What is Buchannon Affair?
1.
An affair with a predetermined beginning and end, allowing a couple to grow as close as they want to during the affair without complicating their lives after the predetermined end.
The term was coined after the character Mitch Buchannon of the TV show Baywatch. Mitch needed to be presented as a romantic heartthrob capable of love, but one who, in order to keep the show interesting, could never be tied down. This forced writers to send all of his loves off to the other side of the world, whether for scientific research, caring for a dying parent or to "find themselves".
This allowed Mitch's heirum to transcend the superficial booty-call status but fall just short of marriage and permanence.
E- "Wow, Steve, do you have a girlfriend now?"
S- "No Eric, Why?"
E- "Who was that girl you were with the other night? You two looked like newlyweds, and you seemed so much more than eachother's bootycall"
S- "Oh, that was my Buchannon affair, Nikita. She has some important job in Russia and comes here for a few weeks once a year for recertification or something. Since we already know when she's leaving, it allows us to be as close as we want without worrying about anything too long term.
E- "Oh, like Mitch Buchannon, I get it..."
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