As Valentine’s Weekend winds down, we’re realizing that not every TV couple deserves flowers and candy. Far from it, in fact!
Though television has given us plenty of swoon-worthy romances over the years, it’s also delivered quite a few duds. From the yawn-inducing (Riverdale‘s Archie and Valerie) to the out-of-left-field (Parks and Recreation‘s Tom and Ann) to the downright wrong (Game of Thrones’ Jaime and Cersei), there’s been no shortage of small-screen relationships that probably shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
In the list below, we’ve thrown a little anti-Valentine’s Day party, recognizing more than 40 TV pairings that just didn’t work. And though we’ve included some couples that are out-and-out toxic — we’re lookin’ at you, The Oval‘s Hunter and Victoria! — most of the duos on our list suffered more from lack of chemistry and/or romantic expectations that simply weren’t met.
Keep scrolling to see all of our picks for TV’s worst mismatches, then drop a comment below with the couples you’d add. (And if you’re in the mood for something a little more lovey-dovey, go here to see the TV characters we’re hoping will couple up soon. We’re hopeless romantics, too!)
There’s no denying that the clueless Tariq brought laughs when he was first introduced, but as a boyfriend, he failed on so many levels. Janine deserved so much better than someone who took advantage of her — and, thankfully, she got it in new beau Gregory, while Tariq has evolved into an amusing side character.
We don’t begrudge Vaughn for moving on after Sydney’s “death,” but… actually, you know what, we do take issue with that.
Sex and the City fans were not happy when Miranda ditched her marriage to Steve for a steamy affair with the non-binary stand-up comic played by Sara Ramírez on Max’s sequel series. They certainly had passion (just ask Carrie’s kitchen), but it was so out-of-character for Miranda to be that reckless and impulsive that it just rang false. Miranda and Che tried to make it work as a couple, but ultimately went their separate ways in Season 2 — and fans breathed a sigh of relief.
Not only did they “meet not anything close to cute” — the Channel 52 news reporter made herself known by publicly trashing his mayoralty — but their eventual hook-up was colored by the fact that she was snooping into his possible secret identity. In a season that also gave us Felicity/Billy, it was a bridge too far.
After getting rejected by Brennan, Booth rebounded with a beautiful, award-winning journalist and — this just in! — the whole relationship felt like the contrived plot device it was.
Simply put, self-proclaimed “brat” Kennedy was a poor excuse for a follow-up to Willow’s epic romance with Tara.
Is anyone surprised that a character played by Nick Lachey didn’t turn out to be the love of Phoebe’s life?
Jeff and Lester had more romantic chemistry than these mismatched spies, whose relationship was nothing more than a plot device to drive yet another wedge between the series’ central couple. We were so relieved when Shaw finally broke bad and Chuck and Sarah got together in Paris.
He’s violent, impulsive and sadistic. (Remember the choking… and the gun?) She’s manipulative, superficial and deceitful. (Remember the lying about blacking out during the pool sex?) Together, these two popular kids make for one of the most co-dependent, dysfunctional, quite frankly frightening couples at East Highland High School.
Beyond the fact that the King’s Landing duo was brother and sister — and yes, we understand that’s a big fact to get past — the Lannister twins’ lifelong affair caused nothing but heartache, destruction and at least one attempted murder.
The only thing more stomach-turning than watching self-absorbed Marnie hump and dump Ray time and time again was watching the besotted chump volunteer to let her do it. At least she and Desi had narcissism in common.
For those of you who tuned out when the Fox comedy moved to Fridays in its final season, this is what you missed. This right here.
In the end, the docs realized they didn’t like each other any more than viewers liked them together. But at least we’ll always have those jokes about the step-siblings’ awkward romance to snicker over.
“Til death do us part” took on a whole new meaning when the vow was exchanged by the Harringtons on Tyler Perry’s primetime soap. David meant that he wanted to grow old with Veronica. And the homophobic harpy? She meant that if her better half dared to call her a “delusional simple bitch” — and you bet he did — she’d set their house on fire while he slept inside it!
Originally retained by House to spy on Wilson, private eye Lucas Douglas soon enough set his sights on Cuddy. What followed can best be described as a “placeholder courtship,” since we, and eventually Cuddy, knew that her feelings for House ran deeper than she cared to admit.
Ted went through his fair share of failed relationships before meeting the show’s title character, but this one was a mismatched disaster from the start.
When the CW series paired up the do-gooder with Hawkgirl… well, the relationship was so unmemorable and lacking in chemistry that we’ve pretty much blocked it out of our memory. Thankfully, the show course-corrected and moved on from the ill-conceived romance.
The idea to flesh out and give names to some of the “background” castaways was a logical one, but to make Nikki and Paulo work, we needed to buy into their well-tested romance from go. But there wasn’t nearly enough chemistry there to give their warmed-over con artists backstory any sort of charge.
As The Next Big Obstacle for Deckerstar, Lieutenant Pierce never gave fans cause for concern. Before we knew his true identity (i.e. Cain), he came off as reserved and by-the-book, almost stuffy. Plus, there was the whole “Chloe’s boss” factor, which we can’t dismiss with a hand-wave. Then, once we knew his true interest in Chloe (to make him killable), any half of a hint of attraction was tainted.
What happens when a long-running primetime soap completely runs out of characters to pair together? You’re lookin’ at it, folks.
This flimsy relationship, which somehow evolved into an even flimsier marriage, was as much of a chore for the characters to endure as it was for us to watch.
We get that Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis (allegedly!) despised each other, but this was not the solution.
“Layna”? More like lame-a, right?
The writers spent more than three seasons trying to make this awkward pairing happen. But even though Erin sat in Pam’s old chair, these two just never had that special Jim-and-Pam spark, did they?
The Season 7 “requel” was contingent upon us longing for these two to recognize their feelings for each other and share True Love’s Kiss. Instead, the pairing delivered True Love’s Miss.
It was Alex who ratted Piper out and got her sent to Litchfield in the first place. Then, in the final season, she went and cheated on Piper with CO McCullough. Suffice it to say, we were #TeamZelda.
Where. Do. We. Even. Begin. The very first episode of Tyler Perry’s White House drama kicked off with a knock-down, drag-out brawl between POTUS and FLOTUS, and the animosity between them has only grown in the 100-plus episodes since. We’ve frankly lost track of how many times Hunter and Victoria have tried to kill one another over the course of the show, but we’re pretty sure that once is too many, at least for married couples. These two really take “til death do us part” to a whole new level.
Yes, this really happened: The angelic Ann Perkins briefly gave in and dated wannabe ladies’ man Tom, even moving in with him in Season 5. Their chemistry was less “passionate lovers” and more “bratty brother and annoyed older sister.”
A sweet high school romance, rekindled later in life, became the destructive force that ruined the St. Patricks’ marriage, destroyed Angie’s career and ultimately was the driving force behind the assistant U.S. attorney’s brutal murder.
The fans already hated Elliott for not being Emily — and that was before they found out he only married Alison to drive her crazy, steal her money and probably murder her. Hanna deserves a Purple Heart for accidentally killing him before he got the chance.
Amandily Tharke — as we like to call her — had some epic romances over the course of this ABC drama’s four seasons. She also dated Aiden.
The CW’s teen drama had plenty of romantic pairings in its seven-season run… and this one ranked right at the bottom. In Season 1, Archie and Valerie bonded over their shared love of music (remember when Archie loved music?), but there wasn’t much of a spark between them, and we all knew it was just a matter of time until Archie ended up with Betty or Veronica anyway. These two split after just a few episodes — and Valerie vanished altogether midway through Season 2.
On a show where the worst thing a couple can be is boring, this pair was a major offender. Say what you will about Olivia’s messed-up romances with Fitz and Jake — at least they kept things interesting.
George Costanza was always miserable, so why should his longest relationship be any different? After dating in Season 4, George and Susan got engaged in Season 7, but he instantly regretted his decision, scratching and clawing to find an escape while the perfectly dull Susan made him stay home and watch Mad About You. George finally did escape… when Susan shockingly died after licking too many cheap wedding invitations made with toxic glue.
We can’t help but wonder: What could Carrie have been thinking at the time, seeing any bit of charm in the America-mocking art snob played by Mikhail Baryshnikov? Hell, the guy couldn’t even make Paris seem a lick romantic.
Here is a case where the young, attractive leads shared a certain chemistry, but the years and years of trials and tribulations and secrets and lies that plagued the characters had erased, bit by bit, any sense of joy from their eventual union.
This marriage of convenience became awfully inconvenient. She openly mocked him and made him agree to have an open relationship on their wedding night (!). He wondered out loud if he’d be any more miserable without her than he already is with her (!!). And then there was the HBO drama’s final season, which featured a blistering balcony argument between the two and, in the series finale, the most loveless hand-hold of all time after Tom took over Waystar Royco. We don’t actually wish this particular pairing had never happened, though: Can you imagine a world without Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen’s incredible performances?
Much of Season 8 felt like a fever dream, including this totally unbelievable pairing. Jackie had shown zero romantic interest in Fez before Hyde (who was temporarily married) and Kelso (in the wake of Ashton Kutcher’s departure) were no longer viable options.
We were sold on these two at the beginning, but after seeing Sookie with Alcide (and Eric!), it was kind of hard to watch her go back to Bill. At least things worked out for the couple off-screen!
We don’t even care that Alaric used to be Caroline’s high school history teacher, as Mystic Falls was rampant with age-inappropriate romances. (Hello? This is a show about hundred-year-old vampires dating teenagers. Let’s pick our battles, people.) No, our biggest issue with this pairing is that they simply had no chemistry whatsoever — which is wild, because Candice King could have chemistry with a houseplant. And let’s be real, the only reason they got together in the first place was because Caroline was forced to carry Alaric’s twin daughters in her own womb after his pregnant fiancée was murdered on their wedding day. That’s not a relationship, baby, that’s borderline Stockholm Syndrome.
Coming off more as acquaintances than even roommates, these sparks-free lovers only served to tick us off that the show sped through Gabriel’s romance with Anne and, at least on screen, completely bypassed Rosita’s fling with Siddiq.
We were all in on these two when the feisty barrel racer punched the ranch hand’s V-card while he was laid up in the hospital. But the way that Mia pressured Jimmy to return to bronc riding, regardless of the fact that it was likely to kill him, made us not just relieved but [bleepin’] thrilled when he hooked up with sweet veterinarian Emily.
Clay and Rebecca on SEAL Team. She was horrible and they had no chemistry
Willow and Kennedy were great. She was more fun than boring Tara.
I liked Tara okay, I get why she was such a beloved character… But this site’s irrational hate for Kennedy is getting old. Get over it guys, it was a million years ago. (Also Kennedy was actual queer rep from a queer actress.)
Liked them both.
Calling harmless, 2 episode long filler Archie/Val Riverdale’s worst ship when you have the likes of black hole of chemistry/romance, only together for a baby they ended up with and fought all the time Toni/Fangs, who came out of nowhere and the writers wasted an entire season on even though they knew Toni was always going to end up with Cheryl, is crazy. Not to mention Veronica and her abusive/controlling husband Chad that she left after like 5 episodes and then later killed. Like, really? Hiram/Hermione??? Hal/Alice? Penelope/Clifford? Hell, could even put Cheryl/Archie on there, due to Cheryl being a lesbian and in the closet in S7, if you wanted to count them as a “couple”. All better couples than Archie/Val to you? Lmao.
Maybe it makes sense if you rank “forgettable” as worse than “actively terrible.” But I agree that there were plenty of more interesting picks from the shows crazy history.
Not to mention Archie and Ms Grundy… which… wasn’t his relationship with Val just a cover for that? Am I making things up? Anyway, it stands that the ones you mentioned and the one with the music teach belong lower
I didn’t mind Rachel and Sam on Glee. Sure, it was not a epic love. But after losing Finn. Sam was a good guy who was good for her. And on Bones. Hannah was definitely a device to get Brennan to have her epiphany that Booth was the one for her, and she might have missed her chance. And the final hurdle for them to get together. So, there was a reason for her. But the character was badly written, that came too late into the run.
I know I watched the last season of Glee but I have no memory at all of Sam/Rachel.
When Rachel and Kurt were back in Lima helping out with the Glee Club. Sam was the assistant coach, and he and Rachel began a flirtation and relationship. Which suddenly ended as the show ended, and they brought Jesse back for Rachel’s endgame in New York.
The fact that they had to resort to hypnotism to jumpstart this ship is pretty telling on how forced the whole thing was.
Dr. Connor Rhodes and Dr. Eva Bekker should be on this list. What they did to Dr. Bekker was a crime, they turned an interesting character who could rival Dr. Rhodes into a psychopath who was obsessed with Dr. Rhodes began harassing and eventually killed his father in an attempt to win him back. The fact that their relationship kind of got it’s start by Dr. Bekker seducing Connor’s father to get him to finance the Hybrid OR, makes everything come full circle in a very twisted way when she murders him.
On Bones, for me the bad relationship was Angela and Wendell.
How about Rachel and Joey on Friends? Blech.
Wendell was a device to get Angela to realize what she was missing with Hodgins. They were never going to be anything, but yeah, it was a big miss for both of them. Why Angela would do it, except she had been on her six month celibacy hiatus So, she was looking for anyone. And Hodgins meant too much to break the fast with. But it was miss for both of them given how much Wendell knew that Angela and Jack deserved each other.
I can’t hate Rachel and Joey because of some of the memorable moments it wrought… mostly Ross and his faJItas, the i’m “sorry” from Joey, and the physical comedy of Ross punching the column/getting punched
The tricky thing with Clark and Lana was you knew it wasn’t going to end with them together… I mean they could have always gone their own way, but the moment Lois showed up in season 4, the Clark/Lana relationship was dead.
These days a Clark and Lana relationship would’ve been played as the allegedly stable but slowly imploding due to various issues couple. Playing them as will they won’t they took up too much time.
imo Clark and Lana should had been a couple way earlier and she should have discovered his powers during the relationship.
and life should have broken them up – for example, Lana unable to cope with clark double life as a superherom or diference between they see their relationship…
imo their relationship seemed to end in a weird way and although Lois was the endgame, Lana always seemed to be like the one Clark missed.
Ross & Rachel
Carrie & Big
Owen & Anyone on Grey’s Anatomy
Dexter & Deb (kind of)
I like reading your postings, but could you please ease up on some of the commercials that flash all over what I’m trying to read it would be helpful thanks!
Of the shows on this list that I have seen, I agree with all but one of these takes. The one I disagree with? Henry and Ella on OUAT. I really liked them together.
Now, do I feel like we should have had more time to grow to love them? Yes. I’m also of the opinion that OUAT should have ended with season 6 as it was always Emma’s story. Season 7 should then have been the start of a new series all together. A spinoff, for sure. But still a new series.
The couples mentioned from Game of Thrones, Power, and Euphoria, were all TV gold and only made these shows better.
How could you miss out Mandy and Josh in The West Wing? I’ve re-watched the show many, many times and I have to grit my teeth through every scene Mandy’s in on every watch through.
Weren’t all of Josh’s girlfriends annoying? Amy was SO obnoxious!
Well, that’s a take.
I didn’t mind Aiden and Emily together on Revenge. He would have done anything for her (and he constantly proved it). To be honest, by the time the show finally started headed towards Emily/Jack, I had lost all interest in them being a couple. I thought Emily and Daniel had the best chemistry, and killing him off was a huge mistake.
daniel kind of related to emily, that’s why
Kate and Sawyer on Lost
Emma and Neal on Once Upon a TIme
Meredit and Cormac on Greys Anatomy
Emma and Neal for sure was like watching paint dry!!!!
I liked Kate and Sawyer, although I preferred him with Juliet. I hated Kate and Jack. They had good potential in the first season, but by the time they got together, I really didn’t like Jack any more.
I never liked Sawyer and frankly thought Kate was too much of a step up for him. I liked Kate and Jack by default becaused there really wasn’t anyone featured who was better for her.
Joey and Rachel (“Friends”), although I feel TV Line had covered this disaster in previous articles..
No Rachel & Joey (Friends). EPIC failure!!! That’s the worst couple in television history!!
What about half of these have in common in that they’re a placeholder relationship the writers threw into the story in order in order to postpone the main ‘shipped couple from getting together, because they’re afraid that would take away the show’s romantic tension. (To be fair, when the will-they-won’t-they couple actually does get together, the show usually has no idea how to keep them interesting.)
Fair point!
I find that the biggest issue with the will-they-won’t-they relationships is that the writers/producers wait until they’ve written them into stagnant water. Viewers get tired of getting
hyped up then jerked around, storylines get boring, drama gets manufactured for zero reason…so they stall using cool/pointless characters that are so poorly written as to not have you root for this couple rather than the main one. Very implausible and never rooted in any semblance of reality.
This could be a controversial opinion, but Cuddy should have just stayed single. I felt like House went sideways when they decided to have Cuddy and House hook up. Sometimes pairing two people in the show can ruin it.
Strange, I can’t see Buck & Tommy from 911. Maybe on page 2
Missed/
– Elizabeth and Nathan- WCTH .
Worst TV pairing ever that should not have come to be until they changed the whole direction of the show and gave the main lead female character a different personality.
Completely disagree about Emily/Aiden on Revenge. Their dynamic was ruined in the final season, but I loved their history and the fact that Aiden went out of his way to protect Emily. For me Emily/Daniel were the worst pairing.
worst pairing but my god they had spicy chemistry… I loved aiden though.
I think I’m the only person who liked Nikki and Paolo. Their twisted demise was something worthy of Tales from the Crypt.
Not the only one!
Joey and Rachel on Friends.
They were out of ideas at that point.
Spike and Buffy
Riley and Buffy
Logan and Parker
Veronica and Piz
Veronica and Duncan
Dylan and Kelly
On a Soap opera front
Anyone with Jason except Sam
Anyone with Sam except Jason
I was pleasantly surprised that Veronica and Piz weren’t on here. Logan and Parker would’ve been good though.
I’m absolutely shocked Joey & Rachel didn’t make it on here.