There are tons of terrible couples scattered throughout the history of television that we’ve all seen in the last decade. Ramsay Bolton and Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones, for example, are a match made in hell. Jan Levinson and Michael Scott on The Office are another great example of a horrendous match. Walter White and Skyler White on Breaking Bad weren’t exactly going to be categorized as “couple goals”. And Betty Draper and Don Draper on Mad Men were just destined for disaster.
Yet with all of the couples just listed, these relationships were at least intended to be dysfunctional and unhealthy. What about the relationships on TV that were unintentionally terrible? What about the relationships that viewers were intended to root for? Read on to find out the top 10 worst couples of the past decade!
ROBIN AND TED - HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
Robin and Ted are the central couple on How I Met Your Mother, a show which is all about dating, romance, and relationships. And although this pair has their moments, their relationship often feels extremely one-sided.
Ted often engages in stalkerish behavior with Robin, while Robin seems pressured to say yes to him even when she is unsure about her feeling towards Ted. Plus, a lot of people believe their relationship ruined the finale of HIMYM, because they both seemed to have moved on from each other.
DAN AND SERENA - GOSSIP GIRL
Dan and Serena were an extremely flawed and unrealistic couple on Gossip Girl. Dan had been pining after Serena for ages, not because of her personality or her intellect, but instead because of her beauty.
Their relationship was based on shallow desires, yet the worst part of it all was the fact that Dan had been stalking and humiliating the “love of his life” for years now as the (SPOILER!) anonymous mastermind behind the Gossip Girl blog. In what way is that behavior okay, and how on earth was Serena okay with his actions? It makes no sense.
PIPER AND ALEX - ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Okay, the whole love/hate relationship dynamic is getting kind of old. We’ve seen it on Cheers and in The Honeymooners, and now we’re still seeing it still today on more progressive shows like Orange is the New Black.
Although the love/hate relationship can be great when done well, if it is not well-crafted enough, it just ends up feeling corny and overdone. This is definitely the case with Piper and Alex, who are just all-around toxic together. There is constant cheating, backstabbing, and lying, so we were a bit surprised when they ended up together in the series finale.
PETER AND LOIS - FAMILY GUY
Peter and Lois aren’t about to win any “cutest relationship of the year” awards any time soon. Granted, we doubt Seth Macfarlane is aiming to achieve this goal for the main couple on the show, but we still had to put their relationship on the list because they are just that terrible together.
Even though this series is animated, it doesn’t change how unrealistic this partnership is, because regardless of whether or not the series is fictional, we still find it bewildering that Lois hasn’t left Peter yet.
JESSA AND ADAM - GIRLS
Jessa and Adam are an awful couple on Girls and their relationship is one big slap in the face to everyone involved. Their relationship is built on betrayals and lies, and there is no proper build-up to these two ever becoming an item.
The fact that Jessa is willing to stoop so low by dating her best friend Hannah’s long-term old boyfriend just makes her all the more irredeemable. Adam also seems just fine with betraying Hannah, the person he had loved and cared for, for so long. It just doesn’t make sense, and all their relationship did was cause problems.
CHUCK AND BLAIR - GOSSIP GIRL
Sorry, Gossip Girl fans. We know Chuck and Blair aka “Chair” have off-the-charts chemistry and are adored by the fandom, but just because a couple has a spark doesn’t mean they are good for each other. This “goal-worthy” couple is abusive.
What else would you call a relationship where the boyfriend literally trades his girlfriend to his uncle for a real estate property? What else would you call a relationship that is mentally draining and even physically abusive? Chuck is not a “dreamy bad boy”, he is an awful human being, and Blair is no angel either. Their relationship is just an all-around mess, and it shouldn’t be romanticized as it is on the show.
FIONA AND FORD - SHAMELESS
Fiona and who? Who the heck is Ford, you might be thinking? He was her latest boyfriend in season 9. Not only was he one of the driest and most forgettable characters in the history of television, but he was also secretly married the whole time that he was with Fiona.
You can’t be that boring and be a lying cheat. Choose one, and stick with it. The episodes with Ford indicated the downfall of Shameless, because he made the series feel unbearable to watch by how uninteresting the scenes with him were. We’re yawning just thinking about it!
JOEL AND MIRIAM - MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL
Joel and Miriam are a terrible pair on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Instead of Joel supporting Miriam’s dreams as a standup comedian, he instead becomes outrageously jealous and cruel, trying to sabotage her career because he can’t stand the thought of his wife being more talented than he is.
Why would we ever root for a couple like this one? Real couples support their partners’ dreams as opposed to trying to tear them down.
CERSEI AND JAIME - GAME OF THRONES
No. Just… no. This relationship is so creepy and troublesome, even for Game of Thrones. You don’t fall for the person you were womb-mates with. You just don’t. Not only is this an incestuous relationship which is already problematic enough, but to make matters worse, Jaime and Cersei are actually terrible to one another.
Let us not forget the time that Jaime sexually assaulted his own sister despite her constant pleas for him to stop. It was just unhealthy from the very beginning and although we were supposed to feel for this couple, most of us just felt sick to our stomachs instead.
ARIA AND EZRA - PRETTY LITTLE LIARS
The worst thing about this relationship is just how romanticized and passionate the writers had made these two out to be. Also, let’s not forget the horrific fact that this series is intended for young girls, which makes matters even worse and more revolting.
For people who have never seen the show, Aria is a high school student and Ezra is her English teacher. What makes matters worse is the fact that Aria is underage! The show plays their romance off as “forbidden love” and unfortunately for most young female viewers, this is how they are led to see their relationship. This is just not okay in any way shape or form.
