TV's 20 most memorable love triangles

Pam, Jim, and Roy had such an explosive love triangle that it all literally came to blows in one episode. It was clear from the start that Pam was meant to choose Jim, but it’s a realization she needed to come to on her own. And it made for great TV in the meantime. 

The first few seasons of Glee were completely unhinged, but they were also a special time in TV history. We saw characters like Rachel, Finn, and Quinn dodging slushies in the hallway while singing about their love triangle. 

We know that Dylan, Kelly, and Brenda’s love triangle on Beverly Hills, 90210 was one of the greatest in all of television history, but not everyone shares that line of thinking. Shannen Doherty, who played Brenda, did not like the storyline. 

One Tree Hill has made its way onto many best of TV history lists, and it unsurprisingly had one of the best love triangles of all time, too. Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas had viewers tuning in every single week to see which couple was going to come out intact. 

Carrie Bradshaw’s inability to make a decision is what kept Sex and the City going. And for just one moment, can we consider how similar Carrie and Aidan’s last names are? What would a marriage between those two have looked like name-wise?

Controversial, sure, but it’s hard to deny that Robin, Ted, and Barney’s love triangle was entertaining. Sitcoms that run for as long as How I Met Your Mother have to have a love triangle. It’s the rules of TV.

A significant portion of Jane the Virgin was spent on Jane, Michael, and Rafael’s love triangle. It was so intense that they had to (spoiler alert) kill off one of the characters for it to end. And even that didn’t provide full resolution. 

Everyone knows that Derek ended up with Meredith, but before they were wholly with each other, they were stuck in a love triangle with Derek’s ex-wife, Addison. It made for incredibly frustrating but incredibly good TV. 

Rory Gilmore’s love triangle was more of a love square, and it went on for years. Just when she thought someone was out of her life for good and she could move on with someone new, an old flame reappeared to make things more difficult. Though to be fair, she was just as guilty. 

Admittedly, Rachel and Ross’ will-they-won’t-they love story was getting a little stale by the last few seasons. The writers needed something to spice things up. And in doing so, they created one of the most iconic love triangles in all of television history. 

The love triangle between Angel, Spike, and Buffy was so intense that it had to carry over into Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s spin-off series, Angel. That’s the power of love right there. 

Love triangles are almost always good for TV, but when it comes to Dawson’s Creek, the show wouldn’t have survived without one. The love triangle between Joey, Pacey, and Dawson literally saved the series. 

Not only is Archie, Betty, and Veronica’s love triangle one of the best in TV history, it’s also one of the best in comic book history. And who doesn’t love a cross-medium love triangle?

The only thing that can make a love triangle even more entertaining is by making two of the involved parties brothers. And the only way to make that love triangle even more entertaining is by making it between vampires. 

Never Have I Ever brought with it some truly unhinged TV moments. Many of those unhinged moments came from the love triangle between Devi, Paxton, and Ben. It was so powerful that it lasted beyond high school. 

It wasn’t easy for Blair Waldorf to choose between Chuck Bass and Nate Archibald. She had to choose between the destiny she didn’t initially want and the life she thought she was going to live. 

Of course, Nate Archibald was caught up in two different love triangles on Gossip Girl. When he gracefully bowed out of Chuck and Blair’s convoluted dynamic, he found himself wrapped up in Serena van der Woodsen and Dan Humphrey’s drama. 

No TV show does a love triangle like a Josh Schwartz teen drama. Before he was puppeteering drama on Gossip Girl, he had Ryan, Marissa, and Luke wrapped up in a love triangle. (Honorable mention goes to Summer, Seth, and Zach’s love triangle.)

Let’s face it, the best love triangles happen in teen dramas. It just plays better (for the most part). Lyla, Jason, and Tim had a love triangle for the ages on Friday Night Lights. 

No woman in all of TV history has been able to make high-powered men bend at her will like Olivia Pope. If she had wanted to end her love triangle with Fitz and Jake any sooner, she could’ve. They would’ve listened.