Apart from Catfish, online dating has yet to become a central plotpoint for TV shows. Which is too bad, because a lot of beloved characters from series past and present could have really benefited from an easier way to meet potential matches. Below is our list of television characters who we really wish could have just signed up for online dating.

TV Characters Who Desperately Need Online Dating

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  • Thomas Barrow from <i>Downton Abbey</i>

    Thomas Barrow from Downton Abbey

    As a gay footman working in a conservative household at the beginning of the twentieth century, Thomas Barrow has had a predictably rough time of it. Apart from a brief liason with a visiting duke and an unfortunate misunderstanding with a fellow footman, Thomas’s romantic escapades have been few and far between.

    Sure, homosexual relationships were difficult at the turn of the century. But just because things were kept underwraps doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Sexual orientation isn’t Thomas’s problem, his position is. Were Thomas alive in 2013, he could easily use an online dating site, or, let’s be honest, even Grindr, to meet men of similar inclination and have some covert affairs. Maybe it would make him a lot more pleasant to work with.

  • Kelly Kapoor from <i>The Office</i>

    Kelly Kapoor from The Office

    Ugh, of course Kelly is going to fall hard for the only available guy in her work place, even though he’s only moderately cute, moderately nice, and moderately interested in her. They were off and on for 9 seasons, but not in a cute “When will those two get together?” way, but more like “When will those two just give up already?”

    Kelly’s predicament makes sense: there aren’t a lot of men in Scranton, and certainly not at Dunder Mifflin where Kelly spends most of her time. But Kelly should have signed up for online dating (or at the very least borrowed a copy of He’s Just Not That Into You from someone). Can you imagine how much fun she would have had just filling out her profile?

  • George Michael Bluth from <i>Arrested Development</i>

    George Michael Bluth from Arrested Development

    If there was ever a candidate for OkCupid, let it be the poor kid who harbors an illicit love for his first cousin (whether they’re blood relatives or not). This kid, with his heart of gold and quirky sensibility, would clean up with the just-out-of-college demographic.

  • Saul Berenson from <i>Homeland</i>

    Saul Berenson from Homeland

    Poor Saul. Our hearts broke along with his when his wife left him in Season 1 to go back to India. And it isn't easy for a man of his age to just go to a bar and pick up someone new, especially not when you're so high up in the Department of Homeland Security. (Can you imagine the gossipy articles if anyone got wind of it?) Finding someone at work is also out of the question, since we would basically boycott the show if he and Carrie got together. (Ew, ew, father figure, ew.) So that leaves online dating. Saul, log onto JDate and get yourself a wife. We're worried about you.

  • Joyce Summers from <i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer</i>

    Joyce Summers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    It's hard being a working mom in a small-ish town: all the available men are either losers or demons. You can forgive Joyce Summers for hooking up with her daughter's high school librarian, but no doubt she would have been happier if she had been able to log on to a dating site and meet a nice Professor from UC Sunnydale to date instead. Much less messy that way.

  • Peggy Olsen from <i>Mad Men</i>

    Peggy Olsen from Mad Men

    It seems like Peggy's finally getting her act together, but it took, what, 6 seasons? Sure, online dating wouldn't have been all smooth sailing for her -- if anyone was gonna get some duds, it would be Peggy. Still, had we the choice, we'd rather have seen her go through hundreds of lame first dates instead of that one, indelible shot of her in bed with Duck. Duck! Oh, Peggy.

  • Ted Mosby from <i>How I Met Your Mother</i>

    Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother

    Eight seasons in, and still we don't know how Ted Mosby met the future mother of his children. But at this point, after seeing him go through dozens and dozens of potential matches, we're sort of hoping the answer turns out to be simple: online dating. How satisfyingly anticlimactic would that be?

  • Elaine Benes from <i>Seinfeld</i>

    Elaine Benes from Seinfeld

    Elaine is neurotic and high strung and pretty and funny. Her online dating profile would be humorous and self-deprecating, her messages witty and timely. If she could put aside her neuroses long enough to give guys a fair shot (it’s not a stretch to imagining her nitpicking when it comes to people’s profiles), online dating might be just the thing if she ever ran out of guys on the Upper West Side. (Just imagine the hilarity that would ensue!)

  • Mary Richards on <i>The Mary Tyler Moore Show</i>

    Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show

    Mary Richards is famously the prototype for the single woman in television. Though she dated a lot throughout the shows 7 seasons, it’s her workplace that gets the most focus. When The Mary Tyler Moore show ended, Mary was still single, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. But if she did want to find true love, then maybe online dating would have been the perfect place for a smart, pretty career woman like Mary Richards to find a deserving match.

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