UST
From TeeVeePedia, the Internet TV Encyclopedia.
Commonly believed to stand for "Unresolved Sexual Tension," this acronym also denotes Unreasonably Stupid Tarrying.
UST may have originated with the characters of Dave and Maddie on Moonlighting, when the showrunners openly acknowledged a potent blend of mutual antagonism and attraction, and encouraged the steady simmering of said blend in order to keep viewers tuning in lest they miss the moment of consummation.
Since then, UST has been used to hook legions of slavering fangirls (and occasional fanboys) on all sorts of shows, including: The X-Files, Farscape, ER, Law & Order, The West Wing, Smallville, CSI, Gilmore Girls, and that season of American Idol with Clay and Ruben. It is generally acknowledged to be God's gift to television writers, as it lets them avoid the tricky work of writing a romantic relationship -- or even the yeoman's work of writing a moderately interesting courtship -- in favor of passing off ambiguous and half-baked interactions as "character development." It is also God's gift to sweeps, as even casual viewers will tune in to see if two characters are finally going to Do It.
The drawback to UST is that once deployed, the writers can only go in one of two directions.
In the first, they squander any legitimate chemistry between characters and piss away the viewers' patience. A prime example of this is in the Gil Grissom/Sara Sidle relationship on CSI. In the second, the writers' consummation fails to live up to the fantastic expectations set by a fanbase that has invested this pretend courtship with more meaning than any relationship in their lives has ever had. Moonlighting is often cited as the primary example of this.
Rumors persist that a third form of UST, in which the couple manages to consummate their attraction, yet keep their intense chemistry and mutual, dramatically satisfying conflict in the context of a healthy relationship, was briefly spotted on Farscape toward the end of its fourth season. But honestly, people: It's filmed in Australia, it's got people with tentacles hanging off their faces, and it's Silly Sci-Fi For The Kids. I rest my case.
