When it comes to TV love triangles, there is no such thing as “in between.” You are either Team Ben or Team Noel. Team Stefan or Team Damon. Team Brandon or Team Dylan. Period.
If you doubt it, check any TVLine comments section that veers toward a discussion of Gossip Girl‘s Chuck/Blair and Dan/Blair, and you’ll get all the proof you need. Couch potatoes are as passionate about which couple should be/stick together as Republicans and Democrats are about who should be the next president.
In honor of this phenomenon, we’ve compiled an exhaustive list of TV’s Most Divisive Love Triangles, from classic Gilmore Girls and Friends threesomes to current obsessions from The Vampire Diaries and Revenge. We won’t bother to remind you to hit the comments afterward to let us know where your allegiances lie and to chime in with any trios that we snubbed. That would be as silly as Frasier ending up with [insert the name of Diane or Lilith, whichever you didn't favor].
I agree
Ross/Rachel
Luke/Lorelai
Barney/Robin
Seth/Summer
Lucas/Peyton
Damon/Elena
Disagree
Joey/Pacey
Rory/jess (I was never a fan of Logan)
Zoe/Wade (I like George and Lemon together.)
Casey/Cappie
My own
Buffy/Spike (After all we like our vamps only slightly good)
Dan/Blair
Felicity/Noel
Sookie/Eric
Veronica/Logan
Fred/Gunn (even though I liked Wesley)
I’m not sure who I like Jeff with… I love him with them both for seperate reasons
I agree with EVERYTHING you said except for felicity and noel. I Liked ben a little better. oh and I like Jeff and Britta, although I like Annie as a character.
Glee is like the most awesome show in the world (i think it is tied with The vampire diaries in my opinion). it really just depends on what you like its a drama with comedy and romance!
Comment by julia dorochenko – April 15, 2013 05:08 PM PDT Reply To This Post
Definetely Lost’s Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Juliet (that was the most complete, effective and well resolved love triangle/quadrangule of the XXI century),
The Walking Dead’s Shane/Rick/Lori (perfect in every way),
and Eric/Sookie/Bill from True Blood
I would put Game of Thrones Khal Drogo/Daenerys/Ser Yorah too
and the old Logan/Veronica/Dunca from Veronica Mars for good meassure.
The key to any good love triangle is timing and a satisfatory ending and these examples bever disappointed IMO.
I loved Buffy and Angel but there was such an intense chemistry between her and spike that it started to make Angel look Blah! I felt sorry for the Spike, here’s a vamp (without a soul) who’s so much in love he allows himself to be tortured and eventually given a soul and all the pain that goes with it just to prove he’s worthy. Made ya wanna root for him.
And see, I hated Spike/Buffy because I thought Spike was his most interesting and had the most chem, with Druscilla, But than I wasn’t a fan, nor did I believe in the hero-ing of Spike. Nor did I like that the essentially changed the entire canon of vampires for his character (Spike is just such a special snowflake) just because Marti Noxon and Jane Espenson wubbed James Marsters. I like the guy, liked Spike, but didn’t think the character or actor was worth doing that to canon.
For me, if not Druscilla, the second couple I liked Spike with was Angel, actually. They were much more fun to watch than anything Spike/Buffy.
Comment by jonstewart4president – April 23, 2012 12:20 AM PDT Reply To This Post
Ha, I see, you hated Spike because they made him better and more complex character than Angel ever was. Unlike you I loved the hero Spike, who fought for his soul and earned it because his love to Buffy. And yeah – Spike&Buffy all the way!
Comment by Annie – April 23, 2012 03:52 AM PDT
I love all of the passion that we all still feel for BTVS and it’s characters. The debate over Spike/ Angel goes on….
Is it just me that remembers that Damon fully intended to kill Jeremy (and succeeded) and it was just luck for Jeremy and Elena that he had the ring on. Damon didnt know he had the ring on and intended to kill him.
This is why I will never buy Damon and Elena as a couple.
I agree.. I do not care.. I would not date someone who killed my brother .. even if i forgave them you do not date them. Damon needs help.. and Elena needs help to even consider it. I hope Stefan leaves town and moves on.. he can do so much better. Hell hook him up with Bonnie.
Stefan, who can’t handle his blood like a drunk that can’t handle his booze, can do better than Elena? Please! I seem to recall Stefan going all ripper and murdering women. Yes, Klaus pretty much told him to lose his humanity, but this isn’t the first time Stefan has done that.
Elena is far better than Stefan could ever dream of being, Neither Damon nor Stefan are “good guys”. Stop deluding yourself.
Christopher. And Rory for a season or two before she came to her senses and switched teams. Pretty sure that’s it. I don’t even think Lorelai was ever really team Christopher.
I was and always will be on Team Christopher. Although I’ve never met another GG fan who shares that sentiment. I just always felt like Chris just got/understood Lorelai better than Luke did. And the Lorelai/Chris banter was always so much better than the banter with Luke. I sometimes felt like Luke couldn’t quite keep up when Lor got on one of her crazy rambles.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Luke as a character. But if it had been up to me – Lorelai would have ended up with Christopher.
Totally agree with this. I loved Christopher, he and Lorelai had a spark that was totally lacking from Luke and Lorelai. I was seriously annoyed with the way they destroyed Lorelai and Chris’ connection in the end. I will always be Team Christopher. Luke and Lorelai just didn’t work as a couple…
absolutely! I loved the Lorelai/Christoper dynmaic. Luke was so annoying. When I
watch a season of GG on DVD I have to start FF any Luke scenes because of all his complaining negativity.
The Luke/Lorelai/Christopher triangle ruined Gilmore Girls. It was a great show until the last season and a half, and then it became unwatchable. I can’t even watch it in syndication because of the Lorelai/Christopher marriage.
I was Team Luke from the pilot and NEVER wavered from that (even in the second half of Season 6 and first half of Season 7). I don’t really understand the Lorelai/Christopher appeal, though I have to admit if he was a townie/other recurring character I would’ve loved him. His sense of humor killed me.
I agree I was Team Luke from the beginning and all the way to the end. I think her and Christopher had a connection but she was always going to end up with Luke, and whoever said they didn’t have chemistry – you are crazy. They were the perfect match. I also loved Rory and Logan with some of Rory and Jess thrown in as well.
I agree with you! Except on Felicity, but only because I’m only three episodes in on Netflix and have yet to form an opinion other than I covet Felicity’s hair and mourn the impending haircut.
Comment by I Heart Chuck Bass (and Damon Salvatore) – April 20, 2012 03:18 PM PDT Reply To This Post
Dan and Blair were so uncomfortable to watch that I literally dropped Gossip Girl from my DVR. They feel so forced together that it was hard to stomach. I’ll come back to GG when I read the horrible D/B SL is over. I know that some people like them together but I don’t see the appeal. It’s forced and it brought the show to a screeching halt.
I could choose from all of those triangles but Eric/Sookie/Bill…..I’m on Team Sookie because I can’t possibly pick from Eric and Bill…..both are yummy!
I agree with all your choices!!
I would add Dylan/Brenda, Rory/Jess, Ross/Rachel (who would ever pic Rachel/Joey??!!)
Joey & Pacey… my favourite tv-couple ever
Agree with you all the way!! Maybe always a little divided between Spike & Angel but one relationship never existed at the same time so it’s cool. And I still believe that Joey & Pacey are the best couple. And DC having the best love triangle. Good work Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec
I enjoyed watching the whole Joey/Rachel thing even though I knew that she would probably end up with Ross. It was entertaining, and I loved seeing Joey really fall for somebody.
Yeah there can literally be a connection like Mike/Tina/Artie/Brittany/Santana/Sam/Mercedes/Puck/Quinn/Finn/Rachel/Blaine/Kurt. All of these (and more) were at one point a couple or romantic interest, legitimate feelings or not.
lucas & brooke
elena & damon
jax & brenda
joey & dawson
chuck & blair
serena & nate
kelly & dylan
joey & rachel
rory & jess
lorelai & chris
lexie & mark
zoe & wade
barney & robin
emily & daniel
big & carrie
caroline & klaus
All of the shows i watched on her my favorite couples are
Tina and Mike (Tike)
Barney and Robbin (Barnobbin) hehe just made that up!
Summer and Seth ( Smeth)
Lucas and Peyton (Leyton)
DAMON AND ELENA (Delena) I will DIE if they dont end up together!!!!!!!
I haven’t decided if I want Caroline to be with Klaus or Tyler guess I have to watch season 4!
i though about 90210 too! but then i realized there won’t be any triangles but so many zig zags!
take Silver for example: Dixon then Ethan then Teddy then Navid and now Liam!! Dang that girl has gone through all male co-stars – more like a Complete circle than a triangle!
Noel and Felicity – Felicity
Dean and Rory – Gilmore Girls
Pacey and Joey – Dawson’s Creek
Peyton and Lucas – One Tree Hill
Angel and Spike (okay fine Buffy and Angel) – Buffy/Angel
Current triangles – Still rooting for a Jackson/Lexie
& Addison/Sam hookup but I think I’m in the minority for those pairings. Also House/Wilson! Past – Dylan/Kelly, Pacey/Joey, Ridge/Caroline, Angel/Cordelia, & Spike/Buffy!
Stefan/Elena on TVD, but I think the triangle is well-done either way.
Weirdly Jeff/Britta on Community, but I know it’s not going to happen.
Chuck/Blair and Nate/Serena on Gossip Girl, thank you very much.
Kelly and Dylan
Ben and Felicity
Pacey and Joey
Ross and Rachel
Chuck and Blair
Riggins and Lyla
Luke and Lorelai
Jess and Rory
Sonny and Brenda
Mike and Tina
Yay for Duncan/Veronica! Me too! Everyone I know who ships Duncan and Veronica also ships Angel/Buffy over Spuffy. Those two love triangles are sooo similar. Maybe it’s why Joss was such a fan of Veronica Mars.
Omg yes willow and Tara all the way! Will was great with oz and ok with Kennedy but Tara will always be her true love! Bawled my eyes out
Comment by jessica – April 20, 2012 07:17 PM PDT
Definitely SPUFFY!!!! Read the comics – Bangel’s dead forever! Thank Joss! Joss always liked Buffy with Spike, not with Angel or Riley. He said it in an interview!
Comment by Annie – April 23, 2012 04:08 AM PDT
I root for Buffy/Angel over Spuffy, and I hate and loath Duncan/Veronica. And I know many other fans of both shows, who feel the way I do. So not a correlation for everyone
Comment by jonstewart4president – April 23, 2012 12:23 AM PDT Reply To This Post
Unless you’re saying that all fans of Duncan/Veronica also prefer Buffy/Angel, which that distinction would be important. Though there again I would say I do know fans of Duncan/Veronica who also preferred Spike/Buffy. I think they’re horribly wrong on both counts, of course, but those (very bad taste ) people do exist.
Comment by jonstewart4president – April 23, 2012 12:29 AM PDT Reply To This Post
I agree with every single one of these, except for the HIMYM one. I don’t really have strong feelings either way, but I’d prefer to see Robin with Barney.
Oh, c’mon…. Lauren/Bo/Dyson isn’t on there… from Lost Girl. It’s frickin’ epic…. *sigh* not to mention all the other Sci Fi triangles that are woefully underrepresented on here…. oh wait, ’cause there really aren’t any…. like Jack/Allison/Nathan from Eureka (though I guess that triangle could change after the Season 5 first episode.
THANK YOU for mentioning Lauren/Bo/Dyson from Lost Girl!!! I’m Team Lauren myself, but the whole triangle is worth mentioning! Even when you consider the complications in season 2. . .
omg spuffy, delena, dair, Apollo & Starbuck, Jax & Brenda, Dylan & Brenda, Forwood, Zoe & Wade, Suliet, and Jakate — i love that you all included soap couples by the way!!
Oh my, so many love triangles!!! Personally, I am Team: Damon/Elena, Klaus/Caroline, Stefan/ Katherine, Spike/Buffy, Angel/Cordelia, Rory/Dean, Pacey/Joey, Jeff/Annie, Rachel/AnyoneButFinn, Blair/Chuck, Sookie/Eric, Jason/Jessica.
Lots here that I either didn’t watch, or didn’t care about.
But, I’ll go with :
Ben & Felicity (as if Noel was ever really in the running)
Dan & Blair
Nate & Serena
Barney & Robin
Jack & Emily
Damon & Elena
Both Kate and Juliet with Sawyer (not a Jack fan there, and both women had better chemistry and relationships with Sawyer)
Wes & Fred
Angel & Buffy
Jax & Brenda
Taylor & Ridge
Mike & Tina ((were they ever a triangle with Mike? Rachel/Finn/Quinn is probably a better Glee example)
Dawson & Joey
Jeff & Annie
Joey & Rachel
Dylan & Kelly
Would’ve liked to have seen Clark/Lana/Lex of Smallville been an option here, if only because the obvious answer is Clark & Lex
I think you make a good point with LOST. Every woman has better chemistry with Sawyer than with Jack. I think I only favor Sawyer-Kate over Sawyer-Juliet because I did not like Sawyer in his “La Fleur” days. La Fleur was boring.
Elizabeth Mitchell said in a season 3 commentary (which I watched long before Sawyer/Juliet) that Juliet is kinda immune to Sawyer’s charms, and I agreed with her. I just had trouble ever believeing Juliet and Sawyer would gravitate towards each other in a love-based relationship. Although I preferred Kate with Sawyer over Jack chemistry wise, I liked the Kate/Jack arc from a stroy telling perspective, but would have preferred a decision where Sawyer and Juliet just got over the need for Kate & Jack respectively and were happy in themselves (and became close friends, that still rewarded an emotional response from Sawyer to try to save Juliet, without needing to be lovers). But hey, it is what it is, I just have trouble buying into that relationship. I bought Juliet and Jack a lot less than Juliet and Sawyer. As you say, Sawyer had better chemistry with the ladies.
It’s funny that you should say as if Noel were ever even in the running on Felicity because I always thought that Felicity belonged with Noel and I would much rather have had her choose nobody than Ben. Ben never really treated Felicity in the way that she deserved and I thought that she and Noel had a lot more chemistry than she ever had with Ben. All of my friends who watched the show were on this page, but I guess we must have been in the severe minority if a lot of people believe that Noel was ‘never in the running’. It’s unfortunate because Felicity ending up with Ben kind of ruined (on some levels) what has got to be one of my all-time favorite shows. *sigh*
Pacey/Joey/Dawson & Chuck/Blair/Dan with Dan/Blair and Pacey/Joey being my all time favorites. One triangle missing is Castle/Beckett/Stupidity with both choosing Stupidity above each other.
Buffy and Angel- BtVS
Britta and Jeff- Community
Noel and Felicity- Felicity
Ross and Rachel- Friends
Artie and Tina- Glee
Alicia and Will- The Good Wife
Lexie and Mark- Grey’s Anatomy
Ted and Robin were great back in S2 but now it’s Barney and Robin- HIMYM
Damon and Elena- TVD
I love Caroline and Matt, but I guess Tyler and Caroline- TVD
Nope, the dair fanbase is very far away from being as big as chair’s. Go check twitter and facebook that represents casual viewers much more than biased boards. There are a lot more hate for DB then love. And oh, well, why the ratings are so awful now? If people loved DB wouldn’t they keep watching? The point is, Dan is a Dawson. He is boring, pretentious. I have to laugh at the writers attemp to make people care about him. Dan will never be Seth, Pacey or Chuck. Casual viewers hate him.
lol I love all these people speaking for casual viewers. He’s his own character for sure, but media people make comparisons to Seth and Pacey for a reason. Anyone who doesn’t see that is being purposely blind.
Yes, casual viewers hate Dan, and he is so irrelevant, yet he is the only GG character to be part of BOTH the triangles listed here.. SDN and DBC. Cry moar.
You’ve got to be kidding. First of all, JR didn’t screw up Friends and DB haven’t screwed up GG.
Second of all, if it wasn’t for Dan/Blair, there would be absolutely no reason to watch Gossip Girl anymore. Without their dynamic, it’s a sinking ship. (Which is exactly what I used to say about Chuck and Blair, btw)
Plus, the will-they-won’t-they of Ross and Rachel became silly. They had great moments and chemistry, but they had PLENTY of chances to get back together and never took them. Not unlike Chuck and Blair. One of the writers even said that RR fans “would’ve hunted the writers with torches” had they not ended up together. So there’s that pressure from extreme fans, AGAIN, not unlike Chuck and Blair.
You’re right about one thing, Dan/Blair is literally the only thing happening on GG right now. And viewers have left in droves. When you lose almost 1/3 of your audience over like 5 episodes, shouldn’t you question whether maybe you’re doing something wrong? I’m not even watching it anymore (and it used to be my absolute favorite show), so I think they’ve screwed it up for a lot of people. I stopped watching Friends during the Joey/Rachel debacle too, not for “shipper” reasons but just because it got weird and boring. But I did come back for the final season, so maybe I’ll catch GG S6 if it looks promising. Obviously I still care how the show turns out, i just can’t stand it right now.
Uh? The ratings for gossip girl are awful, people are bored in twitter and facebook. There are a lot of negative comments about Dan/Blair. The only thing they are doing is ruining the show. Sad how the writers ruined everything to make Dan/Blair happen.
The biggest drop in ratings happened when Chair were a couple. The ratings actually went up after the Dair sex episode(you can check for yourself). Plus it’s always near or at the top on ITunes. If casual viwers “hated” Dan, you wouldn’t be going blue in the face telling everyone this.
Please tell me you’re joking with this. Ratings went up from 0.97 to 0.98 or something after that ep? Those numbers are just plain embarrassing. Which is aside from the fact that hundreds of thousands keep tuning out halfway through each episode. I’m sorry, there’s just no excuse for these ratings. People don’t like what GG is putting out right now, and I can’t blame them. If it were on any other network, these writers would be unemployed right now.
Comment by Sally – April 22, 2012 04:00 AM PDT
I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. Dair fans outnumbering Chair fans? PUH-lease. Chuck and Blair are the reason I got hooked on the show. Tearing them as far apart as they have definitely ruined the show. I can’t even watch Dair scenes without gagging, and it’s not that I don’t like Dan. I barely consider it a triangle, since there’s no way in hell she ends up with Dan. He’s a bump in the road to Chair endgame bliss.
I was a little afraid that Logan/Veronica/Duncan didn’t make the list for some reason…the reason being who would choose Duncan, right? LOL. Last but not least. (Side note: I need more Logan Echolls in my life)
I love that Jax/Brenda/Sonny made the list. (I was Sonny/Brenda)
Loved Cappie and Casey on Greek.
Vampire Diaries- I’m team Stefan/Elena all the way. I also like Caroline/Klaus. Yep!
Revenge- Team Daniel
90210- Dylan and Brenda forever.
And if Robin/Barney don’t end up together on HIMYM, I’ll start a mutiny.
Comment by lady.lightning – April 23, 2012 07:08 AM PDT Reply To This Post
I feel like TVD is really affected by the fact that the actors that play Elena and Damon are together in real life. From a character stand point, Elena and Stefan make more sense and have a deeper connection, but Elena and Damon have more sexual chemistry.
Season finale: Lauren Ambrose ('Six Feet Under') and Pablo Schreiber ('The Wire') guest-star in an ep in which a Central Park flasher turns out to be someone much badder -- and far more cunning -- than the SVU squad expects.
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