25 of the most toxic relationships on TV

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Photo: YouTube/NBC

Sam and Diane

These two are the defining example of toxic relationships in the television canon. They broke up and got back together so many times, you could never tell where they were in their relationship. Even when they were together, they fought so much you wouldn’t be able to tell it.

It’s certainly a toxic situation when couples break up over and over again, but when they don’t even seem to be happy when they are together, then things only get worse.

As a retired baseball player and current bar owner, Sam’s blue collar ways got under Diane’s college-educated values, and the two argued, and it often got nasty and personal. There was always a lot of name-calling, personal attacks.

When they did split up, they both dated other people who were more like-minded, and it always seemed like they were doing it to spite the other one. All the tension made their friends uncomfortable, and just being around all the mean-spirited quibbling made them hate the two of them together.

Audiences felt similarly, having mixed feelings about the two of them together. Some folks despised the constant attention the show paid to this couple, to the exclusion of the rest of the cast. Additionally, viewers felt they were just plain ol’ mismatched, which was supposed to carry the relationship. In reality, it just weighed it down.