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I gripped the side of the couch, transfixed. An abandoned turkey sandwich wilted on a TV tray next to a melting ice cream sandwich and some carrot sticks. It was another cliff-hanging romantic moment on Friends, and, as far as I was concerned, dinner could wait. I couldn't wait to see how this would end!

For eight seasons, Ross and Rachel had an on-again, off-again relationship, and I knew I was watching a critical moment. Rachel was sitting in a hospital room with their new baby, Emma, not realizing Ross was planning to propose to her. Ross had left the hospital to buy some flowers. He'd left an engagement ring in her hospital room, tucked in his jacket pocket. Meanwhile, Joey, Rachel's roommate, had come to visit her. He bent over and accidentally knocked the ring out of Ross' jacket. Surprised, Joey held the open box in his hand as he turned toward Rachel, still on his knees.

Rachel's eyes widened with shock as she (mistakenly) realized Joey was asking her to marry him! "OK," she said, as the camera cut to a scene of Ross getting off the hospital elevator at Rachel's floor, flowers in hand. The season ended on that suspenseful note. "Nooooo!" I moaned, smacking the side of the couch with my hand.

Welcome to the emotionally draining world of television romance. It seems like almost every regular TV-watcher has a favorite couple. Whether it's Lucy Camden from 7th Heaven and her new boyfriend Kevin, Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls and Dean, or Clark Kent and Lana Lang on Smallville, many of us enjoy watching these TV pairs. From the excitement of their first meeting (Will they get together?) to the ups and downs of their relationships (I can't believe they've broken up!), a part of us lives through them.

In many ways, the TV shows we enjoy are great entertainment. They're fun to watch. The characters are smart and beautiful, and the situations they get themselves into are often hilarious or touching. Still, TV makes me uncomfortable sometimes. I find myself laughing, only I'm laughing at something that runs counter to my values and faith. And if I'm not careful, I can be a little like a sponge, soaking up ideas that are anything but Christian and glorifying to God. I really feel like I owe it to myself to be careful when it comes to love and romance. After all, my romantic choices can affect me for the rest of my life. What kind of ideas am I picking up from my favorite shows?

So what should I—or what should we—do? Just toss the TV out the window and forget it? Sounds a little extreme to me. Instead, I'm learning to be smart about my TV choices by developing a sort of "game plan" for making sense of what I'm seeing and hearing.

Remember the last time you saw a bunch of cartoony hearts pop out above the heads of young lovers on a Bugs Bunny cartoon? Or what about those violins that come out of nowhere during a romantic scene? And then there are those amazing times when two sweethearts glide in slow motion toward each other across a grassy field.

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