Television Exploring New Relationships

     Hollywood - From "Game of Thrones", to "The Blacklist", to "Elementary", to "Lord of The Rings", to "Sleepy Hollow", to "Homeland", to ""Breaking Bad" television is increasingly making room for relationships that side-step easy sentiment (and sometimes boring storylines) to explore the other ways in which we bind ourselves to each other, in ways that range from daily contact with your mail man, to once in a lifetime events like birthdays and weddings, for example.  Some of the ways that we relate to one another are being made possible by the evolution and progress from old prejudices; for example, today we have non-romantic male/female partnerships, we have the intermingling of races, we have evolving sexual preferences, and many other emotions that exist between humans.  Television storylines (or plots) mirror what we as humans are doing in our own lives. 
     In "Game of Thrones", behind all of the fantasy trappings, the brutal parents, the endless tally of interfamily slights, and the war of the Five Kings, "Game of Thrones" is a celebration of unlikely alliances that explore the hybrid emotions too often ignored  by television, in favor of a narrower range of storylines.  On "Elementary", Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu's portrayal of a modern Sherlock Holmes and Watson could eventually pay off handsomely.  On "Homeland" the mutually wary working relationship between Carrie (Claire Danes) and Saul (Mandy Patinkin)  was a highlight of last years television season.  Also, "Breaking Bad",  pushed the teacher-student, faux-father-son, template to the limits of television creativity.  "Sleepy Hollow's equally attractive Ichabad Crane (Tom Mison) and Abbie Mills (Nicole Beharie) are united by fate, but not longing for one another.  The partnership of Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) and Red Reddington (James Spader) on "The Blacklist" is untouched by the sadistic sexuality of the Clarice Hannibal bond on which it seemed at first to be based.
     If you are chronicaling a quest, for example, destroying the one ring of power in  "The Lord of The Rings", or sitting on the Iron Throne, you can't go wrong with the odd-couple pair.  See also, www.variety.com.