Five Ill-Advised Sitcom Romances Clearly Devised to Fill Airtime
When sitcoms go on for too long, their jokes get stale, their stories get repetitive and their romantic partners become incredibly contrived. Sometimes a long-standing sitcom couple’s relationship is interrupted by some outside force, and while that happens in real life, it’s not something people typically want in their idealized sitcom couples. Other times, it becomes clear that writers for shows with ensemble casts look around at who hasn’t hooked up yet and pair them together, even if it makes no sense. Or else they manufacture romantic entanglements that, when seen in the big picture, make everyone involved seem like terrible people.
Here are just five examples of contrived sitcom pairs who have no chemistry — just plenty of airtime to kill…
Rachel and Joey on ‘Friends’
Apart from both being good-looking people who frequent the same coffee shop, Rachel and Joey never really had much in common, nor are they fun in an “opposites attract” kind of way. Instead, it felt like the Friends writers played spin the bottle with their characters and said, “Meh, fine. We’ll give it a whirl.”
Troy and Britta in ‘Community’
Jeff and Britta have the central romance of Community, yet the show’s writers seemed to delight in mixing and matching the romantic partners like kids trading Pokémon cards. When the self-serious Britta was paired with the dopey Troy, both seemed to just be killing time before Britta got back with Jeff and Troy got with Annie. The strangest part of this romance was that it happened during the third season, which is why it’s hard to believe fans are so excited about a movie.
Jim and Cathy Plus Pam and Brian on ‘The Office’
I’m not the first person to say that the final two seasons of The Office sucked, but it wasn’t just Steve Carell’s absence that sank the show. The writers made several missteps with their remaining characters, starting with Andy and Erin, who each became less likable when paired together. And the writers tried twice to have other characters meddle with Jim and Pam’s relationship.
First there was Cathy in Season Eight, the cute new temp who tries to get with Jim and whose entire personality is being a homewrecker. Then came the cameraman, Brian, in Season Nine, who we’re supposed to believe was just off camera for a decade, harboring feelings for Pam. Instead, he comes off like an opportunistic asshole meant to tempt Pam while Jim is suddenly turning into a lying jerk who neglects his family.
J.D. and Jordan Plus Elliot and Dan Dorian on ‘Scrubs’
From the beginning, Scrubs fans were dying for J.D. and Elliot to be together, but the show’s creator, Bill Lawrence, was very vocal about not wanting a typical sitcom romance. The show took things so far from a typical romance, however, that they made both J.D. and Elliot seem like thoughtless people who make pretty gross decisions. Take, for instance, when Elliot becomes interested in J.D’s brother Dan. And, even worse, when J.D. falls for the ex-wife of his mentor Dr. Cox as well as Dr. Cox’s ex-sister-in-law. Had the show gone on any longer, we would have had an incest storyline at Sacred Heart hospital.
Tom and Ann in ‘Parks and Recreation’
I’m pretty sure the way to someone’s heart isn’t to annoy the shit out of them for half a decade first. Yet, that was the trajectory for Ann Perkins and Tom Haverford during the fourth season of Parks and Recreation. From the beginning of the show, Tom plays an annoying creep who hits on and objectifies Ann while she ignores his juvenile advances. Then, suddenly, she’s into it. There was some comedic potential in hooking them up this way, but it’s difficult to suspend disbelief that Ann wouldn’t find Tom anything other than deeply annoying.
Although Parks and Recreation would make many larger mistakes during its run — like its utterly unwatchable final season — pairing Tom and Ann was one of its worst offenses.