6 Romantic TV Shows To Fill The Love Story Shaped Hole In Our Lives
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24 hours ago
Ryan Murphy’s glossy Kennedy drama is drawing to a close
Few TV romances arrive already shrouded in myths and mystery – but such is the case with the first season of Ryan Murphy’s new biographical anthology drama Love Story. The series breathes new life into the star-crossed lovers John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette, whose romance unfolded under relentless public scrutiny and ultimately ended in tragedy.
Such is the case especially with Bessette: there is very little surviving footage of Bessette speaking, and it’s safe to say in her case (and in the case of many of the show’s other characters), Murphy and his band of actors have dabbled in a touch of creative license. Daryl Hannah, portrayed by Dree Hemingway in Love Story, has publicly slammed the series as ‘tragedy exploiting’ and ‘textbook misogyny’, while Kennedy descendant Jack Schlossberg described Murphy’s nine-part drama as ‘a capital F for fiction’ and ‘grotesque’.
Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette & Paul Anthony Kennedy as John F. Kennedy Jr. in Love Story. (FX)
We remain entranced. This is what Murphy – creator of American Horror Story and Monster, among many others – is good at, after all: provocative, headline-making dramas. And whether you’ve fallen in love with the 90s fashion, the idea of love unfolding beneath the glaring flash of paparazzi cameras, or the high society intrigue, there’s plenty more where that came from. Here are six more TV shows to watch if you enjoyed Love Story, plus where to find them.
The Crown (2016–23)
If Love Story is about love in the glare of fame, The Crown is its royal counterpart. Think duty versus desire, whispered scandals behind palace doors, and relationships shaped by the weight of history – though of course there’s a bit more restraint for the famously restricted British royals. Starring everyone from Claire Foy and Olivia Colman to Elizabeth Debicki and Josh O’Connor, there are plenty of love stories to enjoy, too, from Elizabeth and Philip to Charles and Diana, all filtered through public expectation.
Six seasons streaming on Netflix.
The Kennedys (2011)
If it’s our continued fascination with the Kennedy dynasty that has caught your attention, delve into the biographical extended universe with miniseries The Kennedys, which is all about ambition and tragedy threaded through America’s first family. This time it’s all about the most famous Kennedy of all: JFK (Greg Kinnear), and his journey from soldier to politician to assassinated president.
Eight episodes streaming on Tubi.
Halston (2021)
Carolyn Bessette is in the limelight in particular thanks to her 90s fashion and lifestyle working at Calvin Klein. This fashion world backdrops JFK Jr and Bessette’s romance, but to delve deeper into the world, watch Netflix miniseries Halston, which dives headfirst into that same fashion ecosystem, this time beginning in the 70s. Telling the tale of tastemaking designer Halton (Ewan McGregor) and also written and produced by Ryan Murphy, it’s all Studio 54 decadence, sharp tailoring, and relationships tangled in ambition.
Five episodes streaming on Netflix.
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans (2024)
Another biographical Ryan Murphy drama that comes with the vibes of Love Story in spades is season 2 of Feud, subtitled Capote vs. The Swans. Set among the elite of 1960s and 70s New York, this dramatisation of the fallout between writer Truman Capote and his inner circle of glamorous Manhattan socialites – including Babe Paley and Slim Keith – captures the world of society women whose elegance and influence made them the original It-girls. Starring Naomi Watts, Demi Moore and Tom Hollander, just as with Love Story, Feud is where society gossip meets couture.
Eight episodes streaming on Disney+.
Pam & Tommy (2022)
Again created by Hulu, this is another biographical drama not without its controversies – Pamela Anderson, for one, has described the producers, which includes star Seth Rogan, as ‘assholes’. While Bessette evidently struggled with paparazzi attention, the image of her that has gone down in history is effortlessly cool, unflustered and elegant – and this hushed persona is what Murphy hones in on in Love Story. In contrast, delving into the marriage between Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan) everything is hyperbolised in Pam & Tommy, which turns media attention into tabloid frenzy and 90s fashion into celebrity excess. But both dramas explore how fame distorts intimacy – the latter is just a bit louder and messier.
Eight episodes streaming on Disney+.
Scenes From A Marriage (2021)
Relationships fraying under pressure: where Love Story takes a couple in the limelight as its example, Scenes from a Marriage takes an ordinary couple and dissects their relationship under a microscope. An American remake of Ingmar Bergman’s 1972 Swedish miniseries, it follows tech executive Mira (Jessica Chastain) and philosophy professor Jonathan (Oscar Isaac) as their marriage falls apart. Raw, intense and occasionally uncomfortable, it’s all about how relationships evolve, fracture, and persist.
Five episodes available to rent on Prime Video.
New episodes of Love Story land weekly on Disney+.
