10 Worst Sitcom Couples Of All Time, Ranked

Sitcoms have given audiences many of TV's most iconic romantic couples. But since romance and love are an intrinsic part of the human experience, relationships on sitcoms can often be just as irritating and toxic as those in real life. The same shows that have brought audiences fan-favorite pairings like Ben (Adam Scott) and Leslie (Amy Poehler) from "Parks and Recreation" or Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) from "The Office," among others, have also given audiences stinkers like Sam (Ted Danson) and Diane (Shelley Long) from "Cheers" — who were never actually compatible — or Lindsay (Portia di Rossi) and Tobias (David Cross), were hard to watch by design on "Arrested Development."

It would probably be impossible to list every bad relationship brought to audiences by sitcoms in the history of TV, and some of those same iconic TV couples have proven themselves to be blatantly toxic over the course of an entire series. But while a pairing like Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) from "The Office" may be explosive and farcically ill-matched, they still make for great TV. Here are the worst sitcom couples to ever try to make it work — often with chaotic, destructive, and hilarious results — ranked from least damaged to apocalyptic.

Jerry (Chris Grace) and Sandra (Kaliko Kauahi) from "Superstore" are often quite sweet, and provide many laughs on one of the more under-appreciated sitcoms in recent history. Sandra is a pathetic character, but when she meets Jerry, it's like she's finally found someone who's as much of a sad-sack as she is. Granting Sandra happiness with Jerry feels like narrative karma, so it's actually gratifying to see her get something good. 

That's why it hurts so much more that they become hard to watch. When Sandra and Jerry meet, Sandra is unable to immediately date him because she has been going along with a lie that she is the one who's been dating the regional manager, Jeff (Michael Bunin), not Mattheo (Nico Santos), who is actually secretly going out with Jeff. When Sandra's coworker Carol (Irene White)— who began a relationship with Jerry after Sandra was forced to keep up her charade about Jeff— discovers that Jerry broke up with her to pursue Sandra, Carol becomes terrifying in her obsession with Jerry and Sandra — and that's where the couple becomes too pathetic. 

Carol demands that Sandra "give Jerry back" during a store staff meeting, and after they fight about it, the staff steamrolls Sandra and votes for her to break up with Jerry so Carol can date him again. What makes it even more infuriating is that Jerry and Sandra actually accept the staff's decision and call it quits. Jerry and Sandra eventually get back together again, but their bizarre love triangle with Carol makes their story nearly unbearable.

J.D. (Zach Braff) has many girlfriends throughout "Scrubs" and its nine(ish) seasons, but his worst one, by far, is Dani (Tara Reid). In the late 1990s, Reid showed up in "The Big Lebowski" and "American Pie," so she happened to have some career heat back when "Scrubs" was shooting Season 3 in 2003 and 2004. Dani is introduced as a love interest who temporarily distracts J.D. from pining for Elliot (Sarah Chalke). At first, Dani is presented as a sweet, unlucky-in-love foil for her older sister, who happens to be Dr. Cox's (John C. McGinley) ex-wife, Jordan (Christa Miller).

It is immediately clear to any casual observer, however, that portraying a character who is meant to be compelling in a sincere way does not seem to fall in Reid's comfort zone. Just like the audience, J.D. quickly loses interest in Dani, and ultimately ends their relationship due to his persistent feelings for Elliot. Dani is one of the worst guest characters in the whole series, and what makes it sting all the more is that she's so permanently connected to several of the show's main characters. 

When J.D. and Dani rekindle their relationship for a short time at the end of Season 3, Reid seems much more comedically at home portraying Dani as a slovenly, masochistic chain smoker — but that doesn't really make her coupling with J.D. any less terrible.

It's played for laughs in Seasons 1 and 2 of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" when Gina Linetti (Chelsea Peretti) and Charles Boyle (Jo Lo Truglio) wake up screaming upon discovering that they are in bed together after a night of drinking. It happens twice, and both times it feels like a real problem. In real life, blacking out and having sex with someone you wouldn't necessarily have sex with while sober is generally considered a bad experience. Gina is disgusted, yes, but only in the way that she is always disgusted by Charles' nearly-contagious lack of cool. Gina and Charles are one of the weirdest, least-satisfying sitcom pairings ever for this and several other reasons.

It's a relief when Charles moves on from his cringey crush on Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) to foodie Vivian Ludley (Marilu Henner) in Season 1; Vivian is just as into Charles as he is to her, and they share a distinct love for high-brow dining. When Vivian moves to Canada for work, Charles is left heartbroken, and that's when he and Gina hook up.

It's a low point for Charles, and Gina claims the same for herself. Gina seems to dislike basically everything that makes Charles who he is, and Charles never expresses real interest in Gina beyond their sexual meet-ups. It might be incorrect to call Charles and Gina a couple, but they are paired up long enough for viewers to see what a terrible match they make. 

By the time "Parks and Recreation" rolled into its fourth season, Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) — certified nurse, "beautiful, rule-breaking moth" (according to her best friend Leslie Knope), and arguably the most important character on "Parks and Recreation" – had already dated three fellow series regulars in multi-episode romantic relationships. 

Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) and Ann are together at the start of the show and shortly after, Ann dates Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider) for almost all of Season 2. Ann also jumps into a relationship with Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) in Season 3. She also goes out with a lot of random one-off men — including, notably, Howard Tuttleman (Nick Kroll), a local Pawnee radio personality — before April (Aubrey Plaza) sets her up with Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) in Season 4.

Ann hates Tom at the beginning of the series because of his constant attempts to hit on her and his lascivious comments about her appearance; she even tries to keep him from finding out about her Halloween party in Season 2. By Season 4, Ann is regularly tolerating Tom, who has developed into a somewhat less creepy, more mature character, but she never seems romantically into him until April sends them on a date on Valentine's Day. The whole time they're together, they fight about Tom's lack of decorum and and Ann's lack of interest in luxury. They have no onscreen moments that feel meant to serve the romance itself, and their pairing feels like the writers are trying to kill time and keep two main characters busy while they deal with the rest of a sprawling ensemble.

The first half of Season 1 of "Community" is a little different from the rest of the show. Perhaps creator Dan Harmon felt that a predictable sitcom featuring a classic "will-they-or-won't-they" trope for its romantic leads, Jeff Winger (Joel McHale) and Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs), would sell better than what "Community" turned out to be (which is one of the most innovative TV comedies ever).

Britta and Jeff's relationship is summed up beautifully in "Community" Season 1, Episode 23, "Modern Warfare," when Abed (Danny Pudi) explains why the group is so tired of their bickering: "To be blunt, Jeff and Britta [are] no Ross and Rachel. Your sexual tension and lack of chemistry are putting us all on edge." Britta is simply too guileless to keep Jeff in check when he's giving into his most conniving impulses, and Jeff refuses to let any of Britta's many errors or confusions sit unaddressed. 

They bring out the worst in each other, and they know it, but they feel a certain connection that still isn't completely dead by the end of Season 6. They both feel as if they've failed to live life to the fullest, and for some reason they tend to think that means they should settle for each other. Jeff needs an Annie (Alison Brie) — someone just as sharp and devious as he is, but with a lawful-good alignment. Britta needs someone who will appreciate her idiosyncrasies and gently question her half-baked pronouncements. Jeff and Britta make good friends, but their romance is untenable.

For a fair stretch of "The Office," many viewers rooted for Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) and Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) to make it as a couple. Andy and Erin connect when Andy is at his most likable as a character, having just been cheated on by Angela (Angela Kinsey) not long before. They share a sweet, budding romance in Erin's first official season as a permanent character. Erin is naively impressed with Andy's many wealth-facilitated talents, while Andy appreciates Erin's natural kindness. Unfortunately for them, Andy fails to disclose his past with Angela, and Erin ends their relationship, upset that Andy never told her and finding him difficult to trust as a result.

Erin and Andy had the massive task of taking the baton from Pam and Jim as the main "will-they-or-won't-they" couple on "The Office" for several years. It might not have been such a tricky undertaking, but Andy was always a narratively problematic character who abruptly, drastically changed multiple times throughout the series. 

Many viewers believed that Andy got worse every season of "The Office," molded every year by the show's writers to fit into whatever role needed filling at the time. After Andy was definitely the main protagonist for most of Season 8, he was a huge jerk in Season 9, especially to Erin. When Erin dumps Andy the second time— partially due to her feelings for Pete (Jake Lacy)— it's a huge relief to see such a kind, promising young woman escape the vortex of an uncharismatic narcissist. 

One of the most infuriating sitcom tropes of the '90s and 2000s is, of course, the "constantly at odds" married couple made up of a somewhat reasonable woman and a disrespectful, unhelpful man. Debra (Patricia Heaton) and Raymond (Ray Romano) from "Everybody Loves Raymond" are a great example of this, but the most irritating couple that ever fit into the trope has to be Doug (Kevin James) and Carrie (Leah Remini) from "The King of Queens." 

Although James and Remini are fond of each other in real life, it often felt like their married characters couldn't stand each other. Because of couples like Doug and Carrie, it was easy for some viewers to develop a warped understanding of marriage dynamics. These shows made people believe that married (heterosexual) couples are nearly always at odds — that they have two gears, angry and recently forgiving/forgiven.

Doug and Carrie were especially heinous because Doug was such a jerk. He was constantly lying to and manipulating Carrie and looking for ways to force more domestic labor onto her shoulders. Carrie was quick to anger at times and certainly a controlling person, but her gaffes were small potatoes compared to Doug's behavior. 

"How I Met Your Mother" was a big hit when it was on TV: folks loved the caliber of the humor, the show's ensemble, and the many clues dropped about the identity of the show's titular parent. Narrated by an older Ted Mosby (Bob Saget) to his mostly grown kids, the show follows young Ted (Josh Radnor) as he pursues his professional and romantic dreams alongside his best friends Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) and Robin (Cobie Smulders). 

Despite the fact that the first episode ends with a clear declaration that Robin is not the mother of Ted's children, Ted spends nearly a decade of his life pining after her, and it's tough to watch. Robin makes it clear to Ted at the start of their connection that she isn't interested in prioritizing love, marriage, or children; she's hyper-focused on her career as a TV journalist and more in need of friends than a boyfriend. Ted falls for her pretty immediately anyway, and they do spend Season 2 in a committed relationship, but their desires for the future are incompatible, and Ted never gets over it.

Even when he's pursuing other people, even when she's about to marry Barney, Ted is still pursuing Robin. She isn't the mother of his children, but the show does kill off that mother (Cristina Milioti) and tanks Robin and Barney's marriage during the series finale's time jumps so that Robin and Ted can end up together. Also, Ted is the worst, and actually makes Robin give up all of her dogs at one point because she got them from ex-boyfriends.

The premise of "The Big Bang Theory" sounds like something a nerdy 12-year-old kid would come up with as he's transitioning from childhood to puberty. The series is about a group of men who work together as scientists and revel in their geeky interests off the clock. Core characters Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) share an apartment across the hall from Leonard's dream girl, Penny (Kaley Cuoco), who's conventionally attractive, ditzy, and quickly established as an object of desire for Leonard to aspire to obtain. 

Penny definitely did some terrible things to Leonard on "The Big Bang Theory," at times taking advantage of his crush on her and leaning hard into her pretty privilege, but their relationship was frustrating for more reasons than that. Penny's whole existence on the show reeks of wish fulfillment. She's largely two-dimensional, and whenever she expresses a complexity that doesn't jive with Leonard's vision of her as his dream girl (for example, when she is adamant that she doesn't want to have kids), it is quickly waved away — as when she accidentally gets pregnant after a night of unprotected intimacy with Leonard. 

Leonard gets everything he wants by the end of the series, and Penny seems more like a trophy for him than a partner. His own behavior isn't always aligned with this take, but the show itself always acts to put Penny where she belongs (romantically attached to Leonard) when Leonard doesn't. Let's also not forget the worst thing Leonard ever did to Penny.

You'd think that after 10 years of producing what was, at the time, the most popular sitcom on television, "Friends" creator David Crane would realize that his cast was familiar enough with the show's audience and their characters to provide valuable feedback on plot decisions. So it should have been a warning to him that the cast was largely creeped out by his introduction of romantic potential between Joey (Matt Leblanc) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) in Season 8, but he pursued the storyline all the same, returning to it in Season 9. 

Crane claimed that Joey and Rachel were always meant to fail as a romantic relationship on "Friends," but that doesn't seem like enough of a reason to forgive him for burning images of their make-out sessions into the minds of viewers. Matt Leblanc was firmly opposed to the pairing, explaining to Crane that it simply wasn't the kind of thing Joey would do to his friend Ross (David Schwimmer). Rachel and Ross have a long, fraught history by the time Joey develops feelings for Rachel, and Joey takes bro code very seriously. He does self-flagellate quite a bit over his romantic feelings for Rachel, but it's still strange that he suddenly manifests them after so many years.

Joey and Rachel have a great friendship for most of the show — they are, arguably, the two most likable characters — so it's disappointing to see it sullied by dumb, romantic drama. Especially because it's pointless: Rachel can't stop smacking Joey's hand away whenever he tries to get to second base with her, and it's hard not to feel like she's channelling fans everywhere whenever she does it.