AOL TV's Worst Couples Ever

[JamesG]

10. Connor and Cordelia on Angel

Why was it so creepy when Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter hooked up with the boss's son, Connor (Vincent Kartheiser)?

Because once you've held someone as a baby, it's just not right to jump their bones, even if they matured at super-speed in an alternate dimension.

We get that Joss Whedon had to explain Carpenter's real-life pregnancy, but on a show about the supernatural, couldn't she have been knocked up by someone -- or something -- else?

(We kinda still get the h.j's watching Kartheiser on Mad Men, even though he's 30 by now.)




9. Nate and Lisa on Six Feet Under

Let's face it, the Fishers always were a self-obsessed, whiny bunch, but once Nate (Peter Krause) decided to marry Lisa, an ex-girlfriend he (and we) couldn't stand after a one-night reunion left her pregnant, the self-pity reached a whole new level.

Lisa (Lili Taylor)'s shocking murder wasn't the end of the drama as Nate's drawn-out guilt trip killed what sympathy we had left for the guy.

When he goes out to provoke a fight after learning of her death, we would happily have stood in line to land a few punches ourselves.




8. Fran and Max on The Nanny

A perfect example of killing the romantic tension by taking your leads from flirty fun to full-on couplehood.

After five seasons of batted eyelashes and brassy banter, over-the-top Queens gal Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) took her oh-so-refined British boss Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaugnessy) to the altar in a lavish ceremony.

Ratings lagged for the sixth, and final, season, while the newlyweds dealt with in-laws and pregnancies and largely took a backseat to another odd-couple romance, that of Niles and C.C.




7. Daphne and Niles on Frasier

We'd grown so used to Niles (David Hyde Pierce) in a relationship with a woman we never saw (the elusive Maris), it was a little hard to wrap our heads around the fact that he finally was dating a live one, namely Daphne (Jane Leeves), whom he'd secretly pined after for years.

Or maybe it was that when one character obsesses so intensely about another, the relationship can't help but feel one-sided when it's finally consummated.

Since we know writers save this kind of thing for near the end stretch, we're more than a little jaded about these late-blooming romances.




6. Gil and Sara on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Sure, there were plenty of Geek Love fans who were dying to see Gil Grissom (William Petersen) and Sara (Jorja Fox) get together, but even they were thrown for a loop at the way the hook-up finally happened.

Or, rather, didn't.

Six seasons in, we learned that Grissom and Sara had already gotten together ... two years ago! We were spared any awkward morning-after regrets, but fans felt cheated and the words "jump" and "shark" were definitely thrown around.

Although Petersen is now gone and Fox is an occasional guest, CBS has promised an eventual Grissom-Sara reunion, no doubt, timed for sweeps.




5. Joel and Maggie on Northern Exposure

We loved the screwball quality of the near-romance between city doc Joel Fleischmann (Rob Morrow) and bush pilot Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner) in quirky Cicely, Alaska.

The suspense lasted for five seasons before they gave into their long-denied attraction and, as these things often go, the show lasted only one more season.

We can't blame the demise of the show entirely on their hookup, however: Morrow wanted to leave the show since season four. By season six, when a new doc came to town to take Joel's place, we'd stopped caring.




4. Sam and Diane on Cheers

Snobby Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and working class Sam Malone (Ted Danson) were one of TV's most-celebrated proof of the "opposites attract theory."

They got together, broke up, dated other people, and then he proposed about a million times.

In the end, Long wanted out of the show and Sam struck up a new delayed-satisfaction flirtation with her replacement, Rebecca (Kirstie Alley).

When Diane showed up on the series finale and nearly got back together with Sam, we were honestly relieved when they both realized it would be a terrible mistake.




3. Maddie and David on Moonlighting

This witty detective duo offered old-fashioned repartee like we used to get with Hepburn and Tracy, plus they solved crimes, just like Bogie and Bacall.

Those classic pairings were just a few invoked in describing the delicious sexual tension between Maddie (Cybill Shepherd) and David (Bruce Willis).

Sadly, while their initial romp on the floor of her living room sizzled, the relationship -- only the foundation on which the entire show was built -- fizzled.

A fourth-season reunion was horribly botched: Maddie was also seeing someone else, got pregnant and had no idea who the father was -- hardly the kind of mystery we wanted to watch these two solve. We're not even going to get into the dream sequence featuring the baby-that-never-was.




2. Joey and Rachel on Friends

Rachel and Joey? Can we just pretend this one never happened?

Occurring in the 10th and final season, it felt like a last gasp, "Gee who haven't we hooked up yet?" gambit by the writers.

Even Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) wasn't totally sold on the pairing: During her first official date with Joey (Matt LeBlanc), she slapped his wandering hands as they began to make out.

Joey was confused: Were they on or weren't they? Turned out, not so much.

This ill-fated match was mercifully short-lived and served mostly to convince us that the writers had simply run out of ideas.




1. George and Izzie on Grey's Anatomy

George (T.R. Knight) and Izzie (Katherine Heigl) made great friends, but "Gizzie" ruined both characters. It wasn't just that they had no chemistry (as the characters themselves finally admitted), but he was cheating on new bride Callie -- whom, Izzie loudly insisted at every opportunity, he never should have married.

And we never got why Izzie decided that George, not dear departed Denny, was the love of her life.

Thankfully, this hookup crashed and burned, but during its brief run, we'd grown to hate Izzie. Poor George was left with no love interest and no screen time at all.

It seemed right that these two would exit the show at the same moment, but Izzie survived to make another man (hubby Alex), and us, completely miserable.

http://insidetv.aol.com/2010/01/07/w...-couples-ever/

[Retro4Life]

It seems to me like TV writers often do a good job of writing sexual tension, but really suck at writing believable, committed relationships. In that respect, I guess TV is kind of like real life. The "fun" part is easy but the long term stuff is much, much harder (though obviously much more rewarding).

[catlover79]

I have to agree with most of those choices. I'd add:

1. Lionel & Jenny (The Jeffersons)
2. Kelly & Stuart (Coach)

[spunkygirl]

8. Fran and Max on The Nanny

A perfect example of killing the romantic tension by taking your leads from flirty fun to full-on couplehood.

After five seasons of batted eyelashes and brassy banter, over-the-top Queens gal Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) took her oh-so-refined British boss Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaugnessy) to the altar in a lavish ceremony.

Ratings lagged for the sixth, and final, season, while the newlyweds dealt with in-laws and pregnancies and largely took a backseat to another odd-couple romance, that of Niles and C.C.

It's hard to take this list seriously, cause Fran & Max oozed chemistry and were a great couple, so were CC and Niles

[browneyes106]

I also liked Fran and Max and Daphne and Niles. I think Becker and Chris should be on that list.

[Chocoholic]

I totally agree with Sam & Diane. I never understood the attraction, other than they both thought they were God's gift to the world.

I also agree with browneyes about Becker and Chris. Awful! A few others I'd add...

Ray and Debra Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)
Ed and Carol (Ed)
Brian and Casey (Wings)
Ross and Rchel (Friends)
Lisa and Johnny (NewsRadio)

[Retro4Life]

Here's the worst TV couple I can think of, and it's one that was really forced down viewers throats near the very end of the series with no real foreshadowing whatsoever (and a LOT of evidence that both parties SHOULD have been with other characters); Chakotay and Seven of Nine from ST: Voyager.

That thing still smells up the joint, nearly ten years later.

[ekkostar]

Originally Posted by JamesG

8. Fran and Max on The Nanny

A perfect example of killing the romantic tension by taking your leads from flirty fun to full-on couplehood.

After five seasons of batted eyelashes and brassy banter, over-the-top Queens gal Fran Fine (Fran Drescher) took her oh-so-refined British boss Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaugnessy) to the altar in a lavish ceremony.

Ratings lagged for the sixth, and final, season, while the newlyweds dealt with in-laws and pregnancies and largely took a backseat to another odd-couple romance, that of Niles and C.C.

Here's a tip, NEVER take the leading man that the women lust over and put him in a relationship. It always bothers me for some reason, mostly because it interrupts my fantasy. I want a shot at Max Sheffield! Oh Max, with your silver hair streak and double-breasted suits...

[Marvo301]

Niles and C.C. (The Nanny) should have gotten a spin-off series. That would have been a riot!

[tv star collector]

Re Frasier: I was always hoping that Niles and Daphne would get together, and I'm glad they finally did.

[catlover79]

Originally Posted by ekkostar

Here's a tip, NEVER take the leading man that the women lust over and put him in a relationship. It always bothers me for some reason, mostly because it interrupts my fantasy. I want a shot at Max Sheffield! Oh Max, with your silver hair streak and double-breasted suits...

At least you're honest.

[Buffyboy323]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Re Frasier: I was always hoping that Niles and Daphne would get together, and I'm glad they finally did.

I agree. It wasn't AS great when the anticipation was over, but it was great that they were finally together. They were a good couple.

[Chain Gang Member]

Andi & Greg - Reaper
because like she told Sam in "Greg Schmeg",Greg's a tool

Chuck & Jill - Chuck

Dan & Rachel - Gossip Girl

[catlover79]

I also want to add Reuben and Thelma from Amen to that list. Much as I love the show, and its cast, I never bought those two as a couple. I didn't buy that he would go from hiding to get away from her to all of a sudden falling for her. It just never rang true to me.

[comedyfreak]

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Re Frasier: I was always hoping that Niles and Daphne would get together, and I'm glad they finally did.

Me too, they were perfect together.

Originally Posted by browneyes106

I also liked Fran and Max and Daphne and Niles.

Funny how they had them as a divorced couple on her second show, Living With Fran.