Many fandoms have what they call a 'ship' - which is short for 'relationship', and refers to pairing two character from a given show and reffering to them as a romantic couple. A 'ship' doesn't necessarily have to exist on screen for fans to 'ship' it, and in many shows, especially cult shows, fans are devided into groups of different shippers.

It is rare, however, for ships to become real. The main reason is that most ships are on theme shows, which do not neccesarily involve around relationships, for example JAG or CSI which are theme-based shows, and the relationships are less important in the general plot than the stories themselves.

In both those cases - however - the ship came to be.

JAG waited until the very last episode to finally pair the two lead characters, Harmon Rabb and Sarah McKenzy, who have been dancing around each other for years, without any real consummation or acceptance of their special bond.

In CSI, Grissom and Sara had a lot of very subtextual moments, but since CSI is a far more serious show, the producers chose to burry hints of any relationship between the characters for as long as they could, and not make it a major plot issue.

I specifically referred to those two shows because they present the very rare case of 'a ship come true'. In many shows, and many many cases, the hints for any ships remain unanswered, and fans usually remain upset.

JAG ended with a bang, as the two main characters ended up together, and as a JAG fan I remember being in the 7th Heaven after watching that episode. The show may not be about that, but in the end - you remember the arc stories and the backdrop, not the individual plotlines.

In CSI, the latest (but not last) season ended with a bedroom scene between Grissom and Sara, and fans around the world went "OMFG WTF WHOA???"

I think that show producers need to realize more that hiding relationships in subtext can work only to a certain extent, because fans get impatient. I can hardly name more than 5 CSI plotlines, but I can remember almost every scene involving Grissom and Sara romance (also known as GSR). Same goes for JAG.

In the end - it's the characters that build or break a show. With all due respect to plots, withouth investing in characters - your show will not get anywhere, because people relate to characters, to personal arc stories, to backdrop. And people watch TV to relate - even more than they do to escape.

In that aspect, though, CSI is doing a wonderful job, balancing plotlines with arcstories very carefully and dropping us little tids and bits every once in a while. Plus, with such a great chemistry between the lead characters, how can you pass such an opportunity?

CSI has won awards for team work and onscreen chemistry, and I still think they're one of the best shows on screen today. Too bad the producers of older shows didn't realize what the producers of today's shows do. Maybe if they did, Xena wouldn't be such a rollercoaster of questionmarks.

I think, if Xena had been done today, the last season - which was far more adventereus in the relationship term (referring to the relationship of Xena and Gabrielle) - would have gone even farther, and would have fulfilled it's full potential - which unfortunately it didn't, because they were afraid to 'take it too far'. Too bad. They should've.