A toast to Pam and Jim, and to 10 more TV couples

The course of true love never did run smooth. But Jim and Pam's recent wedding on The Office was true hi-def bliss. Defying the truism that matrimony ruins a TV couple's charm, the NBC sitcom let the former secretary who used to be engaged to someone else and the wry salesman who hid his feelings for her get hitched.

In honor of the nuptials, here are 10 of the best TV husbands and wives. May they live happily ever after in syndication.

• Marge and Homer Simpson (The Simpsons): When the blue-haired Marge said ``I do'' to the bumbling Homer, she knew she was in for a lifetime of him yelling ``D'oh!'' But she knows his heart is in the right place.

• Lucy and Ricky Ricardo (I Love Lucy): The housewife yearning for show-biz stardom provoked one slapstick crisis per episode for her bandleader spouse. But he'd find life impossibly dull without her.

• Eric and Tami Taylor (Friday Night Lights): Coping with work stress, difficult teens and a new baby is the stuff of ordinary life, yet this football coach and high-school principal make multitasking look glamorous.

• Monica and Chandler Bing (Friends): After years of seeing each other at their most obsessive, these longtime pals fell in love because of their weird quirks, not despite them.

• Trista and Ryan Sutter (The Bachelorette): Yes, dating shows are an awful way to find lasting companionship. But these two gorgeous specimens have forged a rarity -- a successful reality-TV marriage.

• Ray and Debra Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond): Love conquers all, even crazy in-laws within walking distance.

• Heathcliff and Clair Huxtable (The Cosby Show): America's favorite nuclear family of the 1980s was led by this long-wed duo whose playful bantering gave hope to middle-aged marrieds everywhere.

• Darrin and Samantha Stephens (Bewitched): Dick Sargent, the second Darrin, was too disapproving. Dick York, the original Darrin, captured the flustered husband's underlying appreciation for his wife's magic powers.

• Paul and Jamie Buchman (Mad About You): Maybe you consider these Manhattan yuppies from the 1990s the most annoying TV spouses. But their determination to overanalyze everything about being together was oddly endearing.

• Tara and Max (United States of Tara). Now that's what you call devotion -- a husband who's willing to cope with one wife and her alter egos.

-- JULIE HINDS

Detroit Free Press