The Classic “Will They, or Won’t They?” and the Kiss Effect Stats + Stories Episode 381

Television is filled with "will they or won't they" couples. Friends had Ross and Rachel. Parks and Rec had Leslie and Ben. The Gilmore Girls, had Lorelei and Luke. But what happens after the couple's kiss? Do we keep watching? One statistician dug into the data behind the kiss effect, and that's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Ashley Mullan. Ashley Mullan is a PhD student and research assistant in Vanderbilt University's Department of biostatistics. Currently, Mullan works on a team focusing on the care children receive in Tennessee's child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She's also interested in pop culture, and in her spare time, analyzes her own consumption of popular media. That led Mullan to author a Significance article on The Kiss Effect, the impact of a "will they won't they?" couple's first kiss on a TV show's ratings.

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The Classic “Will They, or Won’t They?” and the Kiss Effect Stats + Stories Episode 381 is an episode from Stats + Stories by Stats + Stories.

This episode is 00:23:24 long.

This episode was published on Feb 12, 2026.

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