Photo: HBO
Polyamory is the philosophy of having people involved romantically or sexually with more than one person at a time, or “many loves,” whereas polygamy is the practice of having more than one marriage partner. Either way, it sounds pretty awesome. In our progressive world of free love Instagrammers and online dating faux pas, a world where most people can’t hold the same job for more than four years, it makes sense that people would explore love outside a long, monogamous relationship, even if it’s just with their TV.
Some of the biggest television shows to involve this open philosophy right now, like Game of Thrones and Shameless, will throw everything you know about love, marriage and general relationships right out the door. Is it the coolest thing you’ve ever heard of? Quite possibly. But it comes with a price. These popular polyamory-practicing TV shows give you the honest ups and downs of having more than one partner in your life, and potentially a busload of kids, too.
Follow along as we unravel the colliding worlds of monogamous, traditional marriage with the extramarital affairs of lust, betrayal and new age thinking. Or you can just enjoy how conveniently these lucky guys get an abundance of sexy girls on a daily basis, unless of course, it’s the devil’s threesome, of which no straight man should be jealous.
The Biggest Television Shows To Involve Open Relationships
Well then, judging by the clip below this doesn’t seem so bad.
Time to learn some kinky stuff: All The Things You Secretly Want To Know About BDSM
Polyamory TV
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"Sister Wives"
Photo: TLC
Kody Brown has had three wives and 13 kids for a long time, building a big, beautiful life together. But when this polygamist adds another log to the fire with a fourth wife and her three kids, tensions begin to rise.
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"Big Love"
Photo: HBO
Everyone's favorite polyamory bunch was HBO's Big Love, the dramatic family show about a regular suburbanite man (Bill Paxton) who juggles three wives and as many houses, along with nine kids. It's a dream lifestyle to some and a nightmare for others. The show ran for five seasons until 2011.
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"The Affair"
Photo: Showtime
A struggling middle-aged writer (Dominic West) leaves his wife (Maura Tierny) and four kids for a broken, sexy young waitress (Ruth Wilson), who has recently lost her son, while the family is vacationing in the seaside of Montauk. The battling perspectives of each person within these two couples culminates towards the death of Wilson's brother-in-law as the polyamory love story of a mid-life crisis flashes forward into a murder mystery. The show just wrapped its third season with a fourth on the way.
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"Open Marriage"
Photo: Lifetime
A struggling marriage is relieved and healed with some open love with another couple. But the Lifetime drama slowly reveals the fallout of polyamory's shared love, as the couple throws jealousy and betrayal onto the fire. Nikki Leigh stars (and is incredibly hot).
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"You, Me, Her"
Photo: Audience
A suburban couple gets their world turned upside down when they enter into a recurring threesome with a female escort. Suburbia never looked so wild. The show started in 2016 with a second season on the way.
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"Escaping Polyamory"
Photo: A&E
The A&E docuseries follows the lives of three sisters who grew up in a Utah polygamist group and escaped the lifestyle. Now in its second season, the sisters help others escape the abusive polyamory way of life as grown women.
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"Polyamory: Married & Dating"
Photo: Showtime
The two-season Showtime reality series details the comings and goings of open relationships. In 15 episodes, three main couples are documented, wherein the couples are married but also have extramarital affairs, referring to themselves as a "pod."
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"Brother Husbands"
Photo: TLC
A TV movie about a woman, Amanda, who shares her love with two men, Chad and Jeremy. The show has been referred to as a more modern Modern Family and a "new Sister Wives, only way better." Amanda and Chad appeared on MTV's Engaged and Underage in 2008, then added Jeremy to the roster in 2014, as the three of them raise five kids together, including baby triplets.
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"Caprica"
Photo: Syfy
The prequel spinoff of Battlestar Galactica is set 60 years before, as it follows two families, the Adamas and the Greystones. The show, albeit not overtly about polyamory, takes us into the colonies of people where polyamory is no stranger to the times. The show only ran for one 18-episode season with Alessandra Torresani as the lead.
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"Three's Company"
Photo: ABC
John Ritter, when he was with us, was a lucky man being surrounded with beautiful women. While this isn't your typical polyamory situation, it is however very much a reality of living in L.A. Two single women need a roommate, and they resort to the drunk guy passed out in the bathtub to save them.
