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Doomed and dysfunctional couples are apparently a TV treat...
...in honor of a true love story that sounds like pulp fiction, here is a look at some doomed TV lovers and the unhappy endings that can feel like real tragedies.

Izzie and Denny (Grey's Anatomy, ABC)



One member of a doomed TV couple doesn't have to be dead to make this list, but it doesn't hurt. In the case of the ill-fated Izzie (Katherine Heigl) and Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Denny's death a few seasons back did not stop him from recently reappearing in Izzie's life. Unfortunately, Izzie's visions of her former sweetheart are the result of an as-yet-unnamed medical condition that could reunite her with Denny much sooner than she'd like. Do scrubs come in black?

Don and Betty Draper (Mad Men, AMC)



He loves her, but he's a serial cheater. She loves him, but she just had a quickie with a man she met in a bar. The last time we saw Don and Betty Draper (Jon Hamm and January Jones), they were contemplating the impact of a pregnancy that Betty doesn't want on a marriage neither of them is sure they can sustain. Let's hope they're putting money in their kids' therapy fund. Little Bobby and Sally are going to need it. Us, too.

Elle and Sylar (Heroes, NBC)


Credit goes to thepoisonivy for this graphic.

Let's see if I've got this right. Elle (Kristen Bell) rescued Sylar (Zachary Quinto) because she saw his capacity for good. Then the reformed Sylar rescued Elle by helping with her glitchy internal electrical system. Then Sylar went bad again and opened Elle's skull, the better to suck out the special powers in her brain. But somewhere in there, these two dysfunctional human lab rats also licked each other's deep psychic wounds and shared a hot kiss or two. Yeah, they qualify.

Marcy and Charlie Runkle (Californication, Showtime)



He was there for her while she was in rehab. She supported him when he lost his job for pleasuring himself in his office. But when Charlie (Evan Handler) announced to a room full of partygoers that he wanted to leave Marcy (Pamela Adlon) for a porn actress, one of cable's most endearingly messed-up couples officially hit the skids. Or did it? The Runkle love is a ferocious thing, so I have hopes for a Charlie and Marcy reunion in Season 3. But if they do split up for good, I want custody of Marcy.

Paul and Laura (In Treatment, HBO)



Who says a therapist and his patient can't be friends with benefits? Actually, Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) said it several times, but Laura (Melissa George) was too much of a self-absorbed drama addict to really listen. Then again, Paul was too besotted with Laura to send her packing. So it was no real surprise that sleeping together at the end of last season wasn't such a success, either. Paul's wife might be relieved to hear that, if she ever comes back.

Kate, Jack and Sawyer (Lost, ABC)



Of all the hot, tortured men on all the creepy islands in all the world's oceans, Kate had to fall in love with Jack. And Sawyer. At the same time. The last time we saw them, Jack (Matthew Fox) was giving Kate (Evangeline Lilly) grief for carrying out mysterious errands for Sawyer (Josh Holloway), who remains a threat even though he's stuck on the recently relocated island and they're not. When the members of this photogenic love triangle finally get together, it won't be pretty.

Christopher Moltisanti and Adriana La Cerva (The Sopranos, HBO)



When did it all go wrong for these two crazy Italian kids? When a doped-up Christopher (Michael Imperioli) sat on Adriana's dog and smothered it to death? When Adriana (Drea de Matteo) became an unwilling stooge for the FBI? When Christopher sent her on that fateful drive with Silvio and we never saw her again? Their show is in TV heaven now, but these tragic lovers will always have a place in doomed-relationship hell.

SOURCE (complete article with irrelevant parts not suitable for the tl; dr crowd)

Who are your favourite dysfunctional TV couples (from/outside of this list), ONTD? Mine was Izzie/Denny until ghost!Denny became overused. Now my fave Romeo and Juliet wannabes are Paul/Laura (In Treatment) and Roger/Joan (Mad Men). ♥