Ronnie & Sammi, JERSEY SHORE
We’ve gotten used to seeing pathetic alcoholics paraded across our screen on reality shows, but Ronnie’s binge-’til-you-pass-out behavior is made even sadder by Sammi’s enabling behavior. This is a couple who seem destined for tragedy, and we’re not simply talking about looking back in 20 years and wondering why they ever allowed themselves to be shown in so humiliating a light.
Ridge & Brooke, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL
After finding out that his wife “accidentally” slept with her teenage daughter’s hunky young beau — both were wearing masks at a party — Ridge basically shook his head and said it was the kind of thing that could only happen to his scandal-plagued wife. Which is kinda true… but dude, come on!
House and Cuddy, HOUSE
She’s a complete control freak and he rebels against, well, everything. Opposites attract. But you know what else they do? Kill each other.
Claire and Phil, MODERN FAMILY
Sometimes, dysfunction simply works for a couple. There are times when Claire looks at Phil as if to say, “Who are you and how did I wind up your wife?” And it’s easy to see why: The man is a buffoon. Yet time and again, we are shown what it is that keeps them together. Like many real-life pairs, they vacillate wildly between wanting to kill one another and realizing how lost they’d be without each other.
Emma and Will, GLEE
She’s everythingphobic and he’s deeper in the closet than a conservative republican. ’Nuff said. 