Romance is an important part of any television show, encouraging audiences to regularly tune in to see on-screen relationships flourish on a week-in, week-out basis. A key ingredient for sitcoms, riveting dramas, and melodramatic soap operas, romantic relationships play an integral role in countless TV narratives, forcing viewers to wonder when (or even if) certain characters might end up together within their show’s self-contained universe.
As much as we all love a strong TV couple, certain television romances continue to aggravate viewers years, sometimes decades, later. Tossing both characters together in spite of their lack of romantic chemistry, these TV couples were woefully wrong for each other, undermining their narrative journeys throughout the entirety of their series.
As most diehard fans of How I Met Your Mother can attest, most of HIMYM focused on the fact that Ted and Robin were completely incompatible with one another. Coming from two separate worlds and possessing conflicting temperaments, Ted and Robin routinely found their way back to each other through chance and a consistent need for a stable relationship. Not only did their romance seem forced, their final reunion at the end of the series undercut their individual growth throughout the series, ending HIMYM with a simmer rather than a definitive bang.
In a perfect world, everyone knows that Haley and Andy should have ended up together on ABC’s Modern Family. Rather than successfully pairing Haley with Phil’s quirky doppelganger, however, Modern Family’s showrunners saw fit to have Haley reunite with her former high school boyfriend, Dylan, solidifying their relationship with an unplanned pregnancy. Repeating her mother’s mistakes by starting a family far too early, Haley’s relationship with Dylan seemed completely at odds with her personal transformation into an independent young woman making serious strides in her career.
Yes, Fez always seemed to have a not-so-subtle crush on Point Place’s premiere prima donna, Jackie Burkhart. However, few fans of That ‘70s Show ever expressed interest in seeing Fez’s romantic feelings reciprocated. With Jackie faring far better in her relationships with Kelso or Hyde, her sudden relationship with Fez seemed distinctly out of character for Mila Kunis’s fiery-tempered teen diva. Fortunately, That ‘90s Show corrected this mistake, pairing Jackie with her on-again, off-again boyfriend-turned-immature husband, Michael Kelso.
We’re probably treading on some hallowed ground with our assessment of Ross and Rachel’s relationship in Friends, but at the end of the day, it’s hard to think of a couple less fit for each other than these two chaotic New Yorkers. While some fans love the idea of Ross ending up with his romantic counterpart in Rachel, their relationship never seemed to come out of genuine emotion, but rather a consistent need to control one another. Whether criticizing one another’s jobs to sabotaging each other’s potential relationships with other people, Ross and Rachel’s toxicity knew almost no bounds.
Why are Penny and Leonard attracted to each other on The Big Bang Theory? Yes, yes, we all get it – Penny’s the gorgeous, absent-minded neighbor who falls for the brainy, hopelessly awkward, Leonard. But at the end of the day, aside from Penny’s looks and Leonard’s intelligence, it’s hard to account for their relationship on this polarizing CBS sitcom. Possessing far more dissimilarities than they do common traits or shared hobbies, every aspect of Penny and Leonard’s romance seemed forced and artificial, appearing as the product of storyline necessity rather than feasible organic chemistry.
To be sure, Pretty Little Liars never shied away from its more melodramatic tone, routinely relying on storylines more suited for a daytime soap opera than a realistic television drama. Case in point with the romance between Aria and her high school teacher Ezra – a relationship that’s difficult to get behind, almost entirely due to its taboo nature. To make matters worse, Aria was only 16 when they first started dating, making their relationship all the more problematic to watch unfold, never mind to actually condone.
