shippers

Check out this NPR piece called "In The Post-Shipper Era, 'The Office' Is The Most Romantic Show On Television"

For those of you not in the nerdy know like myself, a "shipper" is a TV show fan obsessed with the will they/won't they-plagued romantic relationship within the show. You see them pop up quite a bit on message boards and fan pages - seeming to only recognize the parts of a show that deal with the romantic story arc.

Although, I'm sometimes guilty of "shipping" myself - I've listed some of my favorites before - I generally find it annoying because the rest of the show is not given the same attention. My favorites "shippers" are those who obsess over shows that obviously do not intend to have a romantic storyline - Law & Order: SVU is a good example. It's a crime procedural - not going to happen guys.

The NPR piece uses The Office as an example of the "post-shipper era" looking at the concept of carrying a story arc beyond the initial drama, saying:

"The shipper-oriented vision of romance, in which it's all nothing-nothing-nothing-BOOM! KISSING! has a tendency to devalue actually being happy in favor of being constantly stimulated by drama."

In the end, I think "shippers" and their love stories are here to stay, but I do like the idea of moving beyond the drama and keeping the show compelling with characters (gasp!) being happy.