s most timeless ‘ships. The big moment was so unforgettable, in fact, that we’re willing to forgive the show for underscoring it with a Sum 41 song.
For two law-enforcement officials trained in looking for clues, it took far too long for the detective and the cop-turned-assistant-district-attorney to figure out that they had feelings for each other. But once they did — primed, perhaps, by the celebration of love that was Fin and Phoebe’s joyful un-wedding? ‘Rollisi’ was officially on a roll.
Margaret had just gotten a letter from her husband… but it was meant for his mistress. Hawkeye was nursing a bum leg. They’d both had liberal amounts of alcohol. And when the North Koreans started dropping bombs and the habitual antagonists huddled together for safety? Well, they didn’t call her “Hot Lips” for nothing.
Two seasons of flirty office banter came to a head at about 30,000 feet, as Mindy’s macho co-worker Danny confessed his feelings by wrapping her up in a knee-weakening smooch during a turbulent plane ride. It was so hot, we’re surprised oxygen masks didn’t drop from the ceiling.
“Tony, you are so….” “Handsome? Funny?” “Loved.” And on that note, the longtime colleagues shared a long, warm kiss, after which Tony executed “the hardest 180 of my life” and let Ziva leave his life. Though not for good, it would turn out.
Nick jumped out on a ledge just to avoid telling Jess how he envisioned their first kiss. Suffice it to say, he took her by surprise when he showed her exactly what he had in mind just hours later. Their passionate embrace lasted all of 12 seconds (yes, we counted!) — and it singlehandedly changed the DNA of the show.
Kristen Bell was so right when she told us that it’s all about the moments leading up to Joanne and Noah’s first kiss that make the smooch so good. From the way Noah tells Joanne to hand over her ice cream and put her purse down to the way he intently stares at her and then cups her face, all the anticipation had our body temperature rising. (No wonder Bell calls it her best on-screen kiss!)
Jim Halpert took the biggest gamble of all on Casino Night by revealing his feelings for Pam at last. No, his confession didn’t go as planned, and Pam’s reaction ultimately prompted a third season full of heartache for the pair. But we’ll always have their swoon-worthy first kiss, which Jim lovingly laid on Pam in the darkened Scranton office.
Unlike many of the couples on our list, Jamie and Claire’s first kiss didn’t come after an extended period of mutual longing: She was an endangered Sassenach, he was a penniless virgin, and their union came about because a clan bigwig deemed it expedient. But the possibility that bloomed the moment their lips touched? It was, to quote Jamie, as if we stepped outside on a cloudy day, and suddenly the sun came out.
Despite Chris Traeger’s rule that bosses and subordinates couldn’t date, Ben and Leslie did litrilly the best/worst thing when they gave into their attraction after a road trip to Indianapolis. “Uh-oh,” Leslie said when they were done. “Treat yo’ self!” we cried from our couch. (Yes, we know that episode came a season later. JUST LET US HAVE THIS, OK?)
After having a mixed reaction to the sudden kiss that a newly out Alex planted on her, Maggie eventually realized, “Life is too short” and “We should kiss the girls that we want to kiss.” And kiss Alex, she did.
True Blood‘s “waiting sucks” tagline applied perfectly to how we felt about the three long seasons it took Sookie and Eric to finally give into their vampire-on-fairy urges. In fact, the couple’s aggressive makeout in the backroom of Fangtasia ranks among the HBO drama’s all-time hottest moments. (And remember: This show was, like, 90 percent sex scenes.)
Damon might have felt guilty about kissing his brother’s girlfriend in The CW drama’s third season, but as far as we’re concerned, his only lapse in judgment was not doing it sooner. (Yes, we know that Elena technically kissed Damon in the Season 2 finale, but does that really count? The guy was asleep. And he was dying from a werewolf bite. You know how that can be.)
The former friends-turned-enemies turned up the heat when Veronica gave Logan a peck on the cheek to thank him for saving her. But he wasn’t content with an innocent kiss and spun Veronica back around as the two fully locked lips. The kiss was so unexpected and passionate, it left both characters stunned and speechless.
Theirs was the rare first kiss that was equal parts sexy, sweet and funny. First Maggie teased Glenn about the condoms she’d caught him with, then she admitted that sure, she’d have sex with him, took off their hats and gave him a sneak preview that was so tender, it launched a thousand ‘shippers.
Awww, this one hits all the nostalgic feels: At the end of the pilot of ABC’s ’60s-set series, suburban schoolboy Kevin comforted his neighbor Winnie after her brother Brian died in Vietnam, offering her his New York Jets jacket… and pulling her in for the first kiss of their young lives, with the Percy Sledge classic “When a Man Loves a Woman” serving as the perfect soundtrack.
Forget that New Year’s Eve nonsense in Season 7. And while you’re at it, disregard the Season 11 tomfoolery that negates a lot of what happened in this scene. Instead, focus on the sheer joy on new mom Scully’s face, the way new pop Mulder gazed at little William and the fact that longtime ‘shippers finally got some payoff for their obsession. “The truth we both know,” indeed.
Nick and Charlie in S1 of Heartstopper. The shy sweetness, the crackling chemistry, the tender kiss and then they go back for more. Amazing moment that leads to an amazing couple :)
Bridgerton… Colin and Penelope
Colin and Pen, Season 3 of Bridgerton
I would’ve put Stelena’s first kiss from Vampire Diaries or even Forwood’s also where’s Bangel’s first kiss from Buffy the Vampire Slayer????
Where’s Barry and Iris’ first kiss from The Flash??????
Francis & Mary’s first kiss on Reign was passionate and heartbreaking as the royal pair faced love vs duty. Their chemistry was amazing.
Sooo many good ones
Jim and Pam still makes me happy thinking about watching that episode when it happened.
And Buck and Tommy’s kiss was amazingly well done.
David and Patrick, Schitt’s Creek
Kat and Elliot from the way home. The kiss in his backyard meadow at sunset should have made this list.
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Why aren’t we getting to vote for these 35 and see who we think the best you gave us is???? Are you game????? Shamy!!!!!!!
Lois and Clark on Smallville arguably had several great first kisses, but I’d have to nominate their first first kiss when she kissed the Green Arrow unaware that under that hood was Clark.
I can’t believe Pacey and Joey from Dawson’s Creek aren’t on this list. Easily one of the greatest tv kisses.
Very happy to see Veronica and Logan! One of my favorites.
David and Maddie on Moonlighting…
Buffy’s Willow and Tara
Dylan and Brenda
Luke and Laura
The MASH kiss between Hawkeye and Hot Lips was in Season 1 episode Dear Dad
Sidney and Charlotte’s cliff top kiss was iconic
Agree, most underrated best first kiss ever!
Kevin and Winnie, The Wonder Years, really hit me in the heart. It was such a great first episode.
Rick & Michonne? Buffy & Angel? Root & Shaw? Barry & Iris? Robin & Regina? Stefan & Elena? Max & Kyle from Living Single? River & The Doctor? Michael & Nikita? Coulson & May? Max & Anne or Flint & Thomas from Black Sails? Josh & Donna?? Willow & Tara?? John & Aeryn???
YES for Coulson and May and John and Aeryn!!!!
I would have to see Joey and Pacey from Dawson’s creek on the list
Some have mentioned other sapphic couples not on the list in these comments… I’ll add another one.. Clarke and Lexa from ‘The 100’.
Rick & Michonne? Barry & Iris? Root & Shaw? Willow & Tara? Pacey & Joey? John & Aeryn? Max & Anne Bonny? Coulson & May? Mack & Elena? Chidi & Eleanor?
Sorry..No Donna and Josh?
Pretty cool to see Supergirl’s first LGBT kiss made it to the list. As well as the one between Glenn and Maggie from TWD. My last favourite best first kiss that I liked seeing was in 2022 in the 3rd Season Stargirl between Courtney and Cameron after a build up of 3 Seasons, it was sweet and tender (and in slow-motion too!) so hopefully one day it can be included here. :)